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Prithvi

Prithvi (Sanskrit: पृथ्वी, IAST: Pṛthvī), meaning "the Vast One," is the Hindu goddess who personifies Earth as a maternal deity embodying fertility, stability, and sustenance in Vedic and broader Hindu traditions.^[1]
Invoked in the Rig Veda as a divine mother sustaining life and paired with the sky god Dyaus to represent the cosmic parents upholding order, Prithvi symbolizes the nurturing essence of the physical world and feminine creative energy.^[2]^[3]
In Hindu cosmology, she manifests as the earth element (Prithvi Tattva), the densest of the five great elements (Pancha Mahabhuta)—alongside ether, air, fire, and water—governing solidity, structure, and the tangible form of creation.^[4]^[1]
Worshipped through hymns and rituals emphasizing gratitude for her provision of crops and resources, Prithvi's archetype extends to associations with the cow as a symbol of earthly abundance, influencing agricultural and ecological reverence in Hindu practice.^[5]^[6]

Etymology and Epithets

Linguistic Origins

The Sanskrit term pṛthvī (पृथ्वी), transliterated as Prithvi, derives from the adjective pṛthu (पृथु), signifying "broad," "wide," or "vast," augmented by the feminine nominal suffix -ī, yielding the sense of "the broad one" or "the expansive one." This etymological construction underscores the earth's characteristic vastness and spatial extension, as personified in Vedic cosmology.^[7]^[8] In early Vedic usage, pṛthvī appears in the Rigveda (composed circa 1500–1200 BCE) to denote the earth as a broad, stable foundation, often paired with dyauḥ (heaven) in the dyad dyāvāpṛthivī, emphasizing cosmic duality without implying later anthropomorphic developments. The term's Proto-Indo-European antecedent is reconstructed as *pl̥th₂-éh₂ or *pl̥th₂éwih₂, linked to roots denoting flatness or breadth, as evidenced in comparative linguistics across Indo-Iranian languages.^[9]

Associated Names and Titles

Prithvi bears numerous epithets in Vedic hymns that underscore her role as the foundational, life-sustaining entity. These titles often highlight attributes of vastness, fertility, stability, and nurturing capacity, drawn directly from invocations in the Rigveda and Atharvaveda. The name Bhūmi, meaning "soil" or "ground," appears as an early Vedic descriptor and evolves into her dominant designation in later Hindu traditions, symbolizing the tangible earth as a maternal provider.^[1] Dharitrī (the bearer or supporter) and Dhātṛ (the nourisher) emphasize her function in upholding all existence, while Janitrī (birthplace) and Medinī (the fertile one) evoke her generative essence.^[10] In the Atharvaveda's Prithvi Sukta (Book 12, Hymn 1), Prithvi receives elaborate titles such as "Queen of all that is and is to be," "Lady of the earth's four regions," "Nurse of breathing creatures," "Firm standing-place," "All-bearing," "Store of treasures," "Gold-breasted," "All-producer," "Purifier," and "Giver of opulence."^[11] These descriptors portray her as an abundant, protective force integral to cosmic order, often invoked for stability and prosperity. She is further styled "Mother" (Mātā), reinforcing her parental archetype, especially when conjoined with sky deities like Dyaus or Indra as consort.^[11] In Rigvedic contexts, such as hymns addressing heaven and earth dyads, epithets like "vast one" and "mother" predominate, aligning with her Proto-Indo-European roots as a broad, encompassing deity.^[12] Post-Vedic developments occasionally synonymize Prithvi with Bhūdevī (earth goddess) or link her to Lakshmi as a prosperity aspect, though Vedic sources maintain her distinct terrestrial identity without such conflations.^[2] Titles like Viśvagarbhā (womb of the world) extend her imagery to universal enclosure and origination, appearing in broader scriptural commentaries on her Vedic persona.^[1] These names collectively affirm Prithvi's theological primacy as the immutable base for life, devoid of anthropomorphic exaggeration beyond textual attestations.

Appearances in Vedic Texts

Hymns in the Rigveda

In the Rigveda, Prithvi appears primarily as part of the primordial dyad Dyāvāpr̥thivī, paired with Dyaus to represent heaven and earth as cosmic progenitors and upholders of ṛta, the principle of cosmic and moral order. Hymns addressed to this pair, such as those in Mandala 1 (e.g., 1.159 and 1.160), invoke them with sacrifices during rituals, portraying Prithvi as the vast, supportive earth that bears mountains, rivers, and creatures while bestowing firmness, prosperity, and protection against foes.^[13] These compositions emphasize empirical attributes like her breadth and stability, crediting her with sustaining life and enabling human endeavors without independent anthropomorphic worship.^[14] A distinctive feature is RV 5.84, a hymn solely to Prithvi attributed to the Atri clan, which lauds her as the mighty bearer of fractured mountains, forests, and terrestrial features, delighting the world through her inherent strength and expanse.^[15] ^[16] Here, Prithvi is celebrated for her unyielding support amid natural forces like rains and winds, reflecting a causal view of earth as a foundational element enabling ecological and ritual continuity. Prithvi also receives scattered mentions in other suktas, such as funeral hymns where she is entreated gently to receive the deceased without crushing them, underscoring her maternal yet impartial role. Overall, these Vedic compositions prioritize Prithvi's functional attributes—firmness, fertility, and sustenance—over later devotional or iconographic developments, aligning with the Rigveda's focus on naturalistic invocation for practical ends like stability and abundance.^[17] Scholarly translations, such as those by Ralph T.H. Griffith, highlight how such hymns integrate Prithvi into broader cosmological praise rather than isolated deification, consistent with the text's archaic Indo-European roots.^[18]

