Text 8
yatra ha vai śālmalī plakṣāyāmā yasyāṁ vāva kila nilayam āhur bhagavataś chandaḥ-stutaḥ patattri-rājasya sā dvīpa-hūtaye upalakṣyate.
yatra — where; ha vai — certainly; śālmalī — a śālmalī tree; plakṣa-āyāmā — as big as the plakṣa tree (one hundred yojanas broad and eleven hundred yojanas high); yasyām — in which; vāva kila — indeed; nilayam — rest or living place; āhuḥ — they say; bhagavataḥ — of the most powerful; chandaḥ-stutaḥ — who worships the Lord by Vedic prayers; patattri-rājasya — of Garuḍa, the carrier of Lord Viṣṇu; sā — that tree; dvīpa-hūtaye — for the name of the island; upalakṣyate — is distinguished.
On Sālmalīdvīpa there is a śālmalī tree, from which the island takes its name. That tree is as broad and tall as the plakṣa tree — in other words 100 yojanas [800 miles] broad and 1,100 yojanas [8,800 miles] tall. Learned scholars say that this gigantic tree is the residence of Garuḍa, the king of all birds and carrier of Lord Viṣṇu. In that tree, Garuḍa offers Lord Viṣṇu his Vedic prayers.