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Saptadvīpā Vasumatī: the mythical geography of the Hindus

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Abstract

This article attempts to analyse the schema, design and characteristics of the mythical geography of the Hindus. Hindu cosmological speculations have attained their pinnacle in the Purādnas, which dwell on, among other things, the universe in space and time. Purādnic writers created through the symbol of myth a matchless system of continents and oceans, mountains and rivers, lakes and forests. Instead of identifying the fictive continents and oceans with the real world referents, the paper analyses the mythical geography of the Purādnas as a schema, in terms of its own characteristics and purpose.

The geography of the Purādnas is symbolic rather than representative, it is rule based, rather than imitative. It seeks to give order to the world and far from reflecting reality, endeavours to create its own reality based on archetypal images and cosmic numbers. Hindu myth makers have transformed unknown physical phantasmagoria into a manageable, meaningful and largely symmetric cosmos. The resulting cosmos is an intricate world of human experience, imagination and fantasy put into one.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Government Arts College, Alwar, Rajasthan, India

    Jai Pal Singh (Former Head)

  2. Reader in Geography, India

    Mumtaz Khan

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  1. Jai Pal Singh
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Pal Singh, J., Khan, M. Saptadvīpā Vasumatī: the mythical geography of the Hindus. GeoJournal 48, 269–278 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007075704948

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