Prithvi Sukta in the Atharvaveda

The Prithvi Sukta constitutes Hymn 1 of Book 12 in the Atharvaveda, comprising 63 verses dedicated to Prithvi as the divine embodiment of Earth. This hymn, composed in Vedic Sanskrit during the late Vedic period (circa 1200–900 BCE), serves as a comprehensive invocation praising Earth's physical attributes, sustaining powers, and protective benevolence. Translators such as Ralph T. H. Griffith (1895) and Maurice Bloomfield (1897) render it as a structured series of stanzas that blend poetic description with ritual supplication, addressing Prithvi directly to seek her favor for stability, fertility, and prosperity.^[11] The verses enumerate Earth's manifold gifts, portraying her as the firm foundation bearing mountains, forests, rivers, and abodes of creatures, while yielding herbs for healing, grains for nourishment, and minerals like gold for wealth. Specific praises highlight her vast expanse ("broad one"), resilience against upheavals, and role in supporting quadrupeds, bipeds, and cosmic forces such as Indra and Parjanya. Supplicatory elements request immunity from calamities like lightning, drought, or adversarial forces, underscoring a reciprocal relationship where humans honor Earth's generative capacity in exchange for safeguarding life and order (ṛta). The hymn integrates natural elements—soil, waters, plants, and animals—into a holistic view of Earth as a maternal entity fostering biological and societal abundance.^[11] In theological terms, the Sukta elevates Prithvi beyond a mere terrestrial body to a sentient, divine mother integral to Vedic cosmology, distinct from but complementary to sky deities. Its emphasis on Earth's self-regulating harmony, such as the balanced flow of seasons and resources, reflects early Indic recognition of environmental interdependence, though framed within ritualistic and anthropocentric prayer rather than abstract ecology. Scholarly examinations, drawing on these translations, note the hymn's antiquity as the most extensive Vedic laudation of Earth, predating later Puranic elaborations and influencing subsequent earth reverence in Hindu tradition.^[11]^[19]

References in Yajurveda and Brahmanas

In the Krishna Yajurveda's Taittiriya Samhita, Prithvi is extolled in the Bhu-Sukta (Taittiriya Samhita 4.3.11), portraying her as the universal mother of herbs, steadfast and sustained by cosmic order: "Viśvasvaṃ mātaram oṣadhīnāṃ dhruvāṃ bhūmiṃ pṛthivīṃ dharmāṇā dhṛtām | Śivāṃ syonām anu carema viśvahā ||" (All-pervading mother of herbs, firm earth, Prithvi upheld by laws of dharma; may we tread upon the auspicious, benevolent one who bears the universe). This hymn underscores Prithvi's role as a supportive, life-sustaining entity in ritual invocations, emphasizing stability and benevolence toward humanity.^[20] The Samhita also references Prithvi's emergence from primordial waters in cosmogonic passages, linking her formation to sacrificial acts that stabilize the world.^[21] The Shukla Yajurveda's Vajasaneyi Samhita invokes Prithvi in yajna formulas, such as those beseeching her protection and fertility during oblations, as in verses addressing her as a guardian of benevolent forces for human welfare. These mentions integrate Prithvi into the ritual framework, where she supports the cosmic order (ṛta) alongside deities like Agni and Indra, without dedicated suktas but through recurring epithets of firmness and provision.^[22] The Brahmanas, prose commentaries on Yajurvedic rituals, expand Prithvi's theological significance. The Shatapatha Brahmana (attached to the Shukla Yajurveda) details her cosmogony: Prajapati, embodying creative potency, compresses the cosmic egg's shell, forming Prithvi from its lower portion as the foundational layer of existence, separated from the waters below to enable habitation and sacrifice. This act symbolizes ritual compression and expansion, mirroring yajna's generative power (Shatapatha Brahmana 6.1.1-2; 7.1.2). The text further narrates the Prithu myth in Shatapatha Brahmana 5.1.3-5.1.5, where Vena's son Prithu, as archetypal sovereign, pursues the fleeing earth (manifest as a cow withholding sustenance), subdues her, and milks her yields—grains, herbs, and waters—rendering the barren Prithvi fertile and naming her after his dominion; this establishes kingship's duty to cultivate and protect the earth, with Prithu as the first consecrated ruler anointed by sages.^[23]^[24] The Taittiriya Brahmana (for the Krishna Yajurveda) reinforces Prithvi's elemental stability in ritual exegesis, associating her with dharma-upholding in fire altars and oblations, though less mythologically elaborate than Shatapatha counterparts; it links her to the layered cosmos, where earth forms the base for ascending sacrificial structures invoking prosperity. These references collectively frame Prithvi as integral to Vedic ritual efficacy, bridging physical sustenance with metaphysical order.^[25]

Developments in Post-Vedic Literature

In the Epics

In the Mahabharata, Prithvi features centrally in the legend of King Prithu, an incarnation of Vishnu and son of the tyrannical Vena, who restores fertility to the barren earth. After sages dismember Vena to end his misrule, Prithu emerges from his father's thigh and pursues Prithvi, personified as a fleeing cow embodying the earth's bounty, compelling her to yield milk in the form of grains, herbs, and vegetation for human sustenance.^[26] This act, detailed in the Shanti Parva, establishes Prithu as the first sovereign king, with the earth thereafter named Prithvi in his honor, signifying her vast expanse and nurturing role.^[26]^[24] The epic portrays Prithvi's initial withholding of resources as a response to prior exploitation, resolved only through Prithu's divine intervention and Vishnu's endorsement, who crowns him ruler and infuses him with divine authority.^[24] This narrative underscores Prithvi's agency as a maternal entity demanding righteous governance, transitioning from Vedic hymns to epic dramatization where she interacts dynamically with human and divine figures. References in the Drona Parva further invoke Prithu as a model of royal dharma.^[27] In the Ramayana, Prithvi's depictions are less narrative-driven, appearing primarily in invocations and as the supportive earth in cosmological descriptions or oaths, without prominent myths akin to Prithu's chase. She symbolizes stability amid Rama's trials, bearing the weight of events like the battle in Lanka, but lacks individualized stories, reflecting her more abstract Vedic continuity into epic poetry.^[6]

