Jambūdvīpa
The central continent, a flat disc 1,00,000 yojana across with Mount Meru at its exact centre.
Alone among the continents it is a disc rather than a ring, and it is the template on which every other continent is built. Six mountain walls run east–west across it, cutting it into seven regions.
The proportions are not arbitrary. Jambūdvīpa is divided into 190 equal parts north to south. Bharat Kṣetra takes one part; each band going inward doubles — 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 — until Mahāvideha Kṣetra takes 64, and then the sequence halves again in mirror image up to Airāvat Kṣetra, which also takes one. The map is a palindrome.
It is named for the Jambū tree standing in Uttarakuru, north of Meru.
A jewelled wall called the Jagatī runs right around the rim, with four gates at the four directions.
Measurements and counts
| Diameter | 1,00,000 yojana |
|---|---|
| Shape | a disc, not a ring |
| Regions | 7 |
| Boundary mountains | 6 |
| Great rivers | 14 |
| Lakes | 6 |
| Divisions north–south | 190 parts |
| Suns / moons | 2 / 2 |