The concept of Saptadvīpa (seven islands)

Geography and Astronomy are very important things in the Purāṇas . The archaeologists have described the geography in two ways–one is the geography of the whole world and the other is the geography of India. Between them there is the supremacy of imagination in the first place and the harmony of absolute realism in the second–such belief is of many scholars. In a scholar’s view, the mythological geo-description of the world is not as much a concept of imagination, as is generally understood. In today’s scientific age, most known and widely described all the land masses were known to the Purāṇas and they gave the details of it with a precision. The fault is that the identities of those places are not known uninterrupted nowadays.

The imagination of ‘Saptadvīpa ’ of the Earth is the personal characteristic of mythological geography. Identity of three of these Islands Kuśādvīpa , Śakadvīpa and Jambudvīpa have become very realistic–in nature. This phenomenon of the geographical realization of the Purāṇas is always remembered that Captain Spik (Speak) had found the origins of the Nile River of Africa which flowed in Egypt only after assuming the archaeological sing in the Purāṇas . In the Purāṇas the origin of the river is called Kuśadvīpa. Kuśa countries and the people of the countries are mentioned in many Persian records of famous Parsi Emperor Dariabahu (522–486 BC) (Purāṇa Vimsarṣa ). Considering the Kuśadvīpa as modern Nubia, and following the Puranic description, Captain Spik (Speak) discovered the source of the Nile River. This is the triumph of legendary geography realism.

There was a state of Kuśa people in 2200–1800 BC. Śakadvīpa is identified with ‘Sithia’ as described by Greek writers. The narrative description of aboriginal, dense forest, rivers, oceans of the Śakadvīpa which are in the Purāṇas , is so precise that it is clearly dependent on concrete experience rather than being imaginative. The new colony of India, where Hindus had flown the legacy of their civilization and culture, is mentioned and described in detail in the Purāṇas . The description of Asia’s large, commercially illuminated seven rivers is equally true. Patal has been identified with the Western Hemisphere, in which the ‘Maya’ culture of Central America is the regulatory description of the geopolitical field of Mexico and Peru. Thus Puranic geography is real, not imaginary. It’s still some of its geographic content is so confused and disorganized that on the basis of that the entire map of the world can still not be prepared properly.

There is a combination of two types of opinions to describe the description of world geography in the different Purāṇas . Like the first type where there is a context of ‘Caturdvīpa ’ (4 islands) that is the world is divided into 4 islands–Bhadrāśva in the east, Jambudvīpa in the south (known as Bhāratvarṣa ), Ketumāla in the west and Uttarakuru in the north.

Evidence of this view is found in the Vāyu Purāṇa and Matsya Purāṇa .

padmākārā samutpannā pṛthivī saghanadrumā |
tadasya loka - padmasya vistareṇa prakāśitam || 45 || 
mahādvīpāstu vikhyātāścatvāraḥ patrasaṃsthitāḥ |
tataḥ karṇikasaṃsthano merurnāma mahābalaḥ || 46 ||— Vāyupurāṇa, adhyāya 34 .

sa tu meruḥ parivṛto bhuvanairbhūtabhāvanaiḥ |
yasyeme caturo deśā nānā pārśvaṣu saṃsthitāḥ || 
bhadrāśvaṃ bhārataṃ caiva ketumālaṃ ca paścime |
uttarāścaiva kuravaḥ kṛtapuṇya-pratiśrayāḥ ||— Matsyapurāṇa, adhyāya 112, śloka43 -44

According to the “Purana Vimarsa ” the current status of these four continents has been somewhat estimated. The Bhadrāśva has probably been introduced to China. The Bhārata means our India which is also called Haimavata due to its location south of the Himālayas . The province of the river Bakṣu is called Ketumāla which is located west of the Meru (Pole). The country from Mount Altai to the sea of north is called Uttarakuru .

Dr. Vasudeva Saran Agarwal in his book (Matsya Purana ; A Study of Vasudeva S. Agrawala, All-INDIA KASHIRAJ TRDST, RAMNAGAR, VARANASI, 1963) has made a design of this ‘Caturdvīpa ’–

catuṣpatrī bhuvanapadma
1 ketumāla 2 ṛṣabha, pāriyātra parvata 3 cakṣu (vakṣu) nadī 5 śītoda sarasa 6 varāha bhagavān 7 aśvattha vṛkṣa	7 vaṭavṛkṣa 6 matsya bhagavān 5 mahābhadra saras 4 sāvitra vana 3 somā nadī 2 śṛṅgīparvata 1 uttarakuru	1 bhadrāśca 2 vaivakūṭa parvata 3 sītā nadī 4 caitraratha vana 5 aruṇoda sarasa 6 hayagrīva bhagavān 7 bhadrakadamba vṛkṣa
	meru ilāvṛtta varṣa
	1 bhāratavarṣa 2 kailāsa-himavat parvata 3 alakanandā 4 nandana 5 mānasa sarasa (= mānasarovara ) 6. kacchapa bhagavān 7 jambū vṛkṣa

The idea of four islands in the world is very old but according to the new version the decision of seven islands has been accepted. Although there is confusion about the order of these seven islands in different Purāṇas, the concept of seven islands has been accepted in all the Purāṇas .

The seven dvīpas are–

1. Jambudvīpa (Surrounded by the Kṣar-Samudra or Labaṇodhi)
2. Plakṣa (Gomedaka ) dvīpa (Surrounded by the Ikṣurasa Samudra)
3. Śālmalidvīpa (Surrounded by the Sura Samudra)
4. Kuśadvīpa (Surrounded by the Ghṛta Samudra)
5. Krauñcadvīpa (Surrounded by the Padhi Samudra)
6. Śākadvīpa (Surrounded by the Kṣīra Samudra)
7. Puṣkaradvīpa (Surrounded by the Svādujala Samudra)

This order of the islands is given according to the Vāyu Purāṇa , Viṣṇu Purāṇa (2/4), Bhāgavata Purāṇ (5/20) and Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (546). In the Matsya Purāṇa (chapter 121,122) this order is–

1. Jambudvīpa,
2. Śākadvīpa,
3. Kuśadvīpa,
4. Krauñcadvīpa,
5. Śālmaladvīpa,
6. Gomedakadvīpa,
7. Puṣkaradvīpa.

Among the 18 Mahapurāṇas , the Matsya Purāṇa is one of the greatest Purāṇa which is rich in many geographical data. Geographical informations are described in various chapters of the Matsya Purāṇa by the different contexts.