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Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c6: India and the World in Epico-Puranic, Buddhist and Jain Traditions

Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c6

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India and the World in Epico-Puranic, Buddhist and Jain Traditions

1. Date and Nature of the Epico-Puranic Traditions

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The question of the date of the geographical sections in the Purāṇas is related to the knowledge of the country they exhibit. We have referred above to the later Vedic conception of the Indian Ekarāṭ (sole monarch) ruling over the whole earth bounded by the ocean—from one end to the other, which we have explained as an indirect allusion to the Śaiśunāga empire of Magadha extending from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea. This idea may, however, indicate some vague knowledge of the Indian subcontinent bounded by the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the deserts (sand-ocean) of Central Asia, though there is no indication of any specific knowledge of territories in all the outlying regions of India. It is doubtful whether precise information about all the areas of the south and of the extreme east was available to the later Vedic writers. They did not even have any name for the whole country unless they called it ‘the earth’, even though Aśoka (third century B.C.) refers to his empire covering practically the whole of the Indian subcontinent and parts of Afghanistan as both Pṛthivī and Jambu-dvīpa,¹ and, during the later ages, the name Jambu-dvīpa was often used to indicate both India and the earth. In the Pali Buddhist literature, Jambu-dvīpa, is sometimes the name of the Indian subcontinent which then included parts of Central Asia.² The Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas often call it Bhārata-varṣa and Sāgarasamvṛta-dvīpa (Kumārī-dvīpa of later writers) as we shall see below.8 These Indian names indicated the Indian subcontinent together with the contiguous areas of Central Asia. The earliest epigraphic reference to the name Bhārata-varṣa is however found in the Hathigumpha inscription of Khāravela who flourished in Orissa during the latter half of the first century B.C.4 The Jain writers call the land Bharata instead of Bhārata.

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¹ See Sircar, Select Inscriptions, p. 24, note 6 ; p. 50. Jambu is also spelt Jambū.

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² Cf. Childers, Pali-Eng. Dict., s. v. Jambu-dīpo. In passages like Jambu-dīpe Sāgala-nagare Milindo nāma rājā ahosi (Milindapañha—“There was a king named Milinda at the city of Śākala in Jambu-dvīpa”), Jambu-dipasmim kira pubbe mahānidāgho ahosi (Childers, op. cit., s. v. pubba—“It is said that there was once

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As late as the fifth century B.C. when Pāṇini wrote his Aṣṭādhyāyī at Śālā-tūra in the Peshawar region, the people of North-Western India had little knowledge of the south and the extreme east, though later Vedic texts composed in the central region of India exhibit, as we have seen above, some knowledge of East India excluding Assam. In the fourth century B.C., Kātyāyana’s vārttikas mention the Cola and Pāṇḍya peoples of the extreme south. Indeed, Kātyāyana’s derivation of the name Pāṇḍya from Pāṇḍu and Megasthenes’ reference to the confused story of Herakles (Kṛṣṇa-Vāsudeva) and Pandaea suggest that the Pāṇḍyas were migrants to the Madurai (Mathurā, the Mathurā of the South) region from Northern India. The inscriptions of Aśoka mention Cola, Pāṇḍya, Kerala and even Tāmraparṇī

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a great drought in Jambu-dvīpa”), etc., the reference is no doubt to the subcontinent; cf. Jambu opposed to Simhala. Śākala is modern Sialkot in West Pakistan. 3. The river-name Sindhu (the Indus) became Hindu to the Iranians who used the word to indicate the people of the Sindhu valley at least as early as the sixth century B.C. The same word became Indu (Indus) to the Greeks who called the said people Indian and their country India from the days of Herodotus (484-424 B.C.), though the name was applied by the Greeks to the Indian subcontinent occasionally from the time of Megasthenes who lived for sometime at the court of Candragupta Maurya (c. 324-299 B.C.). Megasthenes mentions Palimbothra (Pāṭaliputra, the capital of Candragupta Maurya) in the land of the Prasians (Prācya) as ‘the largest city of India’. Later writers sometimes confused the two senses of India. The Chinese name of India, variously written as Shen-tu, Hsien-tou and Yin-tu, is also derived from Sindhu, though Yin-tu was sometimes wrongly associated with Sanskrit indu (moon). The Chinese sometimes mentioned India as Si-fang (the west), Wu-t’ian (the Five Indies), A-li-ya-t’i-sha (Ārya-deśa), Po-lo-men-kuo (Brāhmaṇa-deśa) and Indravardhana. The Muslim writers mentioned India as Hindu-stān which meant (1) the upper basin of the Ganges, (2) North India, or (3) India. Cf. Raychaudhuri, Stud. Ind. Ant., pp. 78ff., 80; PHAI, 1938, p. 223.
4. Select Inscriptions, p. 209.

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(Ceylon).⁵ The canonical works of the Buddhists and the Jains, probably composed in the age of the Mauryas and Śuṅgas, give a list of 16 *Mahā-janapadas* or great states of the Indian sub-continent and its north-western neighbourhood, compiled from the angle of the writers of Bihar and Eastern U. P. which were the field of activities of the Buddha and Mahāvīra. These include some kingdoms, of the east and south, which were supposed to have flourished in the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. during the age of the Buddha and Mahāvīra.⁶

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⁵ Cf.. R.G. Bhandarkar, *E. Hist. Dec.*, pp. 11ff. ; Raychaudhuri, *PHAI*, 1938, pp. 271-72 ; Sircar, *Stud. Geog. Anc. Med. Ind.*, p. 111. Pandaea is said to have been the daughter and wife of Herakles who made her the queen of the southern part of India. See R. C. Majumdar, *The Classical Accounts of India*, pp. 222-23, 456. The Aśokan records also mention Sātiya, probably the Śāntika of the Purāṇas.

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⁶ The list of the Buddhist *Aṅguttaranikāya* has the following names : (1) Kāśi (capital—Vārāṇasi in Eastern U.P.) ; (2) Kosala (capital—Śrāvastī, modern Set-Mahet on the borders of the Gonda and Bahraich Districts of U.P.) ; (3) Aṅga (capital—Campā on the Mālinī, located near Bhagalpur in Bihar) ; (4) Magadha (capital—first at Girivraja and later at Rājagṛha, modern Rajgir in the Patna District of Bihar, in the suburbs of Girivraja) ; (5) the Vṛji Confederacy of 8 clans (capital—Vaiśālī, modern Besarh in the Muzaffarpur District, North Bihar) ; (6) the Malla Republic (capitals—Kuśinagara and Pāvā, modern Kasia and Padaraona respectively, in the Deoria District of U.P.) ; (7) Cedi (capital—Śuktimatī near modern Banda in Southern U.P.) ; (8) Vatsa (capital—Kauśāmbī, modern Kosam, near Allahabad, U.P.) ; (9) Kuru (capital—Hastināpura in the Meerut District, U.P., with another at Indraprastha in the suburbs of Delhi) ; (10) Pañcāla (modern Rohilkhand and a part of the Central Doab in U.P. ;

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The Jambukhaṇḍavirmāṇa-parvan and Bhūmi-parvan incorporated in the Bhīṣma-parvan of the *Mahābhārata* and the Bhuvanavinyāsa and Kūrmavibhāga (Kūrmaniyeśa) sections in some of the Purāṇas offer lists of the mountains, rivers and countries of all the regions of the Indian subcontinent including parts of Central Asia, although they do not exhibit any considerable knowledge of the territories outside the said area. The compilation of the earlier drafts of such sections may be assigned to the early centuries of the Christian era while the cosmographical speculations contained therein appear to have developed a few centuries earlier.

