Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c6.s3.4

c6.s3.4

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.