RAIN CLOUDS.
In the Vishnu Purana it is said:
"During eight months of the year the sun attracts the waters and then pours them upon the earth as rain;" and,
"The water which the clouds shed upon the earth is the ambrosia of the living beings, for it gives fertility to the plants which are the support of their existence. By this all vegetables grow and are matured and become the means of maintaining life."
JUPITER'S SATELLITES.
In the Vishnu Purana Jupiter is named Brihaspati, and is described as having a golden car drawn by eight pale colored horses. This refers to his satellites.
ORIGIN OF PLANET MERCURY.
The Puranashave a legend that the moon was originally in Jupiter's house but was seduced into living with Tara (the present path of the moon), the result of which was the birth of Mercury, meaning that Mercury was withdrawn from its original orbit into its present one nearer the sun.
THE END OF THE WORLD.
This event is brought about, the Puranas state, by the rays of the sun dilating into seven suns which then burn up the world.
THE EARTH'S SPHERICITY.
The earth, situated in the middle of the heavens and composed of the five elements, is spherical in shape. Aryabhattiyam.
A hundreth part of the circumference of a circle appears to be a straight line. Our earth is a big sphere, and the portion visible to man being exceedingly small, the earth appears to be flat.
Some fancy that those on the other side of the earth have their heads hanging down. Just as we live here, so do the rest, and feel in no way uneasy.
Those at the north have for their zenith the north, and those at the south, the south, pole; the equator forms the horizon for both, and both find the heavens move from left to right and right to left, respectively. Goladhyaya.
THE ATMOSPHERE.
The atmosphere surrounds the earth to the height of 60 miles, and clouds, lightning and the like are all phenomena connected with it. Ibid.
POLAR DAYS AND NIGHTS.
For the period when the sun is north it is visible for six months at the north pole and invisible at the south, and vice versa. Ibid.
PLANETARY LIGHT.
The earth, the planets and the comets all receive their light from the sun, that half towards the sun being always bright, the color varying with the peculiarity of the substance of each. Laghvaryabhattiyam.
CURRENTS IN EARTH AND ITS OCEANS: AND BLOOD CIRCULATION.
Just in the same way as there are arteries for the circulation of blood in the human body, the earth has undercurrents lying one over the other. Varahasamhita. [We find now that the gulf-stream is a well defined current in a great body of water, and in the Mediterranean two currents run out and in over one another. On land are many well defined rivers running all their course underground.]