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That the conception of the earth was not quite intelligible even to the authors of the epico-Puranic sections on cosmography seems to be clear from a statement that it is useless for men to offer arguments to prove or disprove anything in the description of the earth comprising the island continents, etc., that conceptions which are beyond the scope of human thinking should not be the subject of any argument and that such matters beyond the sphere of nature should be taken for granted.⁷

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⁷ Cf. *Vāyu Purāṇa*, 34. 7-8 :

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It has also to be pointed out that the cosmographical sections especially in the Purāṇas often contain confused and conflicting statements. Thus, sometimes in the same work, e.g. in the *Vāyu Purāṇa*, the earth is described as consisting of four island-continents as well as of seven such continents.⁸ Another instance of

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⁸ 33. 4 (*pṛthivī sarvā sapta-dvīpa-samanvitā*), 24 (*sapta-dvīpa-nivāsibhiḥ*), 31 (*sapta-dvīpe tu vakṣyāmi*); 34. 7 (*sapta-dvīpaṃ tu vakṣyāmi*); 46 (*mahādvīpās=tu*

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capital—Ahicchatra, modern Ramnagar in the Bareilly District, in the north, and Kāmpilya, modern Kampil in the Farrukhabad District, in the south); (11) Matsya (capital—Virāṭanagara, modern Bairat in the Jaipur Division of Rajasthan); (12) Sūrasena (capital—Mathurā, U.P.); (13) Aśmaka (capital—Paudanya, modern Bodhan on the Godāvarī in the Nizamabad District, Andhra Pradesh); (14) Avanti (capital—Ujjayinī in the Gwalior tract of Madhya Pradesh); (15) Kamboja (probably in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan); and (16) Gandhāra (capitals—Takṣaśilā and Puṣkalāvatī, respectively near Rawalpindi and Peshawar in West Pakistan). Campā, Rājagṛha, Śrāvastī, Sāketa, Kauśāmbī and Vārāṇasī were great cities. The Jain *Bhagavatī-sūtra* mentions: (1) Aṅga, (2) Vaṅga, Magadha, (4) Malaya (Travancore hills); (5) Mālavaka (Malloi of the Greeks about the Montgomery District, West Pakistan); (6) Ṛkṣa (the Vindhyan region to the south of Malwa); (7) Vatsa; (8) Koccha (Kaccha ?); (9) Paḍha (Pāṇḍya ?); (10) Rāḍha (the Burdwan region of West Bengal); (11) Vṛji; (12) Moli (Malla ?); (13) Kāśi; (14) Kosala; (15) Avaha (?); and (6) Sambhuttara (Suhmottara or Brahmottara in West Bengal ?). See Raychaudhuri, *PHAI*, 1938, pp. 81ff. ; W. Kirfel, *Die Kosmographie der Inder*, p. 225 ; also *infra*.

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Sapta-dvīpaṃ tu vakṣyāmi candr-āditya-grahaiḥ saha |
yeṣāṃ manuṣyās=tarkeṇa pramāṇāni pracakṣate ||
acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāmṣ=tarkeṇa bhāvayet |
prakṛtibhyaḥ paraṃ yac=ca tan=nityañ=ca pracakṣate ||

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Cf. *Mahābhārata*, vi. 5. 11-12.

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confusion is exhibited by the representation of the Bhārata-varṣa sometimes as a part of the Jambu-dvīpa, and sometimes as identical with the latter. Likewise, the Sāgarasamvṛta-dvīpa, said to be the ninth part of the Bhārata-varṣa, is regarded also as co-terminous with the whole of the Indian subcontinent (together with parts of Central Asia) lying to the south of the Himalayan region.

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The same confusion characterises the shape of the Meru region called the pericarp of the earth-lotus by the Puranic chroniclers. Thus it is said that the area in question was hundred-sided according to Atri, thousand-sided according to Bhṛgu, eight-sided according to Sāvarṇi, four-sided according to Bhāguri, ocean-shaped according to Vārṣāyaṇi, bowl-shaped according to Gālava, of the shape of a top-hair-knot according to Gārgya and circular according to Kroṣṭuki.⁹ The Puranic chroniclers believed that such divergence of opinion was due to the sages having knowledge only of parts of the region while the god Brahman alone was believed to have had full knowledge about it.

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⁹ Cf. Vāyu Purāṇa, 34. 62-64.

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The origin of the name Bhārata-varṣa offers another instance of the diversity of traditions. According to many of the Purāṇas, the name was derived from Bharata, son of Ṛṣabha and grandson of Nābhi who was a descendant of Vaivasvata Manu,¹⁰ while certain other Puranic passages represent Bharata as the second name of Manu himself.¹¹ But the Bhārati-prajā or Bhārati-santati (the people of Bhārata or the Bhārata-varṣa) of other Puranic passages appear to mean the Bhārata people, reminiscent of the Bharata tribe of the Ṛgveda, the Mahābhārata representing them as the descendants of Bharata who was the son of Duṣyanta and is said to have become a Cakravartin or Sārvabhauma (universal monarch).¹² There are legends according to which Bharata conquered the whole earth and the dominions of that

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¹⁰ Ibid., 33. 52ff. ; Bhāgavata Purāṇa, xi. 2. 15ff. ; Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, 34. 44ff. ; etc.

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¹¹ Vāyu Purāṇa, 45, 76; Matsya Purāṇa, 99. 5 ; Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, 49. 10.

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¹² Raychaudhuri, Stud. Ind. Ant., p. 79 ; Mahābhārata i. 73. 129 ; cf. Bhāgavata Purāṇa, ix. 20. 33.

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vikhyātāś=catvāraḥ, 55-56(catvāro yasya vai deśāḥ) ; 41. 83 (catur-mahādvīpavatī s=eyam=urvī), 85 (catvāro n-aika-varṇ-āḍhyā mahādvīpāḥ), 86 (catur-mahādvīpā nānā-dvīpa-samākulā pṛthivī) ; 42. 79-80 (pṛthivī...catur-mahādvīpavatī). The word dvīpa is often explained as the land having a watercourse each on its two sides (Brahmāṇḍa, 53. 140 : dvir-āpastvāt=smṛto dvipaḥ). Cf. Raychaudhuri, op. cit., p. 68, note 5.

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king and his descendants, the Bhāratas, extended over the same region which is found to be called Bhārata-varṣa.¹⁸

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¹⁸ See below.

