Thus, the celestial journey unfolds: traversing its ordained path, the Sun moves with both steady and unsteady motion, never ceasing in its course. Above this path, the sage Agastya travels swiftly, his presence marking the southern route of the great serpent and the northern boundary of the mysterious Lokāloka. As long as the radiance of the Sun shines from behind, it casts its light forward, illuminating all before it. Rising to an astonishing height of ten thousand yojanas stands the mountain, its peaks reaching toward the heavens. Within this expanse, the stars, the moon, the sun, and all the planets and constellations dwell together. This marks the limit of the world; beyond this boundary, there is only darkness, for there is no light past Lokāloka. Lokāloka itself is established as the encircling barrier around the Sun, defining the edge between light and shadow. The wise sages discern the cycles of dawn and night, naming the period after dawn as day. By the command of Prajapati, however, thirty million demons known as Mandehas, wicked beings under a curse, dwell at the world’s edge. Burning with malice, these evil ones desire nothing more than to devour the Sun as he blazes fiercely in the sky. In response, Brahma, the gods, and the foremost Brahmanas empowered the sacred Gayatri mantra with the Omkara and the very essence of Brahman, strengthening the Sun’s protection. Then, the one of great brilliance and immense strength, together with the radiant Valakhilya sages, shone forth with their own rays, aiding in this cosmic defense. Time itself is measured with precision: a muhūrta is made of thirty kalās, and with thirty such muhūrtas, day and night are completed. The increase and decrease of days occur in proper order, according to the portions of the day. When the Sun has passed three muhūrtas from the first crescent, that morning period is known as saṃgava. From midday, the time is called afternoon, and after the afternoon passes, it is evening. At the equinox, the tenth and fifth muhūrtas are considered the day. Thus, day consumes the night, and night in turn devours the day, in an endless cycle. The Moon, meanwhile, partakes equally of the kalās of both day and night. A month is made of two fortnights, and two months together form a season. Time is further divided into nimeṣas and vidyuts, and fifteen kāṣṭās. There are thirty-seven mātrās, made up of seven, one, and two more added. There are four thousand and eight hundred vidyuts, but it is also said there are four hundred and two vidyuts combined. The reckoning of time continues: there are five divisions beginning with the year, determined according to the four Manus. The first is called saṃvatsara, the second parivatsara, and of these, the fifth is known as vatsara; this measure of time is counted with the yugas. There are one thousand eight hundred and thirty sunrises, and three hundred and sixty-five years of the Sun. Sixty-one days and nights together make one season, and this is the measure of Citrabhānu, known as the solar year. These four measures establish certainty in the Purāṇas. The mountain’s three peaks seem to touch the very vault of the sky, and one peak marks the breadth of the path, its vast expanse described in the sacred tradition. Thus, the cosmos is measured, ordered, and protected, as revealed by the wise.