Dvipa (, ) is a term in

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

cosmography. The

Puranas Puranas (Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature
(1995 Editio ...

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, which is present at the centre of Jambudvipa, the term employed for the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. Dvipa is also sometimes used to refer to the abodes of deities, such as

Manidvipa Manidvipa (; ) is the celestial abode of Mahadevi, the supreme goddess, according to the Shaktism tradition in Hinduism. It is an island situated in the middle of an ocean called the Sudha Samudra (the ocean of nectar). In the Devi-Bhagavata Puran ...

Etymology

The word dvipa is a portmanteau of the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

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'' (; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam)'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' () or simply ''Bhagavata (Bhāgavata)'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen major Puranas (''Mahapuranas'') and one ...

, the world is divided into seven dvipas, termed as the ''sapta-dvīpa'' (the seven islands). The

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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 (), also known by his epithets Sheshanaga () and Adishesha (), is a serpentine demigod ( naga) and king of the serpents ( Nagaraja), as well as a primordial being of creation in Hinduism. In the Puranas, Shesha is said to hold all 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 A yojana (Devanagari: योजन; Khmer language: យោជន៍; ; ) is a measure of distance that was used in ancient India, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. Various textual sources from ancient India define Yojana as ranging from 3.5 to 15& ...

high. The shell of the cosmic egg known as Brahmanda lies beyond this darkness, cradling all of creation.

Literature

Brahma Purana

The Brahma Purana describes the ''sapta-dvīpa'' as such:

Chaitanya Charitamrita

The Bengali text

Chaitanya Charitamrita The ''Chaitanya Charitamrita'' (; ), composed by Krishnadasa Kaviraja in 1557, is written in Bengali with a great number of Sanskrit verses in its devotional, poetic construction, including '' Shikshashtakam''. It is one of the primary biogr ...

, written c. 1557, describes the concept in the following manner:

References