Śālmali Dvīpa
Śālmali Dvīpa, “the island of the śālmali tree”
Vāmadeva has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vāmadeva. Nanda has other meanings too: see all meanings of Nanda.
Śālmali Dvīpa is the third of the seven dvīpas (island-continents) of the earth. The Agni Purāṇa, in Agnideva’s teaching to Vasishṭha Maharshi on the bhuvanakośa (the treasury of the worlds), places it after Plaksha Dvīpa and its ocean of sugarcane juice. It is twice the size of Plaksha Dvīpa, and around it lies the ocean of surā (wine), twice its width. King Priyavrata gave it to his son Vapushmān, and Vapushmān’s seven sons, Śveta, Harita, Jīmūta, Vaidyuta, Mānasa, Suprabha and one more, rule it, each over a varsha (region) that bears his name. It has seven maryādā (boundary) mountains, among them Kumuda, Balāhaka, Droṇa, Kaṅka, Mahisha and Kakudmat, and seven chief rivers. Its people live for five thousand years and worship Vāyu Deva.
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa calls it Śālmala-dvīpa, after the great śālmala tree on which Garutmān, the king of birds, dwells, praising Śrī Hari with the Veda-mantras that are his own limbs. It lies beyond Plaksha-dvīpa, twice its breadth, and is surrounded by an ocean of madirā equal to itself. Its lord is Yajñabāhu, son of Priyavrata, who divided it into seven varshas for his seven sons; it has seven varsha-mountains, seven rivers and four varṇas, and its people worship Bhagavān Candra, whose form is the Veda.
Among the seven dvīpas
The seven dvīpas, Jambū, Plaksha, Śālmali, Kuśa, Krauñca, Śāka and Pushkara, are surrounded on every side by seven seas: of salt water (lavaṇa), sugarcane juice (ikshu-rasa), wine (madya), ghee (ghṛta), curd (dadhi), milk (kshīra) and sweet water (madhura-jala). Jambū Dvīpa lies in the middle of them all.
Jambū Dvīpa is one lakh yojanas in extent, and the salt ocean around it is one lakh yojanas wide. Plaksha Dvīpa, two lakh yojanas in extent, is girt by the ocean of sugarcane juice of the same measure. Next comes Śālmali Dvīpa, twice the size of Plaksha Dvīpa, and it is surrounded by the ocean of surā, twice its width. Beyond the ocean of surā lies Kuśa Dvīpa, girt by the ocean of ghee.
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 108, 119
The kings of Śālmali Dvīpa
Agnideva begins the bhuvanakośa with the line of Priyavrata. Among the sons of Priyavrata was Vapushmān. All the sons of Priyavrata were famed in the world, and their father gave them the seven dvīpas: Jambū Dvīpa to Āgnīdhra, Plaksha Dvīpa to Medhātithi, Śālmali Dvīpa to Vapushmān, Kuśa Dvīpa to Jyotishmān, Krauñca Dvīpa to Dyutimān, Śāka Dvīpa to Bhavya and Pushkara Dvīpa to Savana. Having made his sons lords of the lands, Priyavrata became a vānaprastha, performed tapas at the Śālagrāma kshetra and attained Vishṇuloka.
Vapushmān had seven sons, and they became the rulers of Śālmali Dvīpa: Śveta, Harita, Jīmūta, Vaidyuta, Mānasa and Suprabha are six of them. Seven varshas were formed there, each named after one of them.
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 107, 119
Its mountains and rivers
Śālmali Dvīpa has seven maryādā (boundary) mountains. Of them the Agni Purāṇa names:
Seven chief rivers flow there.
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 119
Its people
In all the dvīpas from Plaksha up to Śāka, Śālmali among them, the people live for five thousand years. In Śālmali Dvīpa the brāhmaṇas and the other varṇas are called Kapila, Aruṇa, Pīta and Kṛshṇa. The people there worship Vāyu Deva.
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 119
Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa
Śuka Maharshi tells King Parīkshit of the seven dvīpas in his account of the bhuvanakośa, the sheath of the worlds.
How the dvīpas and oceans were made
Priyavrata Mahārāja saw that Bhagavān Sūrya, going round Meru, lit only half of the Bhūmaṇḍala and left the other half in darkness. By the power he had gained in the ārādhana of Śrī Hari, he mounted a chariot full of light, as swift as Sūrya, and like a second Sūrya went round Meru seven times. The trenches cut by the rims of his chariot wheels became the seven oceans, and the Bhūmaṇḍala was divided into seven dvīpas, each twice the size of the one before, each surrounded by an ocean equal to itself in size. The seven oceans, in order, are of salt water, sugarcane juice, madirā, ghee, milk, curd and sweet, pure water. Priyavrata made seven of his sons lords of the dvīpas, one son to one dvīpa: Āgnīdhra, Idhmajihva, Yajñabāhu, Hiraṇyaretas, Ghṛtapṛshṇa, Medhātithi and Vītihotra. All the names of Priyavrata’s sons are names of Agni, and the name Yajñabāhu means “he whose arms are the yajñas”.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 1
Its place and its tree
Around Jambū-dvīpa lies the ocean of salt water; around that, Plaksha-dvīpa, twice its breadth, with its ocean of sugarcane juice. In the same way Śālmala-dvīpa, twice the breadth of Plaksha, shines on all sides, surrounded by an ocean of madirā equal to itself. A śālmala tree, the silk-cotton tree, as long as the golden plaksha tree of Plaksha-dvīpa, is seen there, and from it the dvīpa takes its name. The elders say that on that tree is the dwelling of Garutmān, the king of birds, who praises Śrī Hari with the Veda-mantras that are his own limbs. Beyond the ocean of madirā lies Kuśa-dvīpa, twice its breadth.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 20
Yajñabāhu and the seven varshas
The lord of Śālmala-dvīpa is Yajñabāhu, son of Priyavrata. He has seven sons; he divided the dvīpa into seven khaṇḍas for them, and their names became the names of the varshas:
- Surocana
- Saumanasya
- Ramaṇaka
- Devavarsha
- Pāribhadra
- Āpyāyana
- Ajñāta
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 20
Its mountains and rivers
The seven mountains that fix the boundaries of its varshas are Svarasa, Śataśṛṅga, Vāmadeva, Kunda, Mukunda, Pushpavarsha and Sahasraśruti. Its seven rivers are Anumati, Sinīvālī, Sarasvatī, Kuhū, Rajanī, Nandā and Rākā.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 20
Its people and their ārādhana
In Plaksha and the four dvīpas after it, Śālmala among them, the people have, equally and by nature, long life, the power to beget, strength of mind, keen senses, bodily strength, strength of intellect and valour. The four varṇas of Śālmala-dvīpa are the Śrutadharas, the Vīryadharas, the Vasundharas and the Ishandharas. They worship Bhagavān Candra, whose form is the Veda, with Veda-mantras, as the ātmā, and pray: “In the kṛshṇa and śukla pakshas Candra shares out food to the pitṛ-devatās with his rays. May that Candra, the king of all beings, be gracious to us.”
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 20
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 107–108, 119
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapters 1, 20