In Puranas and Later Scriptures

In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Canto 4, Chapters 14–22), Prithvi features centrally in the legend of King Prithu, born from the churning of the tyrannical King Vena's corpse by rishis to restore dharma. Prithu, regarded as a partial incarnation (aṃśa) of Vishnu, pursues the Earth—personified as a cow concealing vegetation and resources amid famine—and compels her to yield milk, thereby rendering the land fertile for cultivation and human sustenance. This act establishes agriculture and societal order, with the Earth thereafter named Prithvi in Prithu's honor, reflecting her transformed productivity.^[28]^[29] The Viṣṇu Purāṇa (Book 1, Chapter 7) depicts Prithvi voicing distress to the devas over the overburden from asura populations, prompting Vishnu's interventions via avatars to alleviate her strain and maintain cosmic balance.^[30] Similarly, in Vaishnava texts like the Varāha Purāṇa and Matsya Purāṇa, Prithvi, synonymous with Bhūmi, is submerged in rasātala by the demon Hiraṇyākṣa; Vishnu, as the Varāha (boar) avatar, slays the demon on the 7th day of the current manvantara and elevates her from the primordial waters, symbolizing restoration of earth's stability against chaos.^[31] In Shaiva-oriented Purāṇas such as the Skanda Purāṇa, Prithvi appears in narratives involving divine manifestations, including Varaha's discourse to her on sacred sites like Padmavati's origin, integrating her as a foundational element in tīrtha-māhātmya descriptions. Later scriptures, including Tantric works on tattva-śāstra, invoke Prithvi as the earth element (pṛthivī-tattva), essential for grounding rituals and invoking material abundance, often through mudrās and stotras emphasizing her nurturing essence amid the pañca-mahābhūta.^[32]

Theological and Cosmological Role

Pairing with Dyaus Pitar

In Vedic theology, Prithvi forms a primordial dyad with Dyaus Pitar, the personified sky father, collectively addressed in the dual form as Dyavaprithvi to represent the complementary union of heaven and earth. This pairing embodies the foundational cosmic parents who engender the subsequent generation of deities, including Indra, Agni, and Ushas, while sustaining all creatures through provision and protection.^[17]^[33] Scholars regard them as among the most ancient Aryan divinities, predating specialized anthropomorphic gods and reflecting an early naturalistic worldview where sky and earth are invoked as beneficent, wise, and energetic forces promoting righteousness and immortality.^[33] The Rigveda contains multiple hymns invoking the pair, emphasizing their role in fertility and order; for instance, in RV 1.89, they are petitioned as "Earth our Mother, and our Father Heaven" to bestow vitality, waters, and progeny upon devotees.^[17] Similarly, RV 1.159 and 1.160 portray Dyavaprithvi as an unerring duo that nurtures the worlds, shields from peril, and yields sustenance like milk from the earth.^[17] In RV 4.1, Dyaus is lauded as the "Sire, Begetter" who rains down blessings, fertilizing Prithvi to sprout life, a motif underscoring causal interdependence where celestial rains enable terrestrial abundance.^[17] These invocations, numbering over a dozen explicit references, highlight the pair's abstract, non-anthropomorphic nature compared to later deities, with Dyaus occasionally standing alone but predominantly conjoined with Prithvi.^[33] Cosmologically, the Dyaus-Prithvi union signifies the separation and harmony of upper and lower realms, foundational to Vedic rta (cosmic order), where Dyaus's expansive vault encompasses and vitalizes Prithvi's broad expanse.^[33] This dyad parallels Indo-European cognates like Zeus and Gaia, with Dyauspitar etymologically cognate to Zeus Pater, suggesting a shared proto-deity of paternal sky authority.^[33] Over time, as Vedic worship evolved post-Indo-Aryan settlement around 1500–1200 BCE, Indra supplanted Dyaus in prominence—possibly due to emphasis on rain-making in agrarian contexts—while Prithvi retained vitality, though the pair's integrated symbolism endured in notions of universal parental care.^[33]

Symbolism as Prakriti and Earth Element

In Hindu philosophy, particularly within the Samkhya tradition, Prithvi symbolizes Prakriti, the unmanifest primal matter that constitutes the feminine creative principle underlying the material universe, evolving through the three gunas—sattva, rajas, and tamas—to manifest as the observable world. As the goddess personifying this force, Prithvi embodies the nurturing and sustaining aspects of nature, providing the foundational substratum for life and cosmic order, distinct from Purusha, the passive consciousness.^[34] This symbolism underscores her role as the material counterpart to divine consciousness, where she facilitates the interplay of creation, preservation, and transformation without independent agency.^[6] As the earth element (Prithvi tattva) among the panchamahabhuta—the five great elements—Prithvi represents the grossest and most stable manifestation of Prakriti, characterized by qualities of solidity, heaviness, and endurance, forming the physical basis of tissues such as bones, muscles, nails, and skin in Ayurvedic physiology.^[35] In yogic and tantric traditions, it is associated with the muladhara chakra at the base of the spine, symbolized by a yellow square and the bija mantra "LAM," governing groundedness, material abundance, and the sense of smell as its perceptual faculty.^[36] This element's symbolism emphasizes stability and fertility, reflecting the earth's capacity to support vegetation, agriculture, and human sustenance, as evidenced in rituals invoking Prithvi for prosperity and structural integrity.^[37] The integration of Prithvi's dual symbolism—as Prakriti and earth tattva—highlights causal realism in Vedic cosmology, where the element's tangible properties arise from subtler vibrational essences, progressing from ether (akasha) through air, fire, and water to earth's density, enabling empirical observation of natural laws like gravity and soil composition.^[38] Texts such as the Amanaska Yoga describe Prithvi tattva as essential for meditative absorption, where contemplating its stability aids in transcending material attachments toward purusha realization.^[39] This framework prioritizes verifiable attributes over anthropomorphic interpretations, aligning with first-principles derivations from observable phenomena like tectonic stability and elemental cycles.^[40]

Vedic Cosmology of Prithvi

In Vedic cosmology, Prithvi embodies the foundational terrestrial layer of the universe, personified as a vast, stable expanse that supports mountains, rivers, forests, and all forms of life. Hymns in the Rigveda depict her as the nourishing mother principle, often conjoined with Dyaus as the dual entity Dyavaprithvi, enclosing the cosmos and upholding ṛta, the principle of cosmic order.^[41] This pairing symbolizes the generative union of sky and earth, with Prithvi providing material sustenance through her fertility and immovability, as invoked in rituals for prosperity and protection.^[3] The Vedic universe is stratified into three primary realms: Prithvi at the base as the solid, extended earth; Antariksha as the intermediary atmospheric space filled with winds and divine movements; and Dyaus as the overarching heavenly vault. Prithvi forms the lowest loka, a broad disk-like plane bearing the weight of creation without explicit spherical geometry, aligned with observable phenomena like horizon and stability rather than abstract models.^[42]^[43] This structure reflects a geocentric framework where Prithvi's endurance counters chaotic forces, such as in hymns crediting her with withstanding Indra's battles against demons.^[17] As one of the pañca mahābhūta (five great elements), Prithvi represents the earth tattva, embodying solidity, cohesion, and the gross material base from which organic life emerges. Vedic seers emphasize her role in ecological harmony, praising attributes like inexhaustible grains, healing herbs, and seismic resilience, which underpin sacrificial economies and human settlement.^[44] This cosmological view integrates empirical observations of terrain and seasons with deified agency, positioning Prithvi as essential to maintaining the interdependence of realms without later Puranic elaborations like multi-layered underworlds.^[45]

