Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c8.s4.45

c8.s4.45

The eastern islands in this ocean, which are nearer to China than to India, are the islands of the Zābaj (Java, Yava-dvīpa), called by the Hindus Suvarṇa-dvīpa, i.e. the gold islands. The western islands in this ocean are those of the Zanj (Negroes), and those in the middle are the islands Ramm and the Diva islands (Maledīva, Laccadīva), to which belong also the Kumair islands... These islands are, according to their products, divided into two classes, the Diva-kūdha, i.e. the Diva of the cowrie-shells, because there they gather cowrie-shells from the branches of the coconut palms which they plant in the sea, and Diva-kanbār, i.e. the Diva of the cords twisted from coconut fibres, and used for fastening together the planks of the ships.