It is my general contention that Hindu tellings of "Patala," "The Underworld," is an ancient rendering of the continents currently called "the Americas," the "underside" of the world if your perspective is Eurasia or Africa, sorta like how Australia is nowadays called the "Land Down Under."
Naraka Loka is mentioned in Vedic texts, and it is believed that there are 28 different types of hell within this plane. The Bhagavata Purana describes Naraka Loka as residing at the bottom of the universe, below earth, but above Patala, otherwise known as the 'Seven Realms of the Underworld.'[i]
Thus Naraka Loka "Hell" is underground, i.e., the cavernous "Hell," but Patala is under the Earth, a place where the sun doth also shine.
In the following I provide a snippet of clues taken from my book, To Be or Not To Be...brahman or Abrahman / The World Turned Upside-Down, that the seven realms of Patala (Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talātala, Mahātala, Rasātala and Patala) may have directly corresponded to the historical geographic of peoples in the ancient Americas, North-to-South.
[i] “Naraka Loka,” Yogapedia, December 21, 2023,
https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/10469/naraka-loka#:~:text=The%20Bhagavata%20Purana%20describes%20Naraka,Seven%20Realms%20of%20the%20Underworld.
From To Be or Not To Be...brahman or Abrahman / The World Turned Upside-Down, Chapter 8, "Migrations to the East":
The form of
Shiva who reigns over and is worshipped in Patala, and who resides in Vitala,
is called Hāṭakeśvara, a name perhaps echoed be the placename Hatteras,
North Carolina. Hatteras was named after
the Hatterask tribe, one of the Croatoan tribes of the Outer
Banks.
A southeastern tribe whose name is very close to Hāṭakeśvara is the “Atakapa-Ishak Nation” of the southeastern United States. “Atakapa people, also spelled Attakapa, Attakapas, or Attacapa, called themselves the Ishak, pronounced ‘ee-SHAK,’ which meant “The People.’”[ii] The name Atakapa is purportedly derived from the Choctaw word Hattak which means “person” or “male person” and Choctaw “apa” which means “eat,” thus means “people-eater.” The Choctaw called the Ishak “Atakapa” because of that tribe’s purported ritual cannibalism.[iii] If there was any verity to the etymology of this Choctaw appellation applied to the Ishak people, bear in mind that some sects of tantric Shivites practice ritual cannibalism to this day.
Sanskrit hATaka N. of a country and people MBh. ; a
partic. magical drink BhP. ; (%{I}) f. N. of a river in the lower world …
hATaka m.
sgl. & pl. N. of a country & its inhabitants[iv]
[said to be north of the Himalayas—perhaps so far north as “the Underworld”
realm Patala, beyond the North Pole?]
apyad to eat off S3Br. xiv: Caus. %{-Adayati}, to give more (food) to eat
Hataka (Sanskrit: हाटक, Hāṭaka) is an ancient mythical region or country described in the Indian epic Mahabharata, situated north of the Himalayas and inhabited by the Guhyakas, a class of semi-divine beings akin to yakshas known for their supernatural powers and guardianship of treasures.[v]
Hatakaranda Odisha, India; Hatakata Odisha, India; Hatakeswaram Temple, Andhra Pradesh, India
One of the two main clan groups of the Seminole tribe was called Hataka. The other was the Chiloki.
There were two larger groups of clans called the "Hataka" and the "Chiloki". Persons belonging to the first had responsibility for most civic and religious functions, while members of the second presided over military affairs.[vi]
The Hataka were obviously the Seminole high caste, corresponding to the Hindu brahmins. The Chiloki would then correspond to the Kshatriya caste of Hinduism, the warrior caste.
The Chiloki were probably in South Carolina, when visited by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1540. At the time, they were much more primitive than other tribes. The word “Chiloki” is actually a Totonac word from Mexico, which means “primitive or barbarian.”[vii] [emphases added]
Tamil ciluki quarrelsome woman; cilukiTu-tal 1. to
become disorderly, confused; 2. to quarrel; cilukkan troublesome or
quarrelsome man; cilukku quarrel, trouble; ciluku 1. trouble,
affliction; 2. perplexity; 3. quarrel; 4. hue and cry; 5. mischief; 6.
obstacle, impediment; 7. Failure[viii]
Chiloki is also the name of a village in Uttar Pradesh, India.
Thus it seems likely
enough that Vitala, the second land “down” (to the south) of the lands of
Patala, would have been located in what is now the southern United States, with
Atala likely towards the northern US into Canada. If the seven realms of Patala were indeed on
the underside of the world (to Eurasia and Africa), lands now called “the
Americas,” the next realm “down” from Vitala, Sutala, would be just to the
north of Mayan lands and to the south of Vitala, i.e., somewhere in northern or
central Mexico.
Two images of the Mahadeva Mahakala (Great God Big Time, Shiva) adri murti (mountain-made icon) around the Four Corners region (Data SIO, NOAA. US Navy, NGA, Gebco Imag Landsat / Copernicus Data LDEO-Columbia NCE-NOAA Image NOAA) compared to a murti (statue) of Shiva sitting,[ix] and Maha Bhairavi adri murti standing on or near Shiva’s right knee holding a mace or Trishul in one right hand and a sword in one of Her left hands and apparently holding a decapitated head in Her other left hand (Data SIO, NOAA. US Navy, NGA, Gebco Imag Landsat / Copernicus Data LDEO-Columbia NCE-NOAA Image NOAA) compared to a Bhairavi murti.[x] Bhairava and Bhairavi, also called Hatakeshvara and Hatakeshvari, preside over the “Underworld” realm Vitala.
[i] Wisdom Library Search the Database: Glossary, Wisdom
Library Peace-Love-Dharma, s.v. “Hatakeshvara,” accessed May 16, 2026,
https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/hatakeshvara.
[ii] “Atakapa Tribe,” Legends of America, accessed May 16,
2026, https://www.legendsofamerica.com/atakapa-tribe/.
[iii] “Atakapa,” Wikipedia, last edited February 17, 2026,
accessed May 17, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atakapa.
[iv] Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon (from
Monier-Williams' 'Sanskrit-English Dictionary'), s.v. prefix “hataka,” accessed
April 22, 2025,
https://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/csl-santam/php/index.html.
[v] “Hataka,” Grokipedia Vol. 2, accessed May 17, 2026,
https://grokipedia.com/page/hataka.
[vi] “Seminole Nation Clans,” Seminole Nation, I. T.
'The
Land Between The Rivers', accessed May 17, 2026,
http://www.seminolenation-indianterritory.org/seminole_nation_clans.htm
[vii] “Native American History of Seminole County,
Georgia,” AccessGenealogy, accessed May 17, 2026,
https://accessgenealogy.com/georgia/native-american-history-of-seminole-county-georgia.htm#google_vignette.
[viii] Cologne
Digital Sanskrit Lexicon (from Monier-Williams' 'Sanskrit-English Dictionary'),
s.v. prefix “cil,” accessed May 17, 2026,
https://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/csl-santam/php/index.html.
[ix] Iamkapil77, “Phumdikot Pokhara,” Wikimedia Commons,
CC Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, May 28, 2024,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phumdikot_pokhara.jpg.
[x] Silko, “Bhairavi, dal rajastan, X secolo,” Wikimedia
Commons, CC Attribution 3.0 Unported,
January 27, 1021,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bhairavi,_dal_rajastan,_X_secolo.jpg.
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