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 physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, In ...

. 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 languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

words ''dvī'' (two) and ''apa'' (water), meaning "having water on two sides". It is cognate with the Young Avestan 'duuaēpa', which means the same.

Description

According to the Matsya Purana 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 S ...

, 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 K ...

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 ...

, the cosmic serpent, who is himself supported by the tortoise named Akupara, who is supported by the Ashtadiggajas, the eight celestial elephants that stand on the shell of Brahmanda. * 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 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 Ad ...

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 cons ...

describes the concept in the following manner:

References