Four corners of the world
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Several cosmological and mythological systems portray four corners of the world or four quarters of the world corresponding approximately to the four points of the compass. At the center may lie a sacred mountain, garden, world tree, or other beginning point of creation. Often four rivers run to the four corners of the world, and water or irrigate the four quadrants of the earth.
In Mesopotamian cosmology and in the creation account of the Bible, the four corners of the world are defined by four rivers flowing out of the garden of creation, which is the center of the world. In the Bible, the garden is the Garden of Eden, and the four rivers are the Tigris, Euphrates, Pishon, and Gihon. The Tigris runs to Assyria, the Euphrates to Armenia, the Pishon to Havilah (Arabia?) or Elam, and the Gihon to Ethiopia.[1][2][3]
In Hinduism, the sacred mountain Kailash has four sides, from which flow four rivers to the four quarters of the world (the Ganges, Indus, Oxus (Amu Darya), and Śita (Tarim)), dividing the world into four quadrants. Another account is of a celestial mountain, Mount Meru, buttressed by four terrestrial mountain ranges which extend in four directions. Between them are four sacred lakes, through which the celestial river divides into four earthly rivers, which flow to the four corners and irrigate the four quadrants of the Earth. Buddhism and the Bon religion of Tibet have similar accounts.[1]
