We can also note the similarity between the above painting of the flat-Earth with its great depths (perhaps indicating the subterranean worlds) and a painting by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) which shows a flat-Earth with huge underground realms. The painting was used to illustrate Dante's Inferno.

A close-up of this image revels huge underground cities; the hellish regions are located at even lower depths.

The concept reminds one of the description of the subterranean heavens (bila-svarga) belonging to the asuras and nagas as they are mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam.

Continuing with our images of the flat-Earth from the 1800's, we can see in the painting below yet another superb example of Varaha lifting the Earth, depicted here as a horizontal landscape, and with the cow and temple represented as the most important features on the Earth.

Vishnu as Varaha Rescuing the Earth, Kangra, 1820-40

We were unable to locate the date and location of the above painting, though once again it depicts Varaha lifting a rather splendid flat-Earth from the Garbhodaka Ocean, along with a happy cow and a temple (or perhaps Mount Meru).

Varaha from a Dasavatara Series, Jaipur, circa 1860

It is noteworthy that as late as 1860, the Earth is still not depicted as a globe. Although the art appears seemingly simplistic, such pictures convey the rational idea that all beings and places are situated on a horizontal landscape, not that they are situated upside-down in relation to each other as is the case with depictions of life on a globe. Please bear in mind the Earth depicted here is meant to represent the gigantic Bhu-mandala.

Section showing Varaha from a panel displaying the 10 avatars of Vishnu, Jaipur, Rajastan, circa 1880. Again as late as 1880 we do not see the Earth in the shape of a globe.

Below we see another beautiful painting of the personified Earth sitting in the lotus position and offering prayers to Varaha.

The above painting can be seen at the Royal Trust Collection. The painting is described as part of a collection of paintings presented to King Edward VII when Prince of Wales by Munguldass Nathoobhoy, 1875. If the painting is indeed from that era then it shows that the flat-Earth was still the dominant idea in the Indian psyche even at that late point, and that Bhumi herself was still very much understood as a sentient personality.

VARAHA PAINTING IN THE 1900's (20TH CENTURY)

We have so far seen numerous examples of classical Indian paintings that show Varaha lifting the flat-Earth. This is an obvious indication that the people at this time did not conceive of the Earth as having the form of a globe. We have also seen how the Earth was depicted in her personified form indicating the people's faith in, and love for the Earth Goddess who was respected and adored as the mother of all. We have also noted how the spirituality of the Indian people was expressed by their constant depiction of the temple and the cow as the most important items to be featured on the landscape of the Earth. However when we enter the 20th century, a profound change takes place as the flat-Earth, the Goddess, the cow, and the temple all disappear and are replaced with a globe-shaped Earth.

Ravi Udaya Vijaya Press, c. 1930

It is interesting that the web-page hosting this image states: 'This is an artistic deviation from the iconographic texts which prescribe that the Earth be depicted as a woman.' The shastra does not, in fact, forbid the depiction of the physical landscape, however, any depiction of the Earth should be consistent with how it is described in the Puranas, and Bhumi-devi should also be included in the image so that the viewer is aware that the Earth is a sentient being with a spiritual form and personality. We shall discuss the shastric injunctions in this regard in part 5 of this paper.

With this 20th century depiction of the Earth as a globe we have not only a complete departure from the Puranic teaching that the Earth is a gigantic circular plane, but we also have an unholy descent into impersonalism whereby the traditional shastric injunction to show the Earth in Her personal form is replaced by the completely impersonal globe icon featuring continents rather than Bhumi herself. Just as Hiranyaksha stole Bhumi and hid her in the murky depths of Rasatala, in the same way the modern secular idea of the Earth has effectively hidden Bhumi from sight. We shall later explain why Srila Prabhupada (although also presenting the Earth as globe-shaped) cannot be accused of impersonalism; indeed, Srila Prabhupada's translation of Srimad Bhagavatam enables us to fully understand the true shape and size of the Earth, and also to properly understand and adore goddess Bhumi herself.

In her book Terrestrial Lessons, Sumathi Ramaswami comments on the above painting of Varaha lifting the Earth as follows:

"Prthivi is not shown in her conventional manner as a female divinity: beautiful, demure, and obviously in awe of the immense male animal God who saved her from the wicked demons. Instead her sensuous, sentient, and obviously female form is unambiguously replaced by the inanimate spherical form of the gridded terrestrial globe, the proud invention of the relatively recent science of modern cartography." (Sumathi Ramaswamy, Terrestrial Lessons, p 286)

Sumathi Ramaswamy also refers to 'the image of Earth as an impersonal spherical globe rather than only a sentient being' (p 289). It is quite striking that an academic outside of the Krishna consciousness movement has noticed this switch from the Earth depicted as having form, personality, and 'sentience', to that of an impersonal, inanimate, spherical planet. The loss of understanding that the Earth is a divine personality has surely fueled the atheistic materialism that produces such soulless images as the one shown below.