2. Conception of the Earth of Four Continents

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We have referred above to the conflicting Puranic conceptions about the earth consisting of four or seven island continents. Of the two ideas, the four-continent theory seems to be earlier. In the first place, the number four associating the continents with the four directions (viz. east, west, south and north) is natural, while seven, as we know, was a conventional number favoured by the people.¹⁴ Secondly, as we shall see below, the Buddhists conceived of the great mountain at the centre of the four-continent earth as having seven concentric circles of rock around it, and these appear to have later developed into the Puranic theory of seven concentric island continents. Thirdly, the early Pali works of the Buddhists alluding to the four-continent earth appear to be earlier than the sections on geography and cosmography in the Purāṇas which were mostly finalised about the 4th century A.D.¹⁵ The earliest mention of the seven-continent theory is, however, found in Patañjali's Mahābhāṣya which was originally composed in the second century B. C., though the work as we have it now appears to contain later additions.¹⁶

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¹⁴ Cf. Ved. Ind.. Vol. ii, p. 424.

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¹⁵ Cf. Sircar, Stud. Geog. Anc. Med. Ind., p.

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¹⁶ Kielhorn's ed., Vol. i, p. 9—sapta-dvīpā vasumatī. For the date of the work, see IHQ, Vol. xv., pp., 633ff.

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The number of the dvīpas forming the earth was sometimes also mentioned as nine or thirteen;¹⁷ but these conceptions apparently depended on the idea that the Bhārata-varṣa itself consisted of a number of islands like Indra-dvīpa, Nāga-dvīpa, etc., to which reference will be made below.

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¹⁷ Raychaudhuri, Stud. Ind. Ant., p. 66, note 2 ; Padma Purāṇa, Svarga, vii. 26 (nava-dvīpā medinī) ; Mahābhārata, i. 74. 19 (trayodaśa samudrasya dvīpān ; cf. Nīlakaṇṭha's commentary).

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In the Pali literature, the expression Cakravāla-parvata is sometimes used to indicate ‘the world’s end’ and Cakravāla-rājya ‘the whole world’. A Cakravāla is a vast circular plane covered with water with Mount Meru or Mahāmeru (Pali Sineru) standing at the centre.¹⁸ There are seven Kulācalas or concentric circles of rock around Meru. Beyond these on the north, east, south and west lie the four great dvipas or continents and the whole is encircled by the Cakravāla-parvata. There are many Cakravālas scattered through the space in infinite numbers and each of them has its own sun and moon. The Cakravālas are arranged in groups of three, which touch each other, the triangular space in the centre of each group being occupied by the hell called Lokāntarika.¹⁹ The height of Meru is 84,000 yojanas and its base is inhabited by the Asuras, its summit being the heaven of the Trayastriṃśa gods.

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¹³ Cf. Mahābhārata, i. 73. 131 ; Viṣṇu Purāṇa, ii. 3. 1.

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¹⁸ The name reminds us of Mount Meros located by Greek writers above Nysa between the Kophen and the Indus (Raychaudhuri, PHAI, 19 8, p. 198).

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¹⁹ See, for reference, Childers, Pali-Eng. Dict., s.v. cakkavālam, Meru, etc.

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According to the Buddhist conception, in each Cakravāla, between the Cakravāla-parvata and the outermost of the rocky circles which environ the Meru mountain, lies a vast ocean, and the four mahādvipas (great islands or continents) are situated in the said ocean, equidistant from each other. The northern among them is called Uttara-Kuru (or Kuru), the southern Jambu-dvīpa, the eastern Pūrva-Videha and the western Apara-Godāna (Goyāna in Pali). Of the four continents, Jambu-dvīpa is bigger than the others. It is one hundred thousand yojanas in diameter, and India is included it. The four continents are sometimes called merely the catvāro dvīpāḥ (the four islands).²⁰

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²⁰ Ibid., s.v. mahādipo. The ‘four continents’ are alluded to in the Saṃyuttanikāya Vimānavatthu, Petavatthu, etc. (P.T.S. Pali-Eng. Dict., s.v. dīpa). The Buddhist writers conceived of three types of sovereign rulers, viz. Cakravāla-cakravartin (ruler of a cakravāla), Dvipa-cakravartin (ruler of a dvipa) and Pradeśa-cakravartin (ruler of the part of a dvipa). See Childers, op. cit., s.v. cakkavatti. Hiuen-tsang says that around the Sumeru are seven mountains and seven seas ; outside the seven gold mountains is the salt sea ; in the sea there are four islands, viz. Kuru, Godāna, Videha and Jambu (Watters, On Yuan Chwang’s Travels in India, Vol. i, pp. 31-32).

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In Buddhist literature, Mount Meru or Sumeru is also called Hemameru, Mahāmeru and Sineru. It is submerged in the sea at the centre of the world to a depth of 84,000 yojanas and rises above also to the same height. The seven circular mountain ranges surrounding it are the Yugandhara, Īśadhara, Karavika, Sudarśana, Nemindhara, Vinataka and Aśvakarṇa. On its top is the Trayastriṃśa and at its foot the Asura-bhavana (10,000 yojanas in extent) while the four mahā-dvipas together with their 200 smaller dvipas are about its middle. Each Cakravāla has its own Meru which is characterised by its unshakability, though a time comes when even the Meru is also destroyed. When the Buddha went to Trayastriṃśa, he covered the distance from the earth (6,800,000 yojanas) in three strides which remind us of the three steps of Ṛgvedic Viṣṇu. The Buddha set his right foot down on the top of the Yugandhara and his left on the Meru while the third step brought him to the Trayastriṃśa.²¹

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²¹ Malalasekera, Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, Vol. ii, p. 1136, s.v. Sineru.

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The same conception of the four island continents around the Meru is found in the Purāṇas. According to this, the earth consists of four great dvipas resembling four petals of a lotus, the pericarp of which is represented by the Meru or Sumeru mountain which the Mahābhārata locates beyond the Himalayas near the Central Asian deserts.²² The said earth-lotus sprang from Viṣṇu's navel and the god Brahman appeard on it. Mount Meru is 84,000 yojanas high and has 16,000 yojanas under the surface of the earth. Its top surface has an expanse of 32,000 yojanas and is inhabited by the gods and other divine and semi-divine beings. On the east, south, west and north of Mount Meru are respectively the four countries called Bhadrāśva, Bhārata (or Jambu-dvīpa), Ketumāla and Uttara-Kuru (or Kuru) which are like the petals of the earth-lotus and measure 100,000 yojanas in length and 80,000 yojanas in breadth. They are beyond the circular area around Meru measuring 64,000 yojanas.²³

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²² Cf. xvii. 2. 1-2.

