58
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 1]
astronomy in the Vedic literature, the sun moves for six months on the northern side of the Sumeru Hill and for six months on the southern side. We have practical experience on this planet that when there is summer in the north there is winter in the south and vice versa. Modern materialistic scientists sometimes present themselves as knowing all the ingredients of the sun, yet they are unable to offer a second sun like Mahārāja Priyavrata's.
Although Mahārāja Priyavrata devised a very powerful chariot as brilliant as the sun, he had no desire to compete with the sun-god, for a Vaiṣṇava never wants to supersede another Vaiṣṇava. His purpose was to give abundant benefits in material existence. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura remarks that in the months of April and May the rays of Mahārāja Priyavrata's brilliant sun were as pleasing as the rays of the moon, and in October and November, both morning and evening, that sun provided more warmth than the sunshine. In short, Mahārāja Priyavrata was extremely powerful, and his actions extended his power in all directions.
TEXT 31
ये वा उ ह तद्रथचरणनेमिकृतपरित्वातास्ते सप्त सिन्धव आसन् यत एव कृताः सप्त ध्रुवो द्वीपाः ॥ ३१ ॥
ye vā u ha tad-ratha-caraṇa-nemi-kṛta-parikhātās te sapta sindhava āsan yata eva kṛtāḥ sapta bhuvo dvīpāḥ.
ye—that; vā u ha—certainly; tat-ratha—of his chariot; caraṇa—of the wheels; nemi—by the rims; kṛta—made; parikhātāḥ—trenches; te—those; sapta—seven; sindhavaḥ—oceans; āsan—became; yataḥ— because of which; eva—certainly; kṛtāḥ—were made; sapta—seven; bhuvaḥ—of the Bhū-maṇḍala; dvīpāḥ—islands.
TRANSLATION
When Priyavrata drove his chariot behind the sun, the rims of his chariot wheels created impressions that later became seven