Worship and Iconography

Historical Rituals and Forms

In the Vedic period, worship of Prithvi primarily occurred through the recitation of hymns such as the Prithvi Sukta from the Atharvaveda, invoked during sacrificial rites (yajnas) to seek her blessings for stability, fertility, and protection against calamities.^[46] These rituals emphasized her role as the foundational surface upon which altars, oblation holders, and sacrificial stakes were established, with offerings of ghee, grains, and other substances placed directly on her to honor her sustaining qualities.^[21] Devotees also employed amulets, prayers, and charms from the Atharvaveda to appease Prithvi, requesting her favor for agricultural abundance and physical security, reflecting a practical acknowledgment of earth's causal role in human sustenance.^[47] Domestic and funerary rituals further integrated Prithvi's invocation; in Grihya sutras-derived practices, earth was ritually prepared before construction or plowing, with mantras addressing her as the nurturing mother to avert harm from soil disturbance.^[21] Funerary hymns in the Atharvaveda entreated Prithvi to tenderly receive and cover the deceased, portraying her as a compassionate lap for the departed, a custom rooted in empirical observations of earth's role in decomposition and renewal.^[48] Sacrificial animals or vegetal offerings were not exclusively directed to Prithvi but shared in broader yajnas where she was paired with deities like Agni, underscoring her supportive rather than recipient primacy in Vedic causality.^[3] Iconographic representations of Prithvi remained largely aniconic during the early Vedic era (c. 1500–1000 BCE), manifesting symbolically as the physical earth or metaphorically as a cow symbolizing milk-giving fertility, without fixed idols or temples dedicated solely to her.^[5] Anthropomorphic depictions emerged sporadically in later Vedic texts and Brahmanas, conflating her with cosmic figures like Aditi, but retained abstract attributes such as firmness and vastness rather than detailed human forms, aligning with Vedic aversion to permanent images in favor of ephemeral ritual evocation.^[21] This formlessness facilitated her integration into polytheistic sacrifices, where visual symbolism prioritized functional realism—earth's tangible support—over artistic anthropomorphism.^[47]

Modern Practices and Festivals

In contemporary Hinduism, worship of Prithvi, often syncretized with Bhudevi or Bhumi Devi as the earth mother, persists primarily through ritual invocations rather than large-scale temple-centric devotion. A key practice is Bhumi Puja (or Bhoomi Puja), a foundational rite performed before ground-breaking for construction, agriculture, or major land use to seek permission from and appease the earth deity, involving offerings of grains, flowers, fruits, and milk poured into the soil, accompanied by Vedic mantras from texts like the Atharvaveda.^[49]^[50] This ritual underscores causal respect for the land's stability and fertility, with participants digging a small pit to symbolize harmony between human activity and natural forces, and it remains standard in modern Indian real estate and farming projects as of 2023.^[31] Daily and periodic observances include offerings during household pujas, where Prithvi is honored as the supportive element (bhuta) in the panchamahabhuta framework, such as touching the earth with the forehead in prostration or drawing kolam (rangoli) patterns at thresholds in South Indian traditions to invoke her protective energies.^[3] Specialized variants like Prithvi Sri Chakra Puja involve creating large yantra mandalas on the ground filled with sacred substances for communal worship, emphasizing her as a transformative feminine force, though these are less widespread and often tied to tantric or regional sects.^[51] Among festivals, the Raja Parba (or Raja Festival) in Odisha stands out as a three-to-four-day event in mid-June, dedicated explicitly to Bhudevi as the earth's menstrual cycle analogue, celebrating feminine fertility and agricultural onset with swings (doli), dairy feasts, and prohibitions on tilling soil to allow the goddess "rest."^[50]^[31] Observed annually since at least the medieval period but continuing vibrantly today—drawing thousands in 2024—the festival features rituals like bathing the grinding stone with turmeric, symbolizing earth's purification, and reflects empirical agrarian cycles rather than abstract theology.^[31] Regional variants, such as Andal or Bhudevi Jayanti on dates like July 27 in some calendars, blend her with Vaishnava lore, involving temple processions and bhajans, though these are more localized to South Indian Sri Vaishnava communities.^[52] Overall, Prithvi's modern veneration integrates into broader environmental consciousness in Hindu practice, prioritizing sustainable land use over anthropomorphic idol worship, with no evidence of widespread independent temples post-Vedic era.^[3]

Presence in Other Traditions

In Buddhism

In Buddhist texts, Prithvi, synonymous with Bhumi or the Earth Goddess, serves as a witness to Siddhartha Gautama's enlightenment under the Bodhi tree circa 528 BCE. During the confrontation with Mara, who disputed Gautama's accumulated merit, the future Buddha invoked Prithvi by touching the earth with his right hand in the bhumisparsha mudra, requesting testimony to his virtuous actions across innumerable past lives.^[53]^[54] Prithvi responded by emerging from the ground, grasping her long hair to wring out accumulated waters representing Gautama's offerings of merit, which caused the earth to quake seven times and thereby validate his awakening while dispelling Mara's armies. This episode, detailed in scriptures like the Lalitavistara Sutra and Buddhacarita, integrates Vedic earth-personification into Buddhist hagiography, portraying Prithvi not as an object of devotion but as a subordinate cosmic entity affirming the Buddha's unparalleled virtue.^[53]^[54] The gesture recurs in iconography across Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana traditions, with the Buddha's earth-touching hand symbolizing unassailable truth grounded in empirical past actions rather than divine intercession. Prithvi also denotes the solid, cohesive quality (pathavi dhatu) of the earth element among the four mahabhuta—earth, water, fire, and air—that comprise physical form in Abhidharma analysis, emphasizing impermanence over deific permanence.^[55] In regional variants, such as Thai Buddhism's Phra Mae Thorani or Newar Vasudhara, she retains protective attributes tied to fertility and abundance, though subordinated to Buddhist soteriology.^[53]

