Geography of Early Buddhism c6.11

c6.11

The Buddhist system includes Jambudvipa as one of the islands that comprise the world, but counts eight dvipas (instead of seven) and has different names for some of the samudras.¹ The Jaina tradition has, however, new names for the several dvipas as well as for the samudras. The Bhuvanakoṣa section of the Mārkaṇḍeya, Matsya and Vāyu Purāṇas as well as Bhāskarācārya and the Mahābhārata allude to nine divisions of India. Of these nine dvipas eight have been shown to be divisions not of India proper, i.e. they are not so many provinces of India, but of Greater India,² and are islands and countries that encircle the Indian Peninsula. This Indian Peninsula is the ninth dvipa which is girt by sea (sāgara-samvṛtaḥ) and is called Kumāridvipa. This description of India is, however, unknown to Buddhist tradition.