Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c6.s3.23

c6.s3.23

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.