Yajnavalkya and the Origins of Puranic Cosmology

This paper shows that characteristic features of Puranic cosmology, such as alternating cosmic continents and oceans of successively doubling areas, can be traced to Vedic texts. The Rigveda speaks of seven regions of the universe, and Yajnavalkya, in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, presents a cosmology that has all the essential features of the Puranic system. This discovery solves the old puzzle of the origin of Puranic astronomy.