In Jainism and Regional Variants

In Jain philosophy, Prithvi denotes the earth element (prithvi-tattva), characterized by solidity, stability, and compactness, forming one of the five fundamental constituents of matter (pañca-mahābhūta) alongside water, fire, air, and space. This element constitutes tangible, non-fluid substances such as soil, rocks, and minerals, which exhibit mass and resistance to deformation. Unlike in Vedic traditions, Prithvi lacks anthropomorphic deification or worship as a goddess; instead, it integrates into the broader cosmological framework of ajīva (non-soul matter) when devoid of consciousness, serving as a substrate for physical phenomena without creative agency.^[1] Central to Jainism's animistic worldview is the concept of prithvi-kāya (earth-bodied beings), a category of ekendriya jīva (one-sensed souls) that inhabit earthy forms. These microscopic entities, including nigodas (clusters of souls) and subtle organisms within soil particles, possess only the sense of touch and exemplify the doctrine that life permeates all matter, obligating practitioners to minimize harm through ahimsa. Jain texts assert that even seemingly inert earth harbors souls undergoing karmic bondage, with actions like digging or agriculture potentially incurring violence against innumerable such beings, thus influencing ascetic and ethical practices.^[56]^[57] Jain cosmology positions Prithvi within the eternal, uncreated universe (loka), where it manifests in regions like Jambūdvīpa, the central continent modeled as a flat disc in scriptural descriptions, though interpretive debates exist regarding alignment with empirical geography. Regional variants, such as those in Śvetāmbara and Digambara traditions, maintain this elemental and vitalistic interpretation without divergence into devotional cults, though folk practices in Jain-influenced areas like Gujarat or Rajasthan occasionally blend earth reverence with agrarian rituals, emphasizing fertility and non-harm rather than theistic invocation. These variants underscore causal realism in karma theory, where interaction with Prithvi affects soul liberation, but lack independent scriptural elaboration beyond core texts like the Tattvārtha Sūtra.^[58]^[59]

Comparative Mythology

Indo-European Cognates

The Sanskrit term Pṛthivī, denoting the Vedic earth goddess, derives from the Proto-Indo-Iranian pr̥tHwíH, reconstructible to the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) feminine noun pl̥th₂éwih₂, literally "the Broad One" or "the Flat/Spreading One," an epithet emphasizing the earth's expansive, level expanse. This form stems from the adjectival root pléth₂us (or pl̥h₁-u-), denoting breadth or flatness, which underlies the goddess's conceptualization as the vast, supporting ground. Cognate adjectives from this root appear across Indo-European languages, including Avestan pəθruua- "broad," Ancient Greek platýs "broad" and plátos "breadth," Latin plānus "flat" or "level," and Old Norse flór "layer" or "plain," illustrating a shared semantic field for describing terrain as horizontally extended. In PIE mythology, pl̥th₂éwih₂ served as a poetic epithet for the earth goddess Dʰéǵʰōm (from dʰéǵʰōm "earth"), the maternal counterpart to the sky father Dyḗws Ph₂tḗr, a dyadic pairing preserved in Vedic Dyaus and Prithvi as cosmic parents whose union generates fertility and order. This "broad" descriptor recurs in localized traditions, such as the proposed Gaulish goddess Litavis (or Litauis), whose name some linguists derive from a Celtic reflex of pleth₂-wih₁ "the Broad One," linking her to earth sovereignty in inscriptions from the Lingones tribe around the 1st-2nd centuries CE.^[60] Similarly, the Greek nymph Plataia, associated with Boeotian land and battlefields, reflects Plátaia from platýs, evoking the earth's flattening or broadening in ritual contexts. These instances suggest the epithet's continuity as a formulaic attribute for earth deities, prioritizing observable flatness over abstract personification. While direct nominal cognates for Pṛthivī as a goddess name are sparse outside Indo-Iranian branches—due to semantic shifts or replacement by roots like dʰéǵʰōm (yielding Greek Gaîa via gʰéi̯-ōm, distinct from the "broad" motif)—the underlying root's reflexes underscore a pan-Indo-European perception of earth as a stable, expansive substrate. In Avestan texts, zām "earth" pairs with sky elements, but pəθruua- retains the broadening nuance in descriptions of cosmic planes, aligning causally with Vedic hymns portraying Prithvi as the "wide-shining" bearer of waters and mountains. Scholarly reconstructions emphasize this etymological thread over speculative divine equivalences, as divergent cultural evolutions (e.g., Roman Tellus from *tel- "support") obscure precise theonymic matches while affirming shared empirical roots in terrestrial morphology.^[60]

Distinctions from Semitic and Other Earth Deities

Prithvi, personified in Vedic texts as the expansive, nurturing earth sustaining all life forms through her stability and fertility, contrasts sharply with Semitic mythological figures, where no direct equivalent embodies the physical earth as a goddess. In ancient Canaanite religion, Asherah functioned as the consort of the high god El and mother to the pantheon, with attributes tied to fertility, sacred trees, and symbolic wooden poles (asherim) rather than literal terrestrial dominion.^[61] ^[62] This symbolic association with arboreal life underscores a broader maternal role, distinct from Prithvi's explicit identification with the ground, soil, and mountains as invoked in hymns like the Prithvi Sukta for bearing the weight of beings without complaint.^[63] The shift in Semitic traditions toward monotheism further accentuates the divide, as Israelite reforms explicitly rejected goddess cults, including Asherah's, viewing them as idolatrous dilutions of allegiance to Yahweh, the transcendent creator who forms the earth as inert matter rather than a divine entity.^[62] Biblical texts emphasize a strict ontological separation between the divine and creation, prohibiting veneration of natural phenomena to prevent equating the made with the maker, a prohibition absent in Vedic polytheism where Prithvi receives offerings and praise as an immanent power intertwined with human welfare.^[64] This creator-creation dichotomy persists in Christianity and Islam, where the earth serves as a temporary domain under divine sovereignty, not a co-eternal or independently worshippable mother figure. Among other earth deities, Prithvi's role as a supportive counterpart to the sky god Dyaus reflects Indo-European dualistic cosmology, prioritizing ecological harmony and endurance over the generative primacy seen in Greek Gaia, who emerges from chaos to birth primordial forces like Uranus and Titans in a theogony marked by conflict and separation.^[65] Unlike Gaia's parthenogenetic cosmogony or vengeful interventions, Prithvi embodies passive forbearance and interdependence, praised in Atharvaveda for yielding crops and minerals without retaliation, aligning with a worldview of cyclic renewal rather than linear divine strife.^[63] Similarly, in Egyptian mythology, the earth god Geb is male and passive beneath the sky goddess Nut, inverting the gendered dynamics of Prithvi's nurturing maternity while lacking her emphasis on voluntary sustenance of life.

