Plaksadvipa


Plakṣadvīpa is the dvipa of the terrestrial world, as envisioned in the cosmologies of Hinduism, is among seven dvipas as described by Bhagavata Puranas
The word Plakṣadvīpa literally refers to "the land of fig trees" where Plakṣa is the name of the species 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 - Asia
  2. Kusha dvipa - Oceania including Indonesia and the Philippines
  3. Plaksha dvipa - South America
  4. Pushkara dvipa - North America
  5. Shalmali dvipa - Australia
  6. Krauncha dvipa - Africa
  7. Shaka dvipa - Europe or Greater Europe.