Book 7 · Nirvāṇa II निर्वाण · chapters 180–185 · 6 chapters
Kundadanta, a Brahmin ascetic from Videha, narrates his own story to Rama; his companion is one of eight brothers doing penance to rule the seven continents; a nameless old ascetic under a kadamba tree in Gauri's former forest hermitage instructs them; Rama then repeats the tale to Vasishtha at Ayodhya, where Kundadanta is present.
Rama tells Vasishtha of once meeting a wandering Brahmin, Kundadanta, who told this story. While wandering in penance, Kundadanta found a man hanging head-down from a tree by his bound feet, undertaking a fierce austerity so as to become ruler of the earth's seven continents. Kundadanta tended him for months until a radiant being appeared and granted him rule over the earth for seven thousand years. Freed, the man set off with Kundadanta to join his seven brothers, each doing identical penance elsewhere, all with the same wish. On the way they reached the forest where the goddess Gauri had once lived under a kadamba tree, now empty, and found an old ascetic in deep meditation there. Waking briefly, he foretold the brothers' fates: each would die, and their blessings and curses would go before Brahma disputing which was stronger, until Brahma showed the two were one. The eight brothers would each become ruler of a different continent, all these worlds existing at once inside a single house, since one consciousness contains every world. Years later the brothers died, then Kundadanta's companion too. Grieving, Kundadanta returned to the ascetic, who sent him to Ayodhya to hear Vasishtha, where he now stands, his doubts resolved.
तत्राहं ब्राह्मणो जातः प्राप्तविद्यश्च संस्थितः | कुन्दावदातदन्तत्वात्कुन्ददन्त इति श्रुतः || ९ ||
There I was born as a Brahmin, having attained knowledge and established. Due to my teeth being like jasmine flowers, I am known as Kundadanta.
वहाँ मैं एक ब्राह्मण के रूप में जन्मा, ज्ञान प्राप्त कर चुका और स्थापित हुआ। मेरे दाँतों के चूने के फूलों की तरह होने के कारण, मुझे कुन्ददन्त के नाम से जाना जाता है।
सप्ताब्धिद्वीपवलया पालयिष्यसि मेदिनीम्| सप्तवर्षसहस्राणि देहेनानेन धर्मतः || ३४ ||
You will protect the Earth with its seven oceans and seven islands| For seven thousand years with this body, righteously
तुम सात समुद्रों और सात द्वीपों वाली पृथ्वी की रक्षा करोगे| इस शरीर से सात हजार वर्षों तक, धर्मानुसार
अणावपि जगन्माति यत्र तत्र गृहोदरे | सप्तद्वीपा वसुमती कचतीति किमद्भुतम् || ५३ ||
Even in the smallest particle, the entire universe exists. What is so astonishing about the earth, with its seven continents, being contained within the womb of the house?
चाहे कितना ही छोटा कण हो, उसमें भी सारा ब्रह्माण्ड है। घर के गर्भ में सात द्वीपों वाली धरती रहना क्या आश्चर्य की बात है?
The story occupies chapters 180–185 of Book 7. Each link opens that chapter complete — Sanskrit in Devanagari and IAST, with a plain English and Hindi translation of every verse. The number under each link is its verse count.