My blog partner Vishwanath guided me to an
interesting, illustrated and colorful post entitled “Jambudweep-the global island” by Dr Vineet Aggaraval in
his blog Decode Hindu Mythology. After
perusal, the Post tempted me to express and share this bloggers notion of
Jambudweepa with our readers. This is just an intellectual excercize for
discerning readers to ponder how different inferences can be arrived at on the
same subject especially in the case of
rather hazy and poorly understood historical aspects.
Geological History:
Pangea
Vineet incidentally goes beyond the realms of human
history and treads into past geological history of the Earth. Infact there is
no harm in collating human history with geological history, especially when the
time scales match with each other. However, most of the geological mega events
are measured in terms of millions of years while the documented human history
lasts merely for a few thousand years!
The theory Plate Tectonics envisages that the
continents on the surface of the globe were united to form a single
supercontinent some 300 million years ago.It was designated as Pangea.Further
around 100 million years ago the
supercontinent Pangea broke into two continents namely the northern Laurasia
and the southern Gondwana.
However, the species of human beings evolved on
the Earth only about 2 million years ago and they evolved into sensible
cultured beings only about 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. Therefore, unfortunately
none of our forefathers were able to witness the status of Pangea or Gondwana
that occurred long before their arrival into this Earth!
Reinterpretation of
Scriptural data
The Mahabharat and the Puranas were considered
to have been composed during the period 500 BC to 500 CE. The oft quoted sloka describes Jambu-dweepa as
alternate name for the Bharatha Khanda as in: “ jaambu dweepe bharath khande
..”. Similarly, the scriptural references cited
by Vineet can be reinterpreted as below:
1.“The
entire landmass of Jambu-dvipa is described as a continuous stretch
of land subdivided into different continents by means of various mountain
ranges with each of these divisions being governed by the 9 sons
of Emperor Agnidhra, the grandson of Adam/Manu.”
-In the above quotation if you replace
the word ‘continent’ with ‘region’ and interprete the ‘various mountain ranges’
as Vindhya, Satpura, Aravali, Kadapa,Sahyadri, Siwalik, Himalaya etc then again
the term Jambudweepa would mean the Indian subcontinent.
2.
“Markandeya
Puraan describes Jambu-dvip as
being depressed above and below and broad in the middle just like a
Globe.”
-If you happen to stand up on the ridge of any
linear mountain range like Vindhyas of Sahyadris and look towards opposite
(‘above’ and ‘below’) directions
you shall feel that the land is depressed on either directions.
3. “Srimad Bhagavatam points out
that on Jambu-dvipa, night prevails diametrically opposite to a point
where it is day and Sun sets at a point opposite to where it rises.”
- Theoritical deduction of persons who
travelled rapidly from West to East .
4. “Mahabharat describes
the Universe as a series of shells divided in two by an earth plane called
the Bhu-mandala; Jambu-dwip is the central landmark
on this plane.”
-
It reflects the concept of distribution of continents and oceans on the globe
as understood during that time.
5.
“Jain and Buddhist cosmologies
indicate Jambū-dweep at the centre of Madhyaloka or the middle
part of the universe, the place where Human-beings reside.”
-Again
it reflects the distribution of continents, as seen from Indian eyes as understood at that time.
6.” Various
assorted texts describe Bharat Varsha or India as just one of
the nine divisions of Jambu-dweep.”
-The citation
envisages that the Jambudweepa, Indian subcontinent had nine divisions and one
of these was known as Bharatvarsha. It can be interpreted that the “Bharatvarsha”
region at that point of time probably did not cover
the whole of present India but represented a regional State, a geographic part
of present India, governed by or
attributed to the famed King Bharata.
The Jambu fruit
The most
common meaning of the term ‘Jambu’ is a light yellowish green or
reddish, watery, succulent, bell shaped fruit common to India and Southeast
Asia and variously known as Wax Apple, Water apple, Rose Apple, Bell Apple,
Malaya guava (Syzygium sp.) and so on.
It can be
seen that the bell shape of the Jambu fruit in inverted form resembles the
shape of the peninsular India. Since, the Jambu was a poppular and commonly
known fruit in ancient India the term peninsular island in the shape of inverted
Jambu fruit, appears to have known and envisaged as “Jambu dweepa”.
 |
| Peninsular India more or less resembles the shape of a Jambu fruit. |
Mount Meru
Markandeya
Purana and Brahmanda Purana describe that Meru Parvata forms the central part
of the Jambudweepa. Surya Siddanta declares that the Sumeru ( Su+ Meru)
mountain is located in the centre of the Earth. It is possible that the
composers of the cited Puranas had described the position of Mt. Meru based on
the observations of global travallers. In ancient times, people were
travelleing between Africa and India and between India and South East Asia
through land and sea routes. The 4565m high volcanic mountain of Meru is actually
located in Tanzania, Africa, but most of the ancient Indian texts have described
the magnificient esoteric qualities of the mountain, which is considered to be
the abode of Lord Brahma. Some texts also mention mountains of Sumeru and
Kumeru.
The
confusion is evident not only the imaginary sizes attributed in various ancient
texts but also in the declaration in the astrological text of Narpatijayacharyā
(ca. 9th-century CE), that mentions "Sumeruh Prithvī-madhye
shrūyate drishyate na tu" (=Su-meru is heard to be in the middle of
the Earth, but is not seen there). However, the same text also mentions that
India is located to the East of the Meru Mountain.
Dweepa
The
term Dweepa (or dwipa) is normally translated as an island. However, the word
as such suggests a land bounded by water on either sides (dwi =two; pa=water)
whereas the term island basically refers to land area surrounded on all
sides by water.
The term Jambu
Apart from
the watery Jambu fruit, the term Jambu has other shades of meaning especially
in Tulu language such as: (1) swollen material such as mud, clay or laterite (as
in Jambittige (Kannada); or swollen baggage
as in Jambuli); (2) a water course (Jambāl); (3) a marsh or stagnant water (4) sky, etc.
There are
places like Jamagodu Jamakhandi etc in parts of Karnataka. Jamadagni was the father
of sage Parasurama. Jambava or Jambavanta was a bear during the period of epic
Ramayana. Jambha is said to be the name of of Rakshas who fought with Lord Indra and was destroyed by thunderbolt. There are caves named Jambu in Tulunadu, Maharastra and Tamilnadu, besides in Indonesia. The word 'Jamba' also means ego, pride or vanity in Kannada and Tulu.
Conclusion
The heritage term "Jambu
dweepa" appears to have been attributed to the Jambu fruit shaped (or inverted bell
shaped), peninsular India surrounded by water on three sides.
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