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Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c6.s3: 3. Theory of the Seven-Continent Earth

Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c6.s3

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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.

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