Thursday, December 02, 2021

Mahabaratha about Continents

This is fake.

This is the verse quoted: https://mahabharataonline.com/translation/mahabharata_06005.php

"'O son of Kuru's race, I will, however, describe to thee the island called Sudarsana. This island, O king, is circular and of the form of a wheel. It is covered with rivers and other pieces of water and with mountains looking like masses of clouds, and with cities and many delightful provinces. It is also full of trees furnished with flowers and fruits, and with crops of diverse

kinds and other wealth. And it is surrounded on all sides with the salt ocean. As a person can see his own face in a mirror, even so is the island called Sudarsana seen in the lunar disc. Two of its parts seem to be a peepul tree, while two others look like a large hare. It is surrounded on all sides with an assemblage of every kind of deciduous plants. Besides these portions, the rest is all water. What remains I will describe to thee shortly. The rest I will speak of afterwards. Listen now to this that I describe in brief. "

There's the full quote. No mention of how they are configured.

 It mentions an island called Sudarshana, not the Earth (Bhoomi would have been used). Let's assume that Sudarshana meant Bhoomi. It's been compared to a wheel/chakra. Flat Earth? The drawing in the whatsapp meme is an interpolation of the verse on existing maps of the continents. It has also added in Australia as another peepal leaf which wasn't mentioned in the chapter.

Even if the poem had said the world is "three omelets and a python", someone who's seen a map can force fit the drawings to create an illusion that the poet was a genius.

 Reminds me of Muslims who would twist random quotes from Quran to imply Quran knew about modern science. People (muslims or hindus) making these claims do so because they don't have real achievements.

 


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