Plaksadvipa

Plakṣadvīpa (Sanskrit: प्लक्षद्वीप) is the dvipa ("island" or "continent") of the terrestrial world, as envisioned in the cosmologies of Hinduism, is among seven dvipas as described by Bhagavata Puranas[1]

The word Plakṣadvīpa literally refers to "the land of fig trees" where Plakṣa is the name of the species (also called Plaksl or Fig) and dvīpa means "island" or "continent".

More than 2000 years ago the writers of Puranas have adopted similar method and divided earth in to natural divisions based on the predominant flora or fauna of this region. According to Matsya, Bhagavata Puranas, the world was divided into 7 dvipas.

They are:

  1. Jambu dvipa (land of the Indian berries) - Asia (According to interpretation of Naryan A. Bangera)
  2. Kusha dvipa (land of grass) - Oceania including Indonesia and the Philippines (excl. Australia)(According to interpretation of Naryan A. Bangera)
  3. Plaksha dvipa (land of the fig trees) - South America(According to interpretation of Naryan A. Bangera)
  4. Pushkara dvipa (land of lakes) - Africa (According to interpretation of Naryan A. Bangera)
  5. Shalmali dvipa (land of the silk cotton trees) - Australia (According to interpretation of Naryan A. Bangera)
  6. Krauncha dvipa (land of the krauncha birds or the demoiselle crane) - North America(According to interpretation of Naryan A. Bangera)
  7. Shaka dvipa (land of the trees) - Europe or Greater Europe.(According to interpretation of Naryan A. Bangera)[1][2]

References
  1. https://www.academia.edu/11893889/Geographical_knowledge_of_ancient_Indians
  2. https://www.academia.edu/26066098/Reappraisal_of_Linkages_between_Concepts_and_Ideas_in_Geography_and_the_Puranas_
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.