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²³ Vāyu Purāṇa, 34. 37ff. ; cf. Mahābhārata, vi. 6. 12-13 ; etc. The southern continent is called Jambu-dvīpa instead of Bhārata in the Mahābhārata cited above as also sometimes in the Purāṇas ; cf., e.g., Vāyu Purāṇa, 34. 56 ; also Viṣṇu Purāṇa, ii. 2.38 which employs the name Kuru for Uttara-Kuru. Details of the description are not exactly the same in the different Purāṇas. The Vāyu gives the names of the Kulācalas, janapadas, rivers, etc., of Ketumāla (ch. 43), Bhadrāśva (ch. 44) and Uttara-Kuru (ch. 45). In Ch. 45, similar details are also given for Ramaṇaka and Hiraṇvata (cf. infra). The same chapter describes, among other things, Candra-dvīpa (5,000 yojanas to the south of Uttara-Kuru) and its river Candrāvatī as well as the Bhadrākara-dvīpa to its west.

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It will be seen that while the name of the northern continent, i.e. Kuru or Uttara-Kuru is common to both the Buddhist and Puranic lists, the name of the southern continent is also Jambu-dvīpa in both lists, though the epico-Puranic tradition often calls it Bhārata. In respect of the names of the eastern and western continents, the two lists differ widely.

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We have seen that the later Vedic literature places the land of the Uttara-Kuru beyond the Himavat apparently in the region of Central Asia, though gradually they came to be regarded as inhabiting the land of the gods probably about the Meru mountain near the Central Asian deserts and also as a mythical or semi-mythical people whose country was a sort of El Dorado. The name Uttara-Kuru, called Ottorokorha by Ptolemy, has thus a somewhat historical basis. If however the northern island included the Uttara-Kuru land in Central Asia, the southern island, called Jambu-dvīpa, would practically be identical with the Indian sub-continent together with the Himalayan range even if the epico-Puranic tradition would not have often applied the name Bhārata to the same island.

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We have already discussed the conflicting tradition regarding the interpretation of the name Bhārata. The Puranic interpretation of the name Jambu-dvīpa, as we shall see, is similar to that offered by the Buddhists.

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According to the Buddhists, the Jambu-dvīpa derives its name from the Jambu-tree (also called naga) which grows there. Its trunk is 15 yojanas in girth, its outstanding branches 50 yojanas in length and its height and the extent of its shade 100 yojanas each in extent. For the said tree, the dvīpa is also called Jambu-saṇḍa. The continent is 10,000 yojanas in extent, of which 4,000 are covered by the sea and 3000 each are occupied by the Himavat range and by human habitations. The number of the cities in the Jambu-dvīpa during Aśoka’s reign was 84000, and, in each one of them, the Maurya king built a monastery. The Buddhas and Cakravartins are only born in this dvīpa and the Buddha Gautama declared that the people of the Jambu-dvīpa excel those of Uttara-Kuru and of Trayastriṃśa, the second of the 6 Deva-worlds.²⁴ The Puranic views on the names Jambu-dvīpa, Bhadrāśva and Ketumāla will be discussed later in connection with the seven-continent theory. But a word requires to be said here about the Buddhist names Pūrva-Videha and Apara-Godāna (Apara-Goyāna in Pali).

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²⁴ Malalasekera, Dict. Pali Proper Names, s.v. Jambu-dīpa.

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The name Pūrva-Videha means ‘Eastern Videha’ or ‘Videha in the East’, and Videha was the name of the land of the people of the same name, which was situated in North Bihar together with the contiguous parts of the Nepalese Tarai.

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It is not easy to explain this peculiar name applied by the Buddhists, who may have borrowed the four-continent theory from the Puranic writers, to the eastern continent of the earth. One thing that occurs to us is that Lord Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born at a place near Bhagwanpur in the Tarai to the north of the Champaran District of North Bihar, so that the name Videha in Eastern India had a special significance to the followers of the Buddha. The enigmatic name Apara-Godāna (Goyāna) has even no such basis. It seems to be an arbitrary concoction which the Buddhists invariably exhibited while borrowing something from the Brahmanical literature.²⁵

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²⁵ Cf. the Dasaratha and Ghaṭa Jātaka stories.

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That the conception of the four-continent earth lingered on ever after the seven-continent theory had attained great popularity is sometimes indicated by the Purāṇas which speak of the four forms of Viṣṇu in the four islands (Hayaśiras in Bhadrāśva, Varāha in Ketumāla, Kūrma in Bhārata and Matsya in Kuru or Uttara-Kuru)²⁶ as also of the four courses of the Ganges falling from the moon on to Mount Meru and then flowing east through Bhadrāśva, north through Uttara-Kuru and west through Ketumāla, while its southern stream was held up by Śiva in the Himavat, who allowed it to pass to the south sea through Bhārata or Bhagīratha’s kingdom at the latter’s request.²⁷

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²⁶ See Viṣṇu Purāṇa, ii. 2. 49.

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²⁷ Cf. Viṣṇu Purāṇa, ii. 2. 31ff. ; Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, 56. For the date of the geographical section of the Purāṇas, see Sircar, Stud. Geog. Anc. Med. Ind., pp. 18-19 ; also above, p. 35.

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Pūrva-Videha and Apara-Godāna are each 7,000 yojanas in extent. Apara-Godāna, like the other continents, is said to have 500 islands and is inhabited by men who have no houses. It has a Kadamba-tree at the centre, whose trunk is 15 yojanas in girth and whose branches cover 50 yojanas in extent. At sunrise in Jambu-dvīpa, it is midnight in Apara-Godāna, and sunset in the latter is midnight in the former, while sunrise in Apara-Godāna is noon in Jambu-dvīpa, sunset in Pūrva-Videha and midnight in Uttara-Kuru. A Cakravartin (such as Māndhātṛ) would first conquer Pūrva-Videha, next Jambu-dvīpa, then Apara-Godāna and finally Uttara-Kuru.

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Uttara-Kuru, the land of the Yakṣas who have no houses, is ruled by Kuvera or Vaiśravaṇa with his capital at Alakamandā and citadel at Viṣāṇa. The continent is 8000 yojanas in extent and is surrounded by sea. The chief queen of a Cakravartin comes from the race of the king of the Madras or from Uttara-Kuru.

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This land has the Kalpa-vṛkṣa. Its homeless inhabitants have no property, no wives and no work. Corn ripens and rice boils there by themselves. Food never runs short in Uttara-Kuru, and a pot of rice from that land would never be exhausted. The inhabitants ride on cows or human beings. They surpass the Trayastriṃśa gods in four things—no greed, no private property, no definite term of life, and possession of elegance.²⁸

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²⁸ Malalasekera, op. cit., s. v. Jambudipa, Uttarakuru, Pubbavideha and Aparagodāna.

