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The Geography of the Puranas c21.s1.t1: III

The Geography of the Purāṇas c21.s1.t1

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English

III

c21.s1.t1.1

*Reply by Prof. S. M. Ali to Dr. Sampurnanand, dated 11 February 1963.*

c21.s1.t1.2

MY DEAR BABUJI,

c21.s1.t1.3

I am extremely grateful to you for your kind and affectionate letter which I find so encouraging. I wish I could get an opportunity of discussing with you personally a few points in addition to those which you have raised in your letter.

c21.s1.t1.4

As regards Sakadwipa, I may venture to say that I spent some time on its identification for which I mainly relied on the notices of the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa, e.g. Mbt. (12.14, 21.5), and (6.11.4), Rāmāyaṇa (4.40, 19.54), and (4.43.12), etc., which place Sakadwipa east of Meru. Besides this, if we equate Sakadwipa with Seistan or any other region of Central or Western Asia, it does not fit into the Purāṇic plan of 7 Dwīpas or Continents of the World. Regional descriptions of the Purāṇas show undoubtedly and explicitly that most of the smaller regions of Central and Western Asia which are generally associated with Scythians (as in the *Geography* of Herodotus and Smiths' *Geographical Dictionary*) or Sakas were included in Jambu Dwipa.

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Sakas are also expressly mentioned in the Mbt. and practically in all the Purāṇas as a (barbarian?) tribe dwelling in the north or north-west. But it is to be noted that nowhere do they connect Sakas with Sakadwipa. The two terms are entirely independent of each other.

c21.s1.t1.6

It is true that Scythians penetrated into India from the northwest and that Sakas denote Scythians. It appears to be correct that magis or magas (Scythian priests) or maga Brahmins migrated to Bhārat from their homeland and settled down as scattered communities in the north-west. If the maga Brahmins say that they migrated from the ‘land where Sakas lived’, they are literally correct. But this assertion is certainly independent of the fact that ‘Sakadwipa’ is the old name of one of the ‘Seven Continents of the World.’ In other words, in the former case Sakadwipa= the land of Sakas (a people), and in the latter Sakadwipa= the teak region of the world.

c21.s1.t1.7

I feel that I may not have made myself clear in the above paragraphs but I am certain that the term Sakadwipa (loosely applied to land of Saka people) was coined much later and gave cause to be confused with the established name Sakadwipa, one of the Seven Purāṇic Continents. In fact the name Saka-sthan (Seistan) was a better term to indicate the name of the land where Sakas lived.

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I am sorry I have taken much of your valuable time, but I feel so encouraged when I get an opportunity of discussing Ancient Indian Geography with eminent scholars like you who really understand what I want to say.

c21.s1.t1.9

With respectful regards,

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Yours sincerely, S. M. ALI

Cites (2)