Scholarly Interpretations and Critiques

Textual Analysis and Evolution

In the Rigveda, Prithvi is frequently invoked alongside Dyaus as the primordial pair Dyavaprthivi, representing the sky father and earth mother who generate and sustain cosmic order.^[47] Hymns such as Rigveda 5.84 explicitly address Prithvi's attributes, portraying her as the vast, unfractured sustainer of mountains, forests, and creatures, who delights bipeds and quadrupeds alike through her firmness and generative power.^[15] These passages emphasize empirical observations of the earth's stability and productivity, with Prithvi depicted as upholding ṛta (cosmic law) by providing herbs, waters, and paths without favoritism, reflecting a causal view of nature's reliable nurturing role rather than abstract mysticism.^[47] The Atharvaveda elevates Prithvi through the Prithvi Sukta (Book 12, Hymn 1), a 63-verse composition that systematically analyzes the earth's multifaceted qualities as a maternal entity.^[66] This hymn details her physical composition—encompassing oceans, rivers, mountains, forests, and soils—while attributing to her forgiveness for human transgressions like digging and plowing, and invoking her for protection against natural calamities such as earthquakes.^[45] Scholarly examinations highlight the Sukta's eco-centric focus, where Prithvi's stability (dṛḍhā) and fertility derive from observable interconnections, such as symbiotic relations between soil, plants, and animals, underscoring a pre-modern recognition of ecological interdependence without anthropocentric dominance.^[67] Post-Vedic evolution marks a shift from Prithvi's independent Vedic prominence to integration within broader theological frameworks, where she merges with Bhumi as Vishnu's consort in Puranic narratives.^[31] In texts like the Vishnu Purana and Bhagavata Purana, Bhumi (an epithet evolving from Prithvi) embodies the earth's overburdened state relieved by Vishnu's Varaha avatar, who lifts her from cosmic waters submerged by the demon Hiranyaksha around the estimated Puranic compilation period of 300–1000 CE.^[68] This transition reflects henotheistic consolidation, diminishing standalone nature worship in favor of devotional cycles linking earth to Vishnu's preservational role, though core attributes of fertility and endurance persist.^[47] Later medieval commentaries, such as those on the Mahabharata, further syncretize her with regional earth deities, prioritizing scriptural exegesis over ritual invocation.^[33]

Debates on Anthropomorphism and Decline in Worship

Scholars have debated the extent of anthropomorphism in depictions of Prithvi, noting her dual representation in Vedic texts as both the physical Earth—characterized by attributes like vastness, fertility, and sustenance—and an anthropomorphic divinity endowed with human-like qualities such as motherhood and benevolence.^[21] In the Rigveda and Atharvaveda, including the Prithvi Sukta (Atharvaveda 12.1), Prithvi is invoked cosmically alongside Dyaus Pitar as a parental pair sustaining life through natural processes, with minimal emphasis on humanoid form, reflecting a henotheistic framework where natural forces are personified for poetic and ritual efficacy rather than literal embodiment.^[69] Later Puranic traditions, however, portray her as Bhumi Devi, Vishnu's consort, with explicit anthropomorphic traits like beauty, adornments, and distress in myths such as the Varaha avatar lifting her from cosmic waters, prompting critiques that this evolution imposed human narratives onto geophysical reality, potentially obscuring empirical understandings of Earth's inert materiality.^[31] Critics of heavy anthropomorphism argue it aligns with broader Indo-European patterns of projecting familial structures onto cosmos but risks causal misattribution, attributing Earth's stability to divine will rather than gravitational and tectonic forces verifiable through modern geology; proponents, drawing from eco-spiritual interpretations, contend such personification fosters ethical stewardship, as evidenced in Prithvi Sukta's calls for harmony with nature's rhythms.^[70] These debates highlight tensions between Vedic abstraction—where Prithvi embodies endurance without overt humanoid agency—and iconographic developments in medieval temple art, where she appears in sculpted forms, influencing devotee perceptions toward relational devotion over impersonal awe.^[47] Regarding decline in worship, Prithvi's prominence waned from Vedic centrality, where she featured in hymns comprising up to 5% of Rigvedic invocations paired with sky deities, to a subordinate role in post-Vedic Hinduism, integrated as Vishnu's lakshmi-like consort rather than an independent deity with pan-Hindu cults.^[71] This shift correlates with the rise of bhakti movements from the 7th century CE onward, prioritizing personalist gods like Vishnu and Shiva, relegating nature divinities to auxiliary status; empirical indicators include the scarcity of temples dedicated solely to Prithvi—fewer than a dozen major sites like Bhudevi shrines in Tamil Nadu—versus thousands for major deities.^[72] In contemporary practice, worship persists in localized rituals such as Bhoomi Puja before construction or agriculture, invoking her for prosperity, but lacks mass festivals or pilgrimages comparable to those for Devi or Ganesha, with surveys of Hindu practices indicating under 10% of devotees prioritizing Earth-specific rites amid urbanization and scriptural focus on transcendent liberation.^[50] Scholars attribute this relative decline to theological evolution toward monistic or theistic frameworks in Upanishads and Puranas, diminishing polytheistic nature worship without eradicating folk reverence, as seen in ongoing agrarian invocations; however, environmental advocacy since the 1980s has sporadically revived her symbolism, though often detached from orthodox rituals.^[3] This pattern mirrors broader Vedic deity marginalization, where empirical ritual data from ethnographic studies show sustained but niche continuity rather than extinction.^[73]

