ब्रह्माण्डाद्दशगुणतस्तोयं तत्र व्यवस्थितम् । आस्थितं वेष्टयित्वा तु त्वगिवाऽक्षोटपृष्ठगा ॥ ५६ ॥
brahmāṇḍāddaśaguṇatastōyaṁ tatra vyavasthitam | āsthitaṁ vēṣṭayitvā tu tvagivā’kṣōṭapṛṣṭhagā || 56 ||
Translation
There stood water, ten times as much as the world-egg, wrapped around it as a shell wraps the back of a walnut.
Word by word
- brahmāṇḍād
- (brahmāṇḍāt) than the world-egg
- daśa
- ten
- guṇatas
- (guṇataḥ) times
- tōyaṁ
- water
- tatra
- there
- vyavasthitam
- stood
- āsthitaṁ
- abiding
- vēṣṭayitvā
- wrapped around it
- tu
- and
- tvag
- (tvak) a shell
- iva
- as
- akṣōṭa
- of a walnut
- pṛṣṭhagā
- on the back
Meaning
In the Purāṇas the world-egg is wrapped in coverings (āvaraṇa) of the elements, each ten times the one within. Another commentary: the water surrounds the shell of the world-egg on every side as the shell surrounds the kernel of a walnut.