Historical Geography of Ancient India c5.s2.15

c5.s2.15

An interesting account of Jambudvīpa (Pali Jambudīpa) is found in Pali-Buddhist texts and commentaries. Jambudvīpa has been named after the Jambu tree. (Visuddhimagga, I, 205–206; cf. Vinaya Texts, I, 127; Aṭṭhasālinī, p. 298). According to the Papañcasūdanī, the commentary on the Majjhima Nikāya, it is called Vana or forest (Vol. II, p. 423). It is also called Sudarśanadvīpa which is said to derive its name from a tree growing in it, the branches of which extend over 1,000 yojanas. (Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa 37. 28–34; 50. 25–26; Matsya, 114. 74–75; cf. Mahābh. VI. 5. 13–15; VI. 7. 19–20). The Sineru which is the highest of the mountain peaks, was encompassed by seven celestial ranges, named Yugandhara, Īsadhara, Kāravika, Sudassana, Nemindhara, Vinataka and Assakaṇṇa. The Jambudvīpa looks like a lotus with Meru as its karṇika (pericarp of a lotus) and the varṣas or mahādvīpas, Bhadrāśva, Bhārata, Ketumāla and Uttarakuru as its four petals.⁶ Buddhaghosa, the celebrated Pali commentator, points out that Jambudīpa was 10,000 yojanas in extent and it was called Great (mahā).⁷ The five great rivers, Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Sarabhu, Aciravatī and Mahī, after watering Jambudīpa fell into the sea.⁸ The Buddha, while relating the Cakkavattisīhanāda Suttanta, predicted thus: ‘Jambudīpa will be mighty and prosperous, the villages, towns and royal cities will be so close that a cock would fly from each one to the next’. According to the Sumaṅgalavilāsinī Jambudīpa had 500 islands (Vol. II, p. 449). In Jambudīpa there were pleasant parks, pleasant groves, pleasant grounds and lakes, but their number was not great. Moreover, there were many steep precipitous cliffs, unfordable rivers, inaccessible mountains and dense thickets of stakes and thorns.⁹ Gold was collected from the whole of Jambudīpa.¹⁰ Aśoka built 84,000 monasteries in the whole of Jambudīpa.¹¹ The Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika systems of philosophy, arithmetic, music, medicine, the four Vedas, the Purāṇas and the Itihāsas, astronomy, magic, spells, the art of war, poetry and conveyancing were taught here.¹² There were disputants here in arts and sciences.¹³ The importance of Jambudīpa was very great as it was often visited by Gautama the Buddha besides Mahinda.¹ The people of Jambudīpa led a virtuous life according to the *Kathāvatthu* (p. 99). The whole of Jambudīpa was stirred up by Sānu, the only son of a female lay disciple who mastered the *Tripitaka*.² The *Cūḷavaṃsa* refers to the great Bo-tree at Jambudīpa (Vol. I, p. 36). There were heretics and monks here and the unruliness of the heretics was so very great that the monks stopped holding the *uposatha* ceremony for seven years.³ A dreadful famine once visited it.⁴