Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c6.s3.1

c6.s3.1

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.