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In this connection, a few words more may be said about the Buddhist conception of heaven associated with Mount Meru, which is more or less in a line with the corresponding Brahmanical ideas in the epics and the Purāṇas, although the latter exhibit a good deal of confusion. The Buddhists conceived of 6 worlds of the gods, viz. Cāturmahārājika, Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati and Puranirmita-vartin. The lowest of these is the Cāturmahārājika where live the guardians of the four quarters, viz. Dhṛtarāṣṭra of the east, Virūḍhaka of the south, Virūpākṣa of the west and Vaiśravaṇa of the north²⁹ as well as the Devaputras Candramas and Sūrya. The four guardians are leaders respectively of the Gandharvas, Kumbhāṇḍas, Nāgas and Yakṣas. In order to see if men cultivate righteousness and virtue, they send to the world, in the bright half of the month, their councillors on the 8th and their sons on the 14th while they themselves come down on the 15th. They report to the gods of Trayastriṃśa, the second world of the gods on the top of the Sumeru (Sineru or Sudarśana), and the gods thereof rejoice or lament according as men prosper in righteousness or not.

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²⁹ The Brahmanical Lokapālas or Dikpālas were also originally four in number, viz. Vāsava (Indra) in the east, Yama in the south, Varuṇa in the west and Kuvera (Vaiśravaṇa) in the north (cf. Sircar, Select Inscriptions, p. 187). To this list were later added the wind-god (north-west), sun-god (or Nairṛta—south-west), fire-god (south-east) and moon-god (Īśa or Īśāna—north-east) for the other four directions (cf. Manusmṛti, vii. 4 ; Amarakoṣa, Digvarga, 4). A similar conception was that of the eight Diggajas (elephants guarding the quarters), viz. Airāvata (east), Puṇḍarīka (south-east), Vāmana (south), Kumuda (south-west), Añjana (west), Puṣpadanta (north-west), Sārvabhauma (north) and Supratīka (north-east). See Amarakoṣa op. cit., verse 5.

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Trayastriṃśa, also called Tridaśa or Tridiva, which Śakra rules together with Cāturmāhārājika, was originally the abode of the Asuras. But, when Māgha was born as Śakra, he made the Asuras intoxicated and hurled them down to the foot of Mount Sumeru where the Asura-bhavana soon developed. It is said that the Pāricchatraka (Pārijāta) tree grows in Trayastriṃśa and the Citrapāṭali in the Asura-bhavana. To save Trayastriṃśa from Asura attacks, Śakra built five walls around it, which are guarded by the Nāgas, Suparṇas, Kumbhāṇḍas, Yakṣas and the Cāturmāhārājika gods Dhṛtarāṣṭra and others. The entrance of Trayastriṃśa is by the way of the Citrakūṭadvāra-koṣṭhaka, which has Indra-like guards on either side.³⁰ The main features of Trayastriṃśa, which is 10,000 yojanas in extent, are 1000 prāsādas including the Vaijayanta, the four parks including Nandana (or Nandā), the Pāricchatra (Pārijāta) tree, the elephant Airāvata, the assembly hall Sudharmā, the Pāricchatraka (Pārijāta) flower of the Kovidāra kind and the Karkaru flower. The Āśāvātī creeper, which blossoms once in 1000 years, grows in the Citralatā-vana. Gautama the Buddha, while visiting Tryastriṃśa to preach Abhidharma to his mother who had been born there as a Devaputra, covered the distance of 68,000 yojanas between the earth and Trayastriṃśa in three strides, as we have seen above, placing his foot once on the Yugandhara and again on the Sumeru. The Buddha, seated on Śakra's throne (called Pāṇḍukambala-śilāsana) under the Pāricchatraka tree, preached to 80 crores of Devas, though usually the inhabitants of Trayastriṃśa, who met at the Sudharmā hall, are said to be 33 in number. Among rulers conveyed to Trayastriṃśa, Māndhātṛ reigned as co-ruler of Śakra for 60,000 years covering the life period of 36 Śakras. The gods (e.g. Śakra, Viśvakarman and Mātali) and goddesses of Trayastriṃśa often visit the earth and the latter usually bathe in the Anuttapta lake and spend time on the Manaḥśilātala.³¹ There is no female among the 33 gods; but the dove-footed Apsarases of Trayastriṃśa are famous for their beauty. The capital of this heaven is Masakrasāra. The average age of a Trayastriṃśa god is 30 million human years. These gods are most handsome, their stature being ¾ of a yojana and their upper and under garment each 12 yojanas. They live in gold mansions, 30 yojanas in extent. A mansion would appear in Trayastriṃśa when a man performs an exceptionally meritorious deed and would remain vacant till his death. Each day in Trayastriṃśa is equal to one hundred human years.

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³⁰ The expression inda-paṭimā is usually interpreted as 'statues of Indra' (Malalasekera, op. cit., Vol. i, p. 1002).

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³¹ Anuttapta, a lake in the Himavat mountain, is surrounded by Sudarśanakūṭa, Citrakūṭa, Kālakūṭa, Gandhamādana and Kailāsa. The name of the lake reminds us of that of the Anutaptā-nadī in the Plakṣa-dvīpa to be mentioned below. Those who bathed in the lake dried and robed themselves at Manaḥśilātala which has the Kāñcana-guhā and the Kāla-parvata respectively above and below it.

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The heaven called Yāma is midway between Trayastriṃśa and Tuṣita. One day in Yāma is equal to 200 human years and a Yāma-deva’s average life is 2000 years of such days. In the same way, one day of the Tuṣita world is equal to 400 human years and the period of 4000 years of such days is the term of life of a Tuṣita-deva. The Bodhisattva and his parents live in Tuṣita which is the most beautiful of the celestial worlds. The other two Deva-lokas of the Buddhists are of lesser importance and are rarely mentioned in literature.

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According to the Puranic conception, the god Brahman lives on the top of the Meru whose various sections are occupied by the other gods, e.g., (1) in section i near the Brahma-sabhā called Manovatī, the gods Īśāna and Indra have their separate abodes ; (2) in section ii, the fire-god has his mahāsabhā called Tejovatī ; (3) in section iii, Yama has his mahāsabhā called Susaṃyamā ; (4) in section iv, Virūpākṣa, lord of nairṛta, has his mahāsabhā called Kṛṣṇāṅganā ; (5) in section v, the Sun-god has his mahāsabhā called Śubhavatī and the god Varuṇa has called Satī ; (6) in section vi, the wind-god has his sabhā called Gandhavatī ; (7) in section vii, the Moon-god has his sabhā called Mahodayā ; and (8) in section viii, Īśāna has his sabhā called Yaśovatī. These eight sections are associated with the 8 quarters.³²

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³² Cf. Vāyu, Ch. 34.

