The Geography of the Puranas c7.s4.4

c7.s4.4

According to the Purāṇas (except the Padma), the world comprises of seven 'dwīpas.' A 'dwīpa' literally means 'land between two arms of water'. It may signify and 'island', a 'peninsula' or a 'doab' (between two rivers). In ancient Sanskrit literature it has often been used to mean only a division of land (big or small) and no more. These seven dwīpas are so arranged that the central one (called the Jambū Dwīpa) is surrounded by an ocean of salt water. Round this ocean is land again which forms the second dwīpa. This dwīpa in its turn is encompassed by the ocean of sugarcane-juice and so on. Thus there are seven dwīpas or Lands and seven seas (or oceans). The areas of each continent and ocean are such that they increase in simple geometrical progression according to their distance from the central dwīpa.