The Geography of the Puranas c7.s4.41

c7.s4.41

(ii) The term ‘dwīpa’ (and its counterpart among other nations of the world) was subsequently applied to and associated with kingdoms, empires, provinces and even districts, and a ‘dwīpa’ instead of signifying only a natural region as envisaged in para (i) above included a ‘human’ region, i.e., the territory of a nation or a human group. Thus, although the number ‘seven’ persisted in the geographical literature of the world, the word ‘dwīpa’ was used for all types of natural or human regions—big or small. Thus ‘dwīpas’, wherever they were used in the latter sense, were subject to expansion, contraction or extinction as ‘human regions’ usually do. Consequently the discrepancies regarding their location or existence in different Purāṇas may have roots in history.