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Plaksadvipa

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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 Indian berries)
  2. Kusadvipa (land of grass)
  3. Plaksa dvipa (land of fig trees)
  4. Puskara dvipa (land of lakes)
  5. Salmali dvipa (land of silk cotton trees)
  6. Kraunca dvipa (land of kraunca birds)
  7. Saka dvipa (land of Saka people).[2]

References