The Geography of the Puranas c7.s4.56

c7.s4.56

The fundamental error which these scholars made was that they tried to identify the Purāṇic dwipas by their mountains and rivers which are enumerated in the Purāṇas. This approach is far from satisfactory. One can place and name any seven rivers in a major region of the world and distort their names according to convenience to suit one's arguments. Purāṇic description (or enumeration) of rivers and mountains in a dwipa can be applied to any region and is therefore misleading. There are other basic natural factors such as climate and vegetation which give personality to a region and regions can be identified with a fair degree of certainty if we know their climate and vegetation. It is particularly so when we equate a 'dwipa' with a 'human region' which derives its identity from human groups on the surface of the earth. It has already been pointed out that human grouping or population distribution is intimately connected with, and profoundly affected by, climate and vegetation cover. Let us apply these principles to the Purāṇic dwipas.