Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c6.s2.12

c6.s2.12

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).