Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c6.s4.48

c6.s4.48

Strangely enough, medieval writers like Al-Bīrūnī and Abul Fazal tried to locate the subdivisions of the Bhārata-varṣa in the sub-continent itself: (1) Indra-dvīpa—Mid-India (Al-Bīrūnī), between Laṅkā and the Mahendra range (Abul Fazl) ;⁸⁹ (2) Kaserumat—to the east of the Madhya-deśa (Al-Bīrūnī), between the Mahendra and the Śuktimat (Abul Fazl); (3) Tāmraparṇa—in South-Eastern India (Al-Bīrūnī), between the Śuktimat and Malaya (Abul Fazl); (4) Gabhastimat—south of the Madhya-deśa (Al-Bīrūnī), between the Ṛkṣavat and the Pāriyātra (Abul Fazl); (5) Nāga-dvīpa ; (6) Saumya ; (7) Gāndharva—to the north-west of the Madhya-deśa (Al-Bīrūnī); (8) Vāruṇa—western part of the tract between the Sahya and the Vindhya (Abul Fazl). No importance can of course be attached to these suggestions. But equally strange is the fact that Suvarṇa-dvīpa or Suvarṇa-bhūmi, well-known from various other sources, is not mentioned in the list.