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Jambudvīpa (Pali; Jambudīpa) is a term for theIndian Subcontinent, often used inancient Indian sources.[3]
The term comes from ancient Indian cosmogony and is based on the concept ofdvīpa, meaning "island" or "continent". The termJambudvipa, was used byAshoka to describe his realm in the3rd century BC.[4] The same term is also found in subsequent texts, for instance theKannada inscriptions from the 10th century CE, to refer to the region, presumablyancient India.[5]
The word Jambudvīpa literally means "the land of jambu trees", with jambu being the Sanskrit term for theSyzygium cumini tree.
According toPuranic cosmography, the world is divided into seven concentric island continents (sapta-dvipa vasumati) separated by the seven encircling oceans, each double the size of the preceding one (going out from within). The seven continents of thePuranas are stated asJambudvipa,Plaksadvipa, Salmalidvipa, Kusadvipa, Krouncadvipa,Sakadvipa and Pushkaradvipa.[6][7] Seven intermediate oceans consist of salt-water, sugarcane juice, wine,ghee,yogurt, milk and water respectively.[8][9] The mountain range calledLokaloka, meaning "world-no-world", stretches across this final sea, delineating the known world from the dark void.[10]
Jambudvipa, also known asSudarśanadvīpa, forms the innermost concentric island in the above scheme. Its name is said to derive from the jambu tree,Syzygium cumini. The fruits of the jambu tree are said, in theViṣṇupurāṇa (ch.2), to be as large asAsian elephants, and when they become rotten and fall upon the crest of the mountains, a river of juice is formed from their expressed juice. The river so formed is called theJambunadi "Jambu River" and flows through Jambudvipa, whose inhabitants drink its waters. Insular continent Jambudvipa is said to comprise ninevarshas (zones) and eight significantparvatas (mountains).
TheMarkandeya Purana portrays Jambudvipa as being depressed on its south and north and elevated and broad in the middle. The elevated region forms the varsha namedIla-vrta orMeruvarsha. At the center of Ila-vrta lies the goldenMount Meru, the king of mountains. On the summit of Mount Meru, is the vast city ofBrahma, known asBrahmapuri. Surrounding Brahmapuri are eight cities – the one ofIndra and of seven otherDevatas.
Markandeya Purana andBrahmanda Purana divide Jambudvipa into four vast regions shaped like four petals of alotus with Mount Meru being located at the center like apericarp. The city ofBrahmapuri is said to be enclosed by a river, known asAkasha Ganga.Akasha Ganga is said to issue forth from the foot ofVishnu and after washing the lunar region falls "through the skies" and after encircling the Brahmapuri "splits up into four mighty streams", which are said to flow in four opposite directions from the landscape of Mount Meru and irrigate the vast lands of Jambudvipa.[11]
The common names of the dvīpas, having their varṣas (9 for Jambu-dvīpa, 7 for the other dvīpas) with a mountain and a river in each varṣa, is given in several Purāṇas.[12] There is a distinct set of names provides, however, in other Purāṇas.[13] The most detailed geography is that described in theVāyu Purāṇa.[14]
TheBuddhist cosmology divides thebhūmaṇḍala (circle of the earth) into three separate levels:Kāmadhātu (Desire realm),Rūpadhātu (Form realm), andĀrūpyadhātu (Formless realm). In the Kāmadhātu is located Mount Meru (Sumeru), which is said to be surrounded by four island-continents. The southernmost island is called Jambudvīpa. The other three continents of Buddhist accounts around Sumeru are not accessible to humans from Jambudvīpa. Jambudvīpa is shaped like a triangle with a blunted point facing south, somewhat like the Indian subcontinent. In its center is a gigantic Jambu tree from which the continent takes its name, meaning "Jambu Island".
Jambudipa, one of the four Mahādīpas, or great continents, which are included in theCakravāla "cosmos" and are ruled by acakravartin. They are grouped round Mount Sumeru. In Jambudvīpa is Himavā with its eighty-four thousand peaks, its lakes, mountain ranges, etc.
