at least half a dozen cosmographic globes all largely based on the Puranas, are known to have existed and are held in various collections in Britain and India.
The oldest and perhaps most fascinating of these is the bhugola of Ksema Karna, a globe-shaped brass container intricately etched to indicate the various components of the earth based on Puranic sources, but modified in the light of knowledge derived from post-Ptolemaic Sanskrit astronomers. It was most probably made to hold spices.
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