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The Meru has four viṣkambhas, or supporting ranges, on its four sides, viz. (1) Mandara in the east associated with Bhadrāśva ; (2) Gandhamādana in the south associated with Jambu-dvīpa ; (3) Vipula in the west associated with Ketumāla, and (4) Supārśva in the north associated with Uttara-Kuru.³³ In the regions of the said four viṣkambhas are the following 4 vanas, viz. (1) Caitraratha in the east ; (2) Nandana in the south, (3) Vaibhrāja in the west, and (4) Savitṛ-vana in the north. They have respectively the following 4 lakes, viz. Aruṇoda (east), Mānasa (south), Śītoda or Sitoda (west) and Mahābhadra (north). There are also the following mountains in the different directions : (1) to the east of the Aruṇoda—Śītānta, Kumuñja, Sudhīra, Vikaṅka, Maṇiśila, Vṛṣabha, Mahānīla, Rucaka, Savitu, Mandara, Veṇumat, Sumedha, Niṣadha, Deva, etc. ; (2) to the south of the Mānasa—Śrīśikhara, Śīśira, Kaliṅga, Pataṅga, Rucaka, Sānumat, Tāmrābha, Viśākha, Śvetodara, Samūla, Viṣadhāra, Ratnadhāra, Ekaśṛṅga, Mahāmūla, Gaja, Piśācaka, Pañca, Kailāsa and Himavat; (3) to the west of the Śitoda—Suvakṣas, Śikhin, Kāla, Vaidūrya, Kapila, Piṅgala, Rudra, Surasa, Kumuda, Madhumat, Añjana, Mukuṭa, Kṛṣṇa, Paṇḍāra, Sahasraśikhara, Pārijāta and Triśṛṅga; and (4) to the north of the Mahābhadra—Śaṅkukūṭa, Vṛṣabha, Hamsa, Nāga, Kapila, Indra, Nila, Kanakaśṛṅga, Śataśṛṅga, Puṣpaka, Megha, Virāja and Jārudhi.³⁴ There are other details of the regions such as (1) a palmyra forest on the river Sukhā flowing between the Mahānīla and Kumuñja, which is the abode of Airāvata; (2) the city of the Saimhikeyas on the northern peaks of the maryādā-parvata called Devakūṭa, (3) the Umā-vana on the Kailāsa, etc., etc.³⁵ The number of maryādā-parvatas or boundary ranges is sometimes given as eight, viz. Jaṭhara and Devakūṭa in the east and Niṣadha and Pāripātra in the west, both groups extending from Mt. Nila to Mt. Niṣadha, as also Kailāsa and Himavat in the south and Śṛṅgavat and Jārudhi in the north, both groups extending from sea to sea.³⁶ Offen however the Mālyavat and Gandhamādana, respectively to the west and east of the Meru region separating it from Ketumāla and Bhadrāśva are mentioned as the ranges extending from Mt. Nila to Mt. Niṣadha.³⁷

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³³ See ibid., Ch. 35.

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³⁴ See ibid., Ch. 36.

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³⁵ See ibid., Chs. 37-42.

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³⁶ Cf. Mārkaṇḍeya, Ch. 54.

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³⁷ Bhāgavata, v. 16. 10; etc.

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If the above imaginary details of the Purāṇas are uninteresting, the Jain tradition about cosmography is even more so. There is also difference in the details found in different works on Jain cosmography and between the Śvetāmbara and Digambara works. According to works like the Tiloyapaṇṇatti (I. 137-38), the universe is divided into three parts, viz. the upper, middle and lower, the lower universe having the shape of a vetrāsana (trapezion pyramid), the middle one that of the upper part of a standing mṛdaṅga (a kind of tabor) and the upper one that of a mṛdaṅga. It has been explained as follows: "Three pyramids with rectangular base but with tops chopped off are put one above another, the smaller faces of the lower and middle ones and the bigger faces of the middle and upper ones touching together." Sometimes, e.g. in the Lokaprakāśa (12. 3. 4.), it is said that the universe is like an old man standing with his feet apart and putting his two hands on his waist.

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This fantastic conception about the shape of the universe was clothed by the Jain astronomers with certain mathematical details with a view to finding out its volume. According to the Digambara tradition, while the length of the universe varies from point to point, its height and breadth are respectively 14 and 7 rajjus, the *rajju* being a linear astrophysical measure. The volume has been calculated to

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10 be 343 cubic *rajjus* or 10 cubic miles.³⁸

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³⁸ See W. Kirfel, *Die Kosmographie der Inder*, pp. 208ff.; *Ācārya-Bhikṣu-Smṛtigrantha*, ed. Dugar, Part iii, pp. 226ff.

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The highest of the hills in the lower part of the universe is Ratnaprabha, above which is the circular middle world containing the Jambu-dvīpa, 100,000 *yojanas* in diameter. The Jambu-dvīpa has four gates (each 8 *yojanas* in height and 5 *yojanas* in width and depth), viz. (1) Vijaya in the east, (2) Vaijayanta in the north, (3) Jayanta in the west, and (4) Aparājita in the south. The eastern and western gates stand respectively at the mouths of the Śītā and Śītodā rivers.

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The various spheres including the earth were also the subject of study of the Indian astronomers, whose views along with those of the Puranic writers were admirably summarised by Al-Bīrūnī in the 11th century A.D.³⁹ It is interesting to note that Āryabhaṭa and his followers believed the earth to be moving from east to west and the heaven to be resting, though most astronomers rejected the theory on the grounds that, in that case, a bird would not be able to return to its nest and stones and trees would fall from the earth.⁴⁰

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³⁹ Sachau, *Alberuni's India*, Vol. i. pp. 221ff.

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⁴⁰ Ibid., pp. 276-77.

3. Theory of the Seven-Continent Earth

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The seven-continent theory regarding the composition of the earth is more popular with the Puranic chroniclers. This theory conceived of the earth as having its centre on Mount Meru or Sumeru and as consisting of seven concentric island-continents, each surrounded by a sea of equal area and being double the size of the preceding name in the list, the first of them measuring one hundred thousand *yojanas* in area or extent. The names of the said seven island-continents (*dvīpa*) are Jambu, Plakṣa, Śālmali, Kuśa, Krauñca, Śāka and Puṣkara while they are surrounded respectively by the seven seas of salt, sugarcane juice, wine, clarified butter, curds, milk and water; e.g., the Jambu-dvīpa is surrounded by the sea of salt, the Plakṣa-dvīpa by the sea of sugarcane juice, the Śālmali-dvīpa by the sea of wine and so on. Likewise, the Plakṣa-dvīpa is double the size of the Jambu-dvīpa, the Śālmali-dvīpa double the size of the Plakṣa and so forth. In the same way, the rivers, mountains, etc., of the following island are double in size compared to those in the preceding continent. The size of the seas is also similarly double of the preceding one in the list. But there is diversity in the Puranic tradition in respect of the order of the dvīpas and their names, their subdivisions and their extent, and other particulars.⁴¹ This divergence attracted the notice of Al-Bīrūnī and Abul Fazl.⁴² Jambu and Puṣkara are however the first and seventh in all the lists.

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⁴¹ The Matsya and Padma Purāṇas, followed by Al-Bīrūnī, mention the dvīpas in the following order : (1) Jambu, (2) Śāka, (3) Kuśa, (4) Krauñca, (5) Śālmali (6) Gomeda (for Plakṣa), and (7) Puṣkara. See Matsya, Chapters 122-23 ; Padma, Svarga-khaṇḍa, Chapter 4 ; Sachau, Alberuni’s India, Vol. i, p. 236. As regards Gomeda, Raychaudhuri draws our attention to Ptolemy’s Komedai in Central Asia (Stud. Ind. Ant., 1958, pp. 67-68).