Modern Misinterpretations

In contemporary environmental and New Age spirituality, Prithvi is often equated with the Greek Gaia as a universal archetype of a sentient, self-regulating Earth mother, invoked to support narratives of ecological interdependence and planetary consciousness. This syncretism appears in discussions linking her to the Gaia hypothesis, which posits Earth as a superorganism, drawing on Vedic hymns to claim ancient Hindu foresight into modern biospheric dynamics. However, such parallels overlook mythological distinctions: Prithvi functions primarily as the consort of Dyaus Pitar, embodying a balanced sky-earth duality rooted in observable natural phenomena like atmospheric support for life, rather than Gaia's primordial, autonomous genesis from chaos.^[74]^[75] Critics of the Gaia hypothesis argue it anthropomorphizes planetary processes with teleological assumptions unsupported by empirical evidence, such as climate and geochemical data showing opportunistic feedbacks rather than holistic intent. Applying this lens to Prithvi retrojects scientific teleology onto Vedic texts, where her attributes in the Atharvaveda Prithvi Sukta emphasize pragmatic benefits—fertility, stability for rituals, and resource provision—within an anthropocentric worldview prioritizing human prosperity over abstract sustainability. This modern eco-spiritual reading, common in activist literature, risks anachronism by projecting 20th-century deep ecology onto a Bronze Age pastoral society evidenced by archaeological records of resource-intensive practices like forest clearance for agriculture.^[76]^[45] Eco-feminist appropriations further misinterpret Prithvi by framing her as a symbol of feminine nurturing suppressed by patriarchal sky deities, aligning her with narratives of gendered environmental domination. Yet Vedic depictions portray her in reciprocal harmony with Dyaus, not subjugation, reflecting causal realism in natural binaries like gravity and support rather than power imbalances. Such views, prevalent in gender studies, have drawn internal feminist critiques for essentializing women as inherently "closer to nature," perpetuating stereotypes that hinder causal analysis of environmental degradation as driven by economic and technological factors, not symbolic gender dualism. Sources advancing these interpretations often stem from interdisciplinary fields blending activism with scholarship, warranting scrutiny for prioritizing ideological coherence over textual fidelity.^[77]^[78]

Empirical and Scientific Context

Ancient Perceptions vs. Observable Reality

In Vedic literature, Prithvi was conceptualized as a maternal deity representing the earth's surface, praised in hymns for providing stability, fertility, and sustenance to living beings, often paired with the sky god Dyaus as cosmic parents.^[79] The Atharvaveda, for instance, dedicates a 63-verse hymn (12.1) to Prithvi, portraying her as a vast, nourishing entity bearing plants, animals, and humans without discrimination, embodying pre-scientific attributions of agency to natural features.^[79] Later Puranic texts extended this to mythological narratives, such as Vishnu's Varaha avatar rescuing Prithvi from cosmic waters in the netherworld (Patala), implying a submerged, disk-like form reliant on divine intervention for elevation and stability rather than inherent geophysical processes.^[80] These perceptions anthropomorphized the earth as a conscious, responsive entity subject to rituals for appeasement, with phenomena like earthquakes attributed to mythical causes such as the writhing of subterranean serpents (nagas) or divine anger, reflecting causal explanations rooted in observable surface events but lacking mechanistic depth.^[81] Puranic cosmologies frequently depicted Prithvi as a flat, expansive plane divided into continents (dvipas) around Mount Meru, supported by elephants or turtles in symbolic frameworks that prioritized symbolic harmony over empirical measurement.^[80] ^[82] In contrast, observable reality establishes Earth as an oblate spheroid planet with an equatorial diameter of 12,756 kilometers and polar diameter of 12,714 kilometers, formed approximately 4.54 billion years ago from solar nebula accretion and differentiated into a dense iron-nickel core (about 32% of mass), silicate mantle, and thin crust.^[83] It rotates on its axis every 23 hours 56 minutes, generating a magnetic field via dynamo action in the liquid outer core, and orbits the Sun at an average distance of 149.6 million kilometers in 365.25 days, with surface features driven by plate tectonics, volcanism, and erosion rather than sentient will or mythical supports.^[83] Empirical evidence for sphericity includes lunar eclipse shadows, circumnavigation consistency, and satellite gravimetry, confirming no flat expanse or central mountain axis as in Puranic models, while seismic data reveals internal structure incompatible with deified consciousness.^[83] This geophysical causality—governed by gravity, thermodynamics, and nuclear fusion in the Sun—supersedes ancient attributions, as verified by direct measurements from probes like NASA's GRACE mission since 2002.^[83]

Implications for Causal Understanding of Earth

The personification of Earth as Prithvi in Vedic texts posits a causal model wherein terrestrial stability, fertility, and upheavals stem from the volition of a maternal deity, rather than from impersonal geophysical processes. Hymns such as the Prithvi Sukta in the Atharva Veda invoke Prithvi to grant firmness to the ground, sustain plants and waters, and shield inhabitants from harm, framing these attributes as extensions of her benevolent agency.^[46] This approach, while capturing empirical observations of Earth's supportive role—evident in soil productivity and seismic resilience—interposes divine intent as the terminal cause, obscuring the need to dissect intermediary mechanisms like rock cycle dynamics or atmospheric interactions. In causal terms, such mythological attribution aligns with animistic paradigms prevalent in ancient Indo-European traditions, where natural stability is not a product of material properties but of a goddess's disposition, potentially responsive to rituals or moral conduct. This contrasts sharply with modern geophysical causality, which traces Earth's form and behavior to quantifiable processes: for example, mantle convection driven by internal heat (from primordial accretion and ongoing radioactive decay, estimated at 44 terawatts) propels plate tectonics, generating continents' drift at rates of 1-10 cm per year, verifiable via satellite geodesy and paleomagnetic striping on ocean floors. Mythological reliance on Prithvi's "will" offers no predictive leverage for events like the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake (magnitude 9.1, displacing plates by up to 20 meters), which seismological models forecast probabilistically through fault stress accumulation rather than appeasement. The implications extend to broader epistemic shifts: personification fosters teleological explanations—purpose-laden outcomes over efficient causes—impeding the mechanistic inquiry that underpins scientific progress, as observed in the Greek transition from Hesiod's anthropomorphic cosmogony to Thales' materialist prototypes.^[84] While some interpretations retroactively align Vedic imagery with ecological homeostasis (e.g., Prithvi's "nourishment" evoking nutrient cycling), these remain analogical, not causal; empirical geology, grounded in falsifiable data like zircon geochronology dating Earth's crust to 4.4 billion years, reveals a dynamic, non-sentient sphere governed by physical laws, unswayed by invocation. Scholarly tendencies to overstate myths' prescience, often in environmentally motivated narratives, overlook this disconnect, privileging poetic resonance over verifiable chains from quantum interactions to macroscopic tectonics. Thus, Prithvi's framework, though culturally enduring, underscores the necessity of depersonifying nature to uncover robust causal realities, enabling technologies from earthquake-resistant engineering to resource extraction.

