Jambudvīpa

This article is about philosophical region in Indians religions. For other uses, see Jambudvipa (disambiguation).

Jambudvīpa (Pali: Jambudīpa) is a term for the Indian Subcontinent, often used in ancient Indian sources.

The term comes from ancient Indian cosmogony and is based on the concept of dvīpa, meaning 'island' or 'continent'. The term Jambudvīpa was used by Ashoka to describe his realm in the 3rd century BC. The same term is also found in subsequent texts, for instance the Kannada inscriptions from the 10th century CE, to refer to the region, presumably ancient India.

The word Jambudvīpa literally means 'the land of jambu trees', with jambu being the Sanskrit term for the Syzygium cumini tree.

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