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⁴² See Sachau, loc. cit. ; ’Ain-i-Akbari, trans. Jarrett, Vol. iii, p. 32.

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We have seen above that the conception of the seven concentric island-continents around Mount Meru may be an elaboration of the Buddhist idea about the existence of seven concentric rocky belts, called Kulācala, around the Meru mountain. The name Kulācala, possibly borrowed by the Buddhists from Brahmanical literature, is applied in the Purāṇas to the big mountain ranges of the Indian sub-continent excluding the Himalayas regarded as the northern boundary of the country. We have also suggested above that the conception of the earth being divided into four zones partaining to the four quarters is more natural compared to the complicated seven-continent theory which is based on a conventional number and looks like a later development. It has also to be pointed out that, while the Buddhists were influenced by the early Puranic conception, they themselves influenced the later ideas of the Purāṇas.

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According to the Puranic tradition, Vaivasvata Manu, lord of the earth, was succeeded by his son Priyavrata who allotted the seven island-continents to his sons in the following order—(1) Jambu to Agnidhra, (2) Plakṣa to Medhātithi, (3) Śālmali to Vapuṣmat, (4) Kuśa to Jyotiṣmat, (5) Krauñca to Dyutimat (6) Śāka to Havya and (7) Puṣkara to Savana. Each of the dvīpas was then divided by Priyavrata’s sons to their own sons—(1) Puṣkara between Mahāvīta and Dhātaki ; Śāka among Jalada, Kumāra, Sukumāra, Maṇicaka, Vasumoda, Sumodaka and Mahādruma ; (3) Krauñca among Kuśala, Manuga, Uṣṇa, Pīvara, Andhakāraka, Muni and Dundubhi ; (4) Kuśa among Udbhid, Veṇumat, Svairatha, Lavaṇa, Dhṛti, Prabhākara and Kapila ; (5) Śālmali among Śveta, Harita, Jīmūta, Rohita, Vaidyuta, Mānasa and Suprabha ; (6) Plakṣa among Śāntabhaya, Śiśira, Sukhodaya, Ānanda, Dhruva, Kṣemaka and Śiva ; and (7) Jambu among Nābhi, Kimpuruṣa, Harivarṣa (Hari), Ilāvṛta, Ramya, Hiraṇmaya, Kuru, Bhadrāśva and Ketumāla.

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With the exclusion of the Jambu-dvīpa, the divisions of the other island-continents were all named after the grandsons of Priyavrata, to whom they were allotted.⁴³ The divisions of the Jambu-dvīpa will be discussed later. It may however be noted here that the names Bhadrāśva and Ketumāla, which are applied to parts of the Jambu-dvīpa in the seven-continent theory, are explained by the Purāṇas as territories allotted to two of Agnīdhra's sons of those names mentioned above.

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⁴³ Cf. Vāyu Purāṇa, 33. The forms of the names and other details, as already said in another connection, are not exactly the same in the various Puranic texts.

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The Plakṣa-dvīpa, as already indicated, is double the size of Jambu which is one hundred thousand yojanas in area or extent. The seven mountain ranges in Plakṣa are Gomeda, Candra, Nārada, Dundubhi, Somaka, Sumanas and Vaibhrāja and its seven principal rivers are Anutapta (cf. the Anuttapta lake of the Buddhists) Śikhī, Vipāśā, Tridivā, Krumu,⁴⁴ Amṛtā and Sukṛtā. The average longevity of the people in this dvīpa (as also in the following ones) is 5000 years and the population is divided into four classes, viz. Āryaka, Kuru (cf. Uttara-Kuru), Vivimśa and Bhāvin. The people are happy and do not suffer from any disease. The island received its name from a huge Plakṣa tree.

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⁴⁴ It is called Kubhā in some Purāṇas (Raychaudhuri, op. cit., p. 69). The two names remind us of the Kurram and the Kabul. But Mt. Gomeda likewise reminds us of Ptolemy's Komedai located in Central Asia. See below.

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The Śālmalī-dvīpa has seven mountain ranges (Kumuda, Unnata, Balāhaka, Droṇa, Kaṅka, Mahiṣa and Kakudmat) and seven rivers (Yonī, Toyā, Vitṛṣṇā, Candrā, Śuklā, Vimocanī and Nivṛtti). The island receives its name from a Śālmalī tree. Its population is divided into four classes, viz. Kapila, Aruṇa, Pīta and Kṛṣṇa.

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The Kuśa-dvīpa is the abode of the gods, Gandharvas, Yakṣas and Kimpuruṣas. Its population is divided into Damin (cf. the name of Ptolemy's Damnai inhabiting Serike), Śuṣmin, Sneha and Mandeha. It has seven mountain ranges (Vidruma, Hemaśaila, Dyutimat, Puṣpavat, Kuśeśaya, Hari and Mandar-acala) and seven rivers (Dhūtapāpā, Śivā, Pavitrā, Sammati, Vidyut, Ambhā and Mahī). The island receives its name from a Kuśa-stamba.

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The Krauñca-dvīpa has seven mountains (Krauñca, Vāmana, Andhakāraka, Devāvṛt, Puṇḍarīkavat, Dundubhi and Mahāśaila) and seven rivers (Gaurī, Kumudvatī, Sandhyā, Rātrī, Manojavā, Kṣānti and Puṇḍarīkā).

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The Śāka-dvīpa derives its name from a Śāka tree. It has seven mountains (Jaladhara, Raivataka, Śyāma, Asta-giri, Āñcikeya, Ramya and Kesarin) and seven rivers (Sukumārī, Kumārī, Nalinī, Dhenukā, Ikṣu, Veṇukā and Gabhasti). The population is divided into four classes, viz, Mṛga (Maga), Magadha, Mānasa and Mandaga. The people of the Śāka-dvīpa worship Viṣṇu in the form of the Sun.

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The people of the Puṣkara-dvīpa live for 10,000 years and have no diseases and troubles of any kind. The chief mountain there is Mānasottara. There is no river in the said island. Beyond the ocean of water surrounding the Puṣkara-dvīpa, there is the golden land which is surrounded by the vast mountain range called Lokāloka. The earth including the above regions is 50 crores of yojanas in extent. It is strange that a Puranic passage quoted by Al-Bīrūnī locates the Puṣkara-dvīpa between Cīna and Maṅgala (probably China and Mongolia).⁴⁵

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⁴⁵ Sachau, op. cit., p. 261 ; Raychaudhuri, op. cit., p. 70.

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Reference may be made in this connection to the seven Pātālas or nether worlds, viz. Atala, Vitala, Nitala, Gabhastimat, Mahātala, Sutala and Pātāla which are each 10,000 yojanas in extent. These are inhabited by the Dānavas, Daityas, Yakṣas and Nāgas.⁴⁶

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⁴⁶ See Viṣṇu Purāṇa, ii. 45. There are some differences in the details found in the different Purāṇas, though in many cases the same names were intended.

