The Geography of the Puranas c7.s4.38

c7.s4.38

The Mahābhārata (6.6.55) describes Kāśyapadvīpa and Nāgadvīpa as forming the two ears of Sasa—the 'hare' (a portion of Jambū Dvīpa), situated in the north and south respectively.²³ The Kumbhakonam edition reads Śākadvīpa for Nāgadvīpa. The fact that in the Purāṇas Nāgadvīpa is regularly described as one of the nine varṣas of Bhāratvarṣa militates against the text of the Kumbhakonam edition, even so Śākadvīpa would hardly have been inserted in the southern text if it had been regarded as one of the concentric dvīpas. Kāśyapadvīpa does not seem to occur in the Purāṇic tradition.