This continent derives its name from the Jambu-tree (also called Naga) which grows there, its trunk fifteen yojanas in girth, its outspreading branches fifty yojanas in length, its shade one hundred yojanas in extent and its height one hundred yojanas (Vin.i.30; SNA.ii.443; Vsm.i.205f; Sp.i.119, etc.) On account of this tree, Jambudīpa is also known as Jambusanda (SN.vs.552; SNA.i.121). The continent is ten thousand yojanas in extent; of these ten thousand, four thousand are covered by the ocean, three thousand by the Himālaya mountains, while three thousand are inhabited by men (SNA.ii.437; UdA.300).
Jambudvīpa is the region where the humans live and is the only place where a being may become enlightened by being born as a human being. It is in Jambudvīpa that one may receive the gift ofDharma and come to understand theFour Noble Truths, theNoble Eightfold Path and ultimately realize the liberation from thecycle of life and death. Another reference is from the Buddhist text, theMahāvaṃsa, where the emperorAshoka's sonMahinda, after becoming aBhikku, introduces himself to KingDevanampiya Tissa of Anuradhapura (Anuradhapura being the then capital city of the independent island found at the tip of India, now known asSri Lanka) as from Jambudvipa, referring to what is now the Indian subcontinent. This is described in theKṣitigarbha Bodhisattva Pūrvapraṇidhāna Sūtra inMahayana Buddhism.
According toJain cosmology, Jambūdvīpa is at the centre of Madhyaloka, or the middle part of the universe, where the humans reside.Jambūdvīpaprajñapti or the treatise on the island of Roseapple tree contains a description of Jambūdvīpa and life biographies ofṚṣabha and King Bharata.Trilokasāra (Essence of the three worlds),Trilokaprajñapti (Treatise on the three worlds),Trilokadipikā (Illumination of the three worlds) andKṣetrasamāsa (Summary of Jain geography) are the other texts that provide the details of Jambūdvīpa and Jain cosmology.Madhyaloka consists of many continent-islands surrounded by oceans, first eight whose names are:
| Continent/ Island | Ocean |
| Jambūdvīpa | Lavanoda (Salt - ocean) |
| Dhatki Khand | Kaloda (Black sea) |
| Puskarvardvīpa | Puskaroda (Lotus Ocean) |
| Varunvardvīpa | Varunoda (Varun Ocean) |
| Kshirvardvīpa | Kshiroda (Ocean of milk) |
| Ghrutvardvīpa | Ghrutoda (Ghee ocean) |
| Ikshuvardvīpa | Iksuvaroda (Ocean of Sugarcane Juice) |
| Nandishwardvīpa | Nandishwaroda |
Mount Meru is at the centre of the world surrounded by Jambūdvīpa, in form of a circle forming a diameter of 100,000 yojanas.[15]
Jambūdvīpa continent has six mountains, dividing the continent into nine zones (Kshetra). The names of these zones are:
Jambudweep Jain tirtha inHastinapur, constructed under supervision ofGyanmati Mataji, is a depiction ofJambudvipa as perJain cosmology.
The termJambudvipa is used by Ashoka perhaps to represent his realm in 3rd century BCE, same terminology is then repeated in subsequent inscriptions for instanceMysorean inscription from the tenth century AD which also describes the region, presumably India, asJambudvipa.[16]
‘ theKuntala country (which included the north-western parts of Mysore and the southern parts of the Bombay Presidency) was ruled by thenava-Nanda,Gupta-kula,Mauryya kings ; then theRattas ruled it : after whom were theChalukyas; then theKalachuryya family; and after them the (Hoysala) Ballalas.'’ Another, atKubatur, expressly states thatChandra Gupta ruled theNaga-khanda in the south of the Bharata-kshetra of Jambu dvipa : this is the Nagara-khanda Seventy of so many inscriptions, of which Bandanikke (Bandalike in Shimoga) seems to have been the chief town. And further, a record to be noticed below says that the daughters of theKadamba king were given in marriage to the Guptas.
— Annual Report Of Mysore 1886 To 1903
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