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Although much of what is said about the seven island-continents in the Purāṇas is apparently imaginary,⁴⁷ a vague knowledge of the territories of Western Asia and Northern Africa seems to be exhibited by a few of the names. Thus the Sun-worshipping Magas of Śāka-dvīpa undoubtedly point to the identification of the said island-continent with modern Seistan in Eastern Iran, which was known as Sakastān in the ancient and Sigistān in the medieval times. It is well known that the Magi priests brought thence their Mithra or Mihira (Sun-god) into India where they became famous as the Maga or Śākadvīpīya Brāhmaṇas.⁴⁸ Seistān was called Scythia by the Greeks and, when the Scythians (Śakas) of Eastern Iran occupied the lower valley of the Indus, it was first called Scythia and later Indo-Scythia (i.e. the Indian Śakasthāna as distinguished from the Iranian Sakastān).

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⁴⁷ Raychaudhuri rightly observes, "the description of the dvīpas in the extant Purāṇas marks them out as things of fairyland comparable to the Isles of the Blessed or the Spanish El Dorado. The very conception of the earth as an aggregate of such concentric islands surrounded by seas is pure mythology" (Stud. Ind. Ant., 1958, p. 68).

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⁴⁸ R. G. Bhandarkar, Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems, p. 153 ; Raychaudhuri, Stud. Ind. Ant., pp. 68-69.

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In the same way, the Kuśa-dvīpa may be identified with Kush, the land of the Kushiya people mentioned in the Achaemenian inscriptions. Some scholars identify Kush with Ethiopia while others place it in Central Egypt, though both the regions may have been named after settlements of the Kushiya people. But, as Mudrāya (Egypt) and Kush are both mentioned in the list of territories under the early Achaemenian emperors, the identification of Kush with Ethiopia seems to be preferable. In any case, the country of Kush, after which the Puranic Kuśa-dvīpa appears to have been named, was situated somewhere in North-Eastern Africa beyond Mudrāya or Egypt.⁴⁹

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⁴⁹ Sircar, Stud. Geog. Anc. Med. Ind., pp. 163-64.

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It is interesting in this connection to note that the names Kuśa-dvīpa and Dadhi-samudra (the sea of curds encircling the Krauñca-dvīpa) remind us of the seas called Kuśamāla (or Kuśamālī) and Dadhimāla (or Dadhimālī) in the Suppāraka Jātaka (No. 463) of the Buddhists. The said Jātaka refers to a voyage of the merchants of Bharukaccha (Broach on the mouth of the Narmadā), who are said to have passed through the following seas : (1) Kṣuramāla abounding in diamonds and having fishes with human body and sharp razor-like snouts ; (2) Agnimāla looking like a blazing bonfire and abounding in gold ; (3) Dadhimāla gleaming like milk or curds and abounding in silver ; (4) Kuśamāla of blue colour (nīla-varṇa) looking like a dark expanse of Kuśa grass and abounding in emeralds ; (5) Nalamāla looking like an expanse of reeds or a bamboo-grove (red like the scorpion-reeds or crab-reeds according to the commentators) and abounding in corals ; and (6) Vaḍavāmukha (literally, ‘submarine fire’) which is dangerous owing to the water rising on every side and making what looks like a deep pit at the centre.

4. Jambu-dvīpa and Bhārata-varṣa

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The Jambu-dvīpa is also called Sudarśana-dvīpa and both the names are derived from a Jambu tree, bearing the name Sudarśana in some accounts, the branches of which are often said to have extended over a space of 100 yojanas.⁵⁰ The dvīpa is described as ‘low on the south and north and highly elevated in the middle’.⁵¹ As we have seen above, sometimes it is supposed to be shaped like a lotus with Mount Meru as its pericarp (karṇikā) and the mahādvīpas or varṣas entitled Bhadrāśva, Bhārata (also called Jambu-dvīpa), Ketumāla and Uttara-Kuru as its four petals.⁵² The elevated central region of the Jambu-dvīpa is styled Ilāvṛta-varṣa or Meru-varṣa,⁵³ which is one of the nine divisions into which the dvīpa is divided. There are 3 varṣas (Ramyaka, Hiraṇmaya and Uttara-Kuru) to the north and another 3 (Bhārata, Kimpuruṣa and Hari) to the south of the division called Meru or Ilāvṛta. To these seven, two other varṣas of a longitudinal character (Bhadrāśva to the east and Ketumāla to the west of the Ilāvṛta division around the Meru mountain) appear to have been added later to make the number nine.⁵⁴ The Jambu-dvīpa is circular in shape so that the northernmost and southernmost varṣas (Uttara-Kuru and Bhārata) are each shaped like a bow.⁵⁵

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⁵⁰ Matsya, 114. 74-75 ; Brahmāṇḍa, 37. 28-34 ; 50. 25-26 ; Mahābhārata, vi. 5. 13-16 ; 7. 19-20. Since the name Sucakṣu (Oxus) is replaced in a passage of the Mahābhārata by that of the Jambu-nadī, Raychaudhuri conjectures that Jambu may be the same as Amu, i.e. Amu Darya or Oxus (op. cit., p. 71, note).

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⁵¹ Mārkaṇḍeya, 54. 12f.

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⁵² Brahmāṇḍa, 44. 35, 41 and 50 ; Mārkaṇḍeya, 55. 20f. ; Nīlakaṇṭha on the Mahābhārata, vi. 6. 3-5.

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⁵³ Brahmāṇḍa, 35. 22 ; Mārkaṇḍeya, 60.7.

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⁵⁴ Cf. Raychaudhuri, op.cit., p. 72 ; for the number 7, see Matsya, 113. 7 ; Brahmāṇḍa, 35. 24 and 28 ; cf. Mahābhārata, vi. 6. 53 ; for the number 9, see Matsya, 114. 85 ; Brahmāṇḍa, 34. 48 ; 35. 7 ; Nīlakaṇṭha on the Mahābhārata, vi. 6. 37.

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⁵⁵ Matsya, 113. 32 ; Brahmāṇḍa, 35. 33 ; Mahābhārata, vi. 6.

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The Ramyaka-varṣa is also called Ramaṇaka⁵⁶ and Nila⁵⁷ and it is sometimes placed to the north-west of the Meru.⁵⁸ Hiraṇmaya is also called Hiraṇvat,⁵⁹ Śveta or Śukla.⁶⁰ It is occassionally located to the south-east of Mount Meru⁶¹ and the Hairaṇvati-nadī is said to be flowing through it.⁶² Uttara-Kuru is also called Śṛṅgavat⁶³ and Airāvata⁶⁴ while the names Hima,⁶⁵ Haimavata⁶⁶ and Ajanābha⁶⁷ are sometimes applied to Bhārata. Again, Kimpurusa is likewise called Hemakūṭa,⁶⁸ Haimavata⁶⁹ and Kinnara-khaṇḍa,⁷⁰ and Hari is occassionally mentioned as Naiṣadha⁷¹ and placed to the south-west of Meru.⁷²

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