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Litavi the Earth-Goddess and Mars Cicolluis | We Are Star Stuff
Sep 4, 2019 · If we follow the etymology, her name connects to the Hindu earth-goddess Prithivi, and means something like 'the Vast One, the Broad One'. On ...
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The Gods and Goddesses of Canaan
Apr 1, 2009 · The divine council included the older generation of the god El and his wife Athirat, known in the Bible as Asherah, as well as a younger group ...
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Asherah and the Asherim: Goddess or Cult Symbol? -
Nov 4, 2014 · Asherah may be a goddess, a class of goddess, or a cult symbol, often represented by consecrated poles or living trees. It's debated if the ...Missing: Prithvi | Show results with:Prithvi
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(PDF) Prithvi Mata: Hindu Perspectives on Nature - ResearchGate
Abstract. Indian scriptures describe the unity of each individual with nature by stating I am the Son of Mother. Earth (mother earth).
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The Earth Goddess - Critical Issues Commentary
The Earth Goddess is only immanent (close, or connected) and has no transcendence to the creation as does the God of the Bible.<|separator|>
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Hera As Indo-European Goddess – A Preliminary Investigation
Feb 14, 2021 · Rather, it just demonstrates that the Earth facing (Prithvi) of the Goddess has a Greek equivalent Earth facing – one, as we have seen, of ...
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[PDF] PrithviSukta – A Study from Managerial Point of View
Prithvi Sukta, a hymn in AtharvaVeda, avows very clearly that, the Land is the Mother of the entire biosphere. Indian ancestors understood this truth and ...
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The Sampradaya Sun - Feature Stories - February 2009
Prithvi is also called Dhra, Dharti, or Dhrithri, meaning 'that which holds everything'. As Prithvi Devi, she is one of two wives of Lord Vishnu ...
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Bhumi : The Earth Mother - Mythlok
In Indian mythology, Bhumi, also known as Prithvi, is the personification of the Earth and a revered goddess in several ancient texts.
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The Cosmic Earth in Prithvi Sukta: An Eco-Spiritual Perspective on ...
Aug 1, 2025 · This study is concerned with one of the most eco-centric excerpts in Hindu ethos, i.e., the Prithvi Sukta of Atharva Veda. It aims to consider ...
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[PDF] The Gaian Synergy of Science and Ecological Myth in Vedic ...
The Gaia hypothesis, referring to ethical holism, emphasises the importance of whole entities and spiritual aspects in understanding Earth as a living organism.
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Hindu Worship : A Brief History - Boloji
For all practical purposes, Hindu worship today follows the Gods first worshipped more than 4500 years ago by the pre-Aryans. The worship has been refined by ...
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How has Hinduism changed from its roots in Vedic culture to modern ...
Jan 5, 2023 · Vedic Hinduism declined because philosophically, Vedas were superseded by the Upanishads, also called "Vedanta", meaning the end or the goal of ...
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Why don't Hindus worship gods like Indra, Agni, Soma ... - Quora
Jan 28, 2015 · Please note that all the Vedic Gods including the ones mentioned above are all still worshiped even today. The 8 Vasus are Prithvi(Earth), Agni( ...
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Hindu Goddess Prithvi
Nov 25, 2018 · Goddess Prithvi is the Hindu Goddess of Earth. Prithvi is also the Sanskrit name for the earth. Essentially, they are one and the same.
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Gaia | Symbolism - WordPress.com
Sep 13, 2011 · One of the oldest Aryan dieties, Prithvi shares many common traits with other Indo-European earth goddesses such as the Greek Gaia, in that she ...Missing: critiques | Show results with:critiques
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Gaia: why some scientists think it's a nonsensical fantasy - Aeon
Jan 14, 2013 · Some scientists think that James Lovelock's Gaia theory is nuts, but the public love it. Could both sides be right?
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(PDF) A Critique of Eco-Feminism: An Attempt Towards ...
The primary belief of ecofeminism is that the supremacy over women parallels the suppression of nature and that this mutual domination has led to environmental ...
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(PDF) Ecofeminism and Hinduism: Positioning a Conversation
Critics argue that linking Hinduism with eco-friendly behavior risks promoting a colonial narrative of 'ancient wisdom'. thumb_upHelpful thumb_downNot ...
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Hindu viewpoint on Environment and Ecology
Prithivi is considered the mother and Dyau is considered the father in the Vedas. They form a pair together. One of the most beautiful verse of the Rig-veda ...
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The Concept of the Earth in Puranas
Aug 27, 2024 · Here an attempt is made to present the ancient Indian outlook, mainly from the Puranas about its origin, shape, situation, extent, different ...
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The Representation of Earthquakes in Hindu Religion: A Literature ...
Jul 15, 2021 · We reviewed the main sources of Hindu literature and gathered relevant and interesting explanations on earthquake evidences and causes.Missing: Prithvi | Show results with:Prithvi
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Does the Srimad Bhagavatam say the Earth is flat?
Feb 27, 2019 · The Srimad Bhagavata Purana's cosmology of the universe involves a flat Earth. So there is no ball earth floating in space in the Bhagavatam. So ...
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Facts About Earth - NASA Science
Earth is a rocky, terrestrial planet with one moon. It has mountains, valleys, canyons, plains and so much more. Earth is special because it is an ocean planet.
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Emergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece
The transition from the mythological paradigm exemplified by Hesiod, who attempts to make sense of natural phenomena by personifying them as gods, and the ...Missing: implications | Show results with:implications