The Geography of the Puranas c7.s5.22

c7.s5.22

The above features of Śālmaladvīpa are more than enough to justify its location in the equatorial region of the old world. There are two such regions within this belt, the equatorial lands of Africa and East Indies. The latter were included traditionally in the South-Eastern Peninsulas of Jambu Dwīpa.⁴⁵ Therefore, by the process of elimination we reach the conclusion that by 'Śālmalidwīpa', the Purāṇas mean the tropical part of Africa bordering the Indian Ocean on the west. It included Madagascar—the Zenj of the Arab and Persian geographers the Harina of the Purāṇics, and the Sankh Dwīpa of some other writers.