120
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 17]
flows into the southern side of the ocean of salt water. Many other rivers and their branches flow through the nine  varṣas .
The tract of land known as Bhārata-varṣa is the field of activities, and the other eight  varṣas  are for persons who are meant to enjoy heavenly comfort. In each of these eight beautiful provinces, the celestial denizens enjoy various standards of material comfort and pleasure. A different incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead distributes His mercy in each of the nine  varṣas  of Jambūdvīpa.
In the Ilāvṛta-varṣa, Lord Śiva is the only male. There he lives with his wife, Bhavāni, who is attended by many maidservants. If any other male enters that province, Bhavāni curses him to become a woman. Lord Śiva worships Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa by offering various prayers, one of which is as follows: “My dear Lord, please liberate all Your devotees from material life and bind all the nondevotees to the material world. Without Your mercy, no one can be released from the bondage of material existence.”
TEXT 1
श्रीशुक उवाच
तत्र भगवतः साक्षाद्यज्ञलिङ्गस्य विष्णोर्विक्रमतो वामपादाङ्गुष्ठनखनिर्मिन्नो- र्ध्वाण्डकटाहविवरेणान्तःप्रविष्टा या बाह्यजलधारा तश्चरणपङ्कजावनेजना- रुणकिञ्जल्कोपरञ्जिताखिलजगदधमलापहोपस्पर्शनामला साक्षाद्भगवत्पदीत्य नुपलक्षितवचोऽभिधीयमानातिमहता कालेन युगसहस्रोपलक्षणेन दिवो मूर्धन्यवततार यत्तद्विष्णुपदमाहुः ॥१॥
śrī-śuka uvāca
tatra bhagavataḥ sākṣād yajña-liṅgasya viṣṇor vikramato vāma- pādāṅguṣṭha-nakha-nirbhinnordhvāṇḍa-kaṭāha-vivareṇāntaḥ-praviṣṭā yā bāhya-jala-dhārā tac-caraṇa-paṅkajāvanejanāruṇa- kiñjalkoparañjitākhila-jagad-agha-malāpahopasparśanāmalā sākṣād bhagavat-padīty anupalakṣita-vaco 'bhidhīyamānāti-mahatā kālena yuga-sahasropalakṣaṇena divo mūrdhany avatatāra yat tad viṣṇu- padam āhuḥ.