Dvipa () is a term in
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
cosmography. The
Puranas
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
describe a dvipa to be one of the seven islands or continents that are present on earth, each of them surrounded by an ocean. The same terminology is also used to refer to the seven regions of the cosmos.
In the geocentric model of Hinduism, the seven dvipas are present around
Mount Meru
Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritu ...
, which is present at the centre of
Jambudvipa, the term employed for the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
. Dvipa is also sometimes used to refer to the abodes of deities, such as
Manidvipa
Manidvipa ( sa, मणिद्वीप, lit=island of gems, translit=; ) is the celestial abode of Adi Shakti, the supreme goddess, according to the Shaktism tradition in Hinduism. It is an island situated in the middle of an ocean called the Su ...
.
Etymology
The word dvipa is a portmanteau of the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
words ''dvī'' (two) and ''apa'' (water), meaning "having water on two sides". It is cognate with the
Young Avesta
The Avesta () is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language.
The Avesta texts fall into several different categories, arranged either by dialect, or by usage. The principal text in the litu ...
n 'duuaēpa', which means the same.
Description
According to the
Matsya Purana
The ''Matsya Purana'' (IAST: Matsya Purāṇa) is one of the eighteen major Puranas (Mahapurana), and among the oldest and better preserved in the Puranic genre of Sanskrit literature in Hinduism. The text is a Vaishnavism text named after the h ...
and the
Bhagavata Purana
The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in Sa ...
, the world is divided into seven dvipas, termed as the ''sapta-dvīpa'' (the seven islands). The
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
names the following as the seven islands of the world:
The
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
author
Benjamin Walker offers the following description of the dvipas:
Beneath the celestial regions, the earth is arranged in these seven concentric rings of island continents.
* Jambudvipa is the innermost of these island continents, shaped like a disc. The earth rests upon the head of
Shesha
Shesha (Sanskrit: शेष; ) , also known as Sheshanaga (Sanskrit: शेषनाग; ) or Adishesha (), is a serpentine demigod (Naga) and Nagaraja (King of all serpents), as well as a primordial being of creation in Hinduism. In the Puran ...
, the cosmic serpent, who is himself supported by the tortoise named
Akupara
The World Turtle, also called the Cosmic Turtle or the World-bearing Turtle, is a mytheme of a giant turtle (or tortoise) supporting or containing the world. It occurs in Hindu mythology, Chinese mythology, and the mythologies of the indigenou ...
, who is supported by the
Ashtadiggajas
Ashtadiggajas is the collective title given to the eight Telugu scholars and poets in the court of Emperor Krishnadevaraya who ruled the Vijayanagara Empire from 1509 until his death in 1529. During his reign, Telugu literature and culture reac ...
, the eight celestial elephants that stand on the shell of
Brahmanda
The ''Brahmanda Purana'' ( sa, ब्रह्माण्ड पुराण, ) is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas, a genre of Hindu texts. It is listed as the eighteenth Maha-Purana in almost all the anthologies. The text ...
.
* Plaksha is the second of the ring-shaped continents, surrounded by a sea of sugarcane juice.
* Shalmala is the third of the ring-shaped continents, surrounded by a sea of wine.
* Kusha is the fourth of the ring-shaped continents, surrounded by a sea of clarified butter (ghee).
* Krauncha is the fifth of the ring-shaped continents, surrounded by a sea of curds.
* Shaka or Shveta is the sixth of the ring-shaped continents, whose shores are surrounded by a sea of milk.
* Pushkara is the seventh of the ring-shaped continents, surrounded by a huge circular sea of freshwater.
Bordering the outermost sea is a land named Lokāloka, which separates the known world from the world of darkness. This realm comprises a range of mountains ten thousand
yojanas
A yojana (Sanskrit: योजन; th, โยชน์; my, ယူဇနာ) is a measure of distance that was used in ancient India, Thailand and Myanmar. A yojana is about 12–15 km.
Edicts of Ashoka (3rd century BCE)
Ashoka, in his Major R ...
high. The shell of the cosmic egg known as Brahmanda lies beyond this darkness, cradling all of creation.
Literature
Brahma Purana
The
Brahma Purana
The ''Brahma Purana'' ( sa, ब्रह्मपुराण or ; ) is one of the eighteen major Puranas collections of Hindu texts in Sanskrit Language. It is listed as the first Maha-Purana in all the anthologies, and therefore also called Adi ...
describes the ''sapta-dvīpa'' as such:
Chaitanya Charitamrita
The
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
text
Chaitanya Charitamrita
The ''Chaitanya Charitamrita'' (; bn, চৈতন্যচরিতামৃত, Côitônyôcôritamṛtô), composed by Krishnadasa Kaviraja in 1557, is written in Bengali with a great number of Sanskrit verses in its devotional, poetic const ...
describes the concept in the following manner:
See also
*
Jambudvipa
*
Manidvipa
Manidvipa ( sa, मणिद्वीप, lit=island of gems, translit=; ) is the celestial abode of Adi Shakti, the supreme goddess, according to the Shaktism tradition in Hinduism. It is an island situated in the middle of an ocean called the Su ...
*
Shakadvipa
Shakadvipa ( sa, शाकद्वीप, lit=teak island, translit=Śākadvīpa), is an island featured in Hindu mythology. The island is named after a great teak tree that is stated to venerated in its midst. Its terrain and inhabitants are de ...
*
Kshira Sagara
In Hindu cosmology, the Ocean of Milk (',', ''Malayalam: Pālāḻi'') is the fifth from the centre of the seven oceans. It surrounds the continent known as Krauncha. According to Hindu scriptures, the devas and asuras worked together for a mille ...
References
{{reflist
Locations in Hindu mythology
Hindu mythology
Mythological islands