The artwork from ancient India depicted a rational world-view where everything on the Earth (the buildings, the people, the animals, and the vegetation, etc.) are all seen to be situated on the same horizontal plane; by comparison the above picture depicts an irrational world-view where half of the Earth is upside down in relation to the other half. The above image actually reveals the falsity and insanity of this worldview by showing that the buildings and trees on the bottom of a globe must logically be upside-down in relation to those on the top. The Srimad Bhagavatam does not describe such an upside-down world. Srimad Bhagavatam describes the Earth to be a huge circular landscape with seven cosmic-sized islands and seven oceans in the form of concentric circles. All of the living beings on the surface of the Earth-circle stand vertical on the same horizontal plane.

Although the above image is unconnected with Varaha-lila, we can still make some comments regarding the difference in world-views as they are expressed in classical Indian paintings, and in modern images of the Earth such as the one above. Missing from the above image of the modern Earth-globe are the splendid, vibrant, and natural colours used in classical Indian paintings; missing are the charming and devotional images of the goddess, the cow, the temple, and the victory of Sri-Vishnu over the demons; missing is the spirit and sparkle of transcendental interaction between the Supersoul and a devoted artist that brings a picture to life. Instead we see a nauseating, sterile depiction of an environment without living beings, cities without temples, farms without cows; we see the lush Earth covered in tarmac roads, refineries, and cell towers. The Earth as depicted is altogether plastic, superficial, and materialistic. Will any real, natural, and scared space remain, or are we doomed to be devoured by this Great Nothing?

Fortunately, Sri-Krishna has once again manifested in the form of the Golden Avatara to save the Earth. Locan dasa Thakura writes:

"The people of Kali-yuga are fortunate, fortunate. The people are all fortunate. The Supreme Lord will descend to the Earth in the place called Nadiya. Fortunate is Purandara Misra, in whose home Lord Gauraraja will take birth. Aha! Accompanied by His devotees, Lord Gaura will sing of Lord Krishna's glories.The mrdangas, conchshells, and karatalas will all sound. A nectar shower of ecstatic spiritual love will fall on the fourteen worlds. Lord Gaura will preach the glories of glorifying Lord Krishna. Lord Gaura will personally distribute the power to taste the sweet nectar rasas of Vrndavana. He will give it to the demigods, nagas, and human beings, including even the candalas. He will give it to everyone." (Locana dasa Thakura, Chaitanya Mangala, Grantharambha, Song 9, verses 471-473)

"In Navadvipa, in Jagannatha Misra's house near the Ganga, I will take birth in Saci's womb. This avatara will not be like the other avataras. In the other avataras I conquer the earth to kill the demons. Then My form is great, My weapons are great, and My demon adversaries are great. Fighting great battles, I kill the demons. I crush them to powder. But now everyone is a demon at heart. Now I will not cut them to pieces with My word. How can I attack them with My weapons? I will show them My holy names, My glories and transcendental qualities, My sankirtana movement, and the power of My Vaishnava devotees, I will show them the glory of the ecstatic spiritual love the devotees feel for Me. In this way I will destroy the sins of Kali-yuga. All of you please go there before Me. Go, and I will follow. Don't hesitate. Wielding the sharp sword of nama-sankirtana (chanting the holy names), I will cut to pieces the demonic desires in their hearts. If the sinners flee far away, the great devotees who are generals in My armies will pursue them. I will plunge the whole world in the nectar of ecstatic spiritual love for Me. Not a single particle of suffering or grief will remain. Into that nectar I will plunge the demigods and all the moving and unmoving beings." Hearing these words, Locana dasa is now filled with bliss." (Locan dasa Thakura, Chaitanya Mangala, Grantharambha, Song 12, 558-567)

THE VICTORY OF VARAHA OVER BRITISH IMPERIALISM

Though the depiction of Varaha lifting the Earth in the form of a globe may at first seem a glorious victory of the scientific world-view over what may be falsely deemed as the primitive flat-Earth world-view of the Vedic seers (rishis), the Christian missionaries and British Imperialists did not—as they had hoped—succeed in destroying people's faith in the Vedic shastra. Indeed, not only is Vedic culture still alive and well in India, but by the grace of Sri-Krishna and Srila Prabhupada, the Vedic culture is now world-wide. In a dramatic reversal of fortune, the British Empire is finished, and Sri-Sri Bhu-Varaha are now worshiped in temples through-out the world. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu once manifested his form of Varaha to Murari Gupta affirming that he would again protect the Earth and destroy the asuras:

"I accepted the incarnation of Varaha to lift the Earth out of the waters of nescience. Know Me to be the ultimate goal of the Vedas. The purpose of My present incarnation is to propagate the congregational chanting of the Holy Names of Krishna. In this incarnation, as in other incarnations, I will annihilate the miscreants for the protection and pleasure of My devotees." (Sri Chaitanya Bhagavata, Madhya-kanda, chapter 3)

Regarding questions about the actual size and shape of the Vedic Earth, it only a question of utilizing actual science to once again prove the superiority of the Vedic world-view. It is not that the Vedic rishis were primitive and unscientific for teaching that the places in the world are all situated on the same horizontal plane, nor were artists naive for depicting a flat Earth; rather they did not fall for the absurdity that people and places can all be situated vertically whilst supposedly at opposite ends of a globe.

As the Bhu-mandala emerges from the ocean of illusion in which she has been hidden for the last hundred years or so, Sri-Krishna will ensure that champions of Vedic cosmology will emerge to demolish the false science and deception of the asura cosmological system.

It's interesting that even in the modern world some Indian artists continue with the tradition of depicting the Earth as a flat-Earth.

ExoticIndiaArt.com

Though the above painting is obviously a copy from an older work, it is interesting that a contemporary artist (Kaliash Raja) has retained the flat-Earth rather than replacing it with a globe.

We hope one day that our ISKCON artists will produce many beautiful paintings of Varaha lifting the Bhu-mandala with its seven islands and oceans, and, of course with Bhumi, the cow, and the temple.

A WONDERFUL PICTURE BOOK THAT SHOWS THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE

There are undoubtedly many other earlier examples of the Vedic flat-Earth in Museums, ancient temple manuscripts, and private collections that will surely illustrate the same point that we have been making here, namely that the introduction of the globe into sacred Vedic art is a product of the 20th century, and that up until the end of the 19th century Indian people still very much believed in the Puranic conception of a flat-Earth with seven islands and oceans. This fact is well documented in Sumathi Ramaswamy's book Terrestrial Lessons which we shall look at in a later paper. We hope that some devotee historians will take up the task of finding these ancient flat Earth maps, paintings, and sculptures from the classical Vedic period. Many of the flat-Earth images will be hiding in plain sight (since no one in recent times has considered the importance of such flat-Earth images they have been dismissively over-looked). Books depicting the Bhu-mandala certainly existed at one point as we can tell from the following narration in the Padma Purana:

"O king, that Kala, thus addressed by the king's wife, got brought a golden box from her treasure, and put it before (her). She said, "0 queen, 0 wife of the great king, this is a very wonderful book. There are pictures in it. Having opened the book a little, see what it contains. By seeing the pictures in it your mind will be delighted." Thus addressed by her, the queen got the box opened by her maid and took with her hand the book that was in it. In it she first saw succinctly (the pictures of) the incarnations. Then she saw the Globe [Earth-circle or universe?] having an expanse of fifty crores of yojanas [4 billion miles]. In it she saw a region full of darkness. Between the two stood the Lokaloka mountain, 0 king. Then she saw the seven islands surrounded by seven seas. So also in them, she saw rivers, mountains, and continents, 0 very wise one. The wife of the king saw this Bharata-kanda. She saw the chief rivers like Yamuna, Ganga. 0 king, the illustrious one saw this auspicious Indraprastha along with Vraja on the bank of Yamuna. 0 king, the high-minded one seeing in it the holy place fashioned by Brahma, recollected the act(s) done by her in her former birth." (Padma Purana, Book 6, chapter 221, verse 1-12)

The above passage certainly indicates that were detailed drawings of the Earth with seven islands and seven seas; we hope that these ancient images will one day resurface.

Prior to the 20th century one can look at classical Indian paintings for as far back as one can find, and one will find that the Earth is always depicted as a flat-Earth and never as a globe. If the people in ancient India had believed the Earth was a globe they would have obviously depicted it as such. The rare instances of globes that are found in India in the last several hundred years can be easily shown to be the result of foreign influence (this will be the subject of a later paper). The globe really only started to appear in Indian iconography in the 20th century, and we shall explain the reasons for this in later parts of this paper.

(To be continued...)

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