Suvarnadvipa

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Suvarnadvipa (सुवर्णद्वीप) or Suvarnabhumi (सुवर्णभूमि) is a toponym, that appears in many ancient Indian literary sources and Buddhist texts such as the Mahavamsa, some stories of the Jataka tales, the Milinda Panha and the Ramayana.

Variants

• Svarnadvipa स्वर्णद्वीप = Suvarnadvipa सुवर्णद्वीप (AS, p.1004)
• Suvarnadvipa (सुवर्णद्वीप) = Suvarnabhumi (सुवर्णभूमि) (AS, p.979)
• Suvarṇabhūmi
• Suvaṇṇabhūmi (Pali)

Location

Though its exact location is unknown and remains a matter of debate, Suvarṇabhūmi was an important port along trade routes that run through the Indian Ocean, setting sail from the wealthy ports in Basra, Ubullah and Siraf, through Muscat, Malabar, Ceylon. Nicobars, Kedah and on through the Strait of Malacca to fabled Suvarṇabhūmi.

History

Source: Wisdom Library: Kathāsaritsāgara

1) Suvarṇadvīpa (सुवर्णद्वीप) is the name of name of an island (dvīpa), as mentioned in the Kathāsaritsāgara, chapter 54. Accordingly, “there is in this town a merchant of the name of Rudra, and he went to the island of Suvarṇadvīpa on a mercantile expedition. As he was returning, the hoard of wealth that he had managed to acquire was lost, being sunk in the sea by his ship foundering. And he himself happened to escape from the sea alive”.

2) Suvarṇadvīpa (सुवर्णद्वीप) or simply Suvarṇa is also mentioned in the Kathāsaritsāgara, chapter 56. Accordingly, “... there he [Candrasvāmin] heard that the merchant Kanakavarman had gone from that island to an island named Karpūra. In the same way he visited in turn the islands of Karpūra, Suvarṇa and Siṃhala with merchants, hut he did not find the merchant whom he was in search of”.

Source: archive.org: The ocean of story. vol. 4

Suvarṇa-dvipa (सुवर्णद्विप) is a recognised epigriphically attested name for South and Central Sumatra, from which there was a large export of gold.

Source: Wisdomlib Libary: Vajrayogini

Suvarṇadvīpa (सुवर्णद्वीप) is the name of a sacred site (pīṭha) presided over by Cakravarmiṇī, according to the vārāhyabhyudaya-maṇḍala. Cakravarmiṇī is a deity situated in one of the six petals of the southern lotus, of which the presiding deity is kuleśvarī (presiding lady) named Pāṇḍaravāsinī. The central deity of the vārāhyabhyudaya-maṇḍala is the twelve-armed Vajravarāhī.

Suvarṇadvīpa is one of the twenty-four pīṭhas, or ‘sacred-site’ (six lotuses each having six petals), each corresponding with a part of the human body. Suvarṇadvīpa is to be contemplated as situated in the calves. Besides being associated with a bodily spot, each pīṭha represents an actual place of ancient India frequented particularly by advanced tantric practitioners

Source: academia.edu: A Critical Study of the Vajraḍākamahātantrarāja (II)

Suvarṇadvīpa (सुवर्णद्वीप) is one of the two Upamelāpaka (‘sacred spot’) present within the Kāyacakra (‘circle of body’) which is associated with the Ḍākinī named Pātālavāsinī (‘a woman living underground’), according to the 9th-centruy Vajraḍākatantra. Vākcakra is one of three Cakras within the Tricakra system which embodies twenty-four sacred spots or districts (viz., Suvarṇadvīpa) resided over by twenty-four ‘sacred girls’ (ḍākinīs) whose husbands abide in one’s body in the form of twenty-four ingredients (dhātu) of one’s body.

Suvarṇadvīpa has the presiding Ḍākinī named Cakravarmiṇī whose husband, or hero (vīra) is named Ākāśagarbha. The associated internal location are the ‘shanks’ and the bodily ingredient (dhātu) is the ‘sweat’. According to the Vajraḍākavivṛti, the districts Kaliṅga, Kosala, Suvarṇadvīpa and Oḍyāyana are associated with the family deity of Caṇḍikā; while in the Abhidhānottarottaratantra there is the Ḍāka deity named Vajraḍāka standing in the center of the districts named Pretapurī (Pretādhivāsinī), Gṛhadevatā, Saurāṣṭra and Suvarṇadvīpa.

Source: academia.edu: The Cakrasamvara Tantra (h)

Suvarṇadvīpa (सुवर्णद्वीप) is the name of an ancient locality identified with “the coast of west India (but some say that it is in east China)” according to Nāropāda (11th century A.D.). He is known for identifying unnatural or obscure names mentioned by the Cakrasaṃvara scriptures. Generally, Suvarṇadvīpa refers to the island in the ocean off the south tip of India, often Sri Lanka.

सुवर्णद्वीप = सुवर्णभूमि

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है ...सुवर्णद्वीप = सुवर्णभूमि (AS, p.979): दूरपूर्व के देशों तथा द्वीपों का प्राचीन सामूहिक नाम. इनमें ब्रह्मदेश (बर्मा), मलय प्रायद्वीप के देश तथा इंडोनेशिया के द्वीप - जावा, सुमात्रा, बोर्नियो, बाली आदि सम्मिलित थे. प्राचीन काल में, चौथी-पांचवी शती ईसा पूर्व में तथा निकटवर्ती काल में इस भूभाग की समृद्धि की भारत के व्यापारियों में बड़ी चर्चा थी जैसा कि अनेक जातक-कथाओं से सूचित होता है (देखें मजूमदार-हिंदू कॉलोनी इन द फॉर ईस्ट,पृ.8). सुवर्णभूमि और भारत के बीच सक्रिय व्यापार का वर्णन बौद्ध साहित्य में है. चीनी यात्री फाह्यान के वर्णन से भी ज्ञान होता है कि गुप्त काल के प्रारंभिक वर्षों में भारत से सिंहल तथा वहां से जावा आदि देशों के लिए नियमित रूप से व्यापारिक जलयान चलते थे. कथासरित्सागर में सुवर्णद्वीप और भारत के परस्पर व्यापार का उल्लेख मिलता है. इस ग्रंथ में सानुदास की साहसपूर्ण कथा बहुत रोचक है. इस कथा से भी यह सूचित होता है कि सुवर्णद्वीप की नदियों के रेत में से सोने के कण निकाले जाते थे. बौद्ध साहित्य में केवल दक्षिणी ब्रह्मदेश, थाटन और पीगू को प्राय: सुवर्णभूमि के नाम से अभिहित किया गया है. सिंहल के बौद्ध इतिहास-ग्रंथों तथा बुद्धघोष के ग्रंथों से सूचित होता है कि सम्राट अशोक के सोण और उत्तर [p.980]: नामक दो बौद्ध प्रचारकों ने (जिन्हें मोग्गलिपुत्र ने नियुक्त किया था) सुवर्णभूमि के निवासियों को बौद्ध धर्म में दीक्षित किया था (देखें महावंश 12,6). इसी प्रदेश से सर्व प्रथम बौद्ध बनने वाले 2 व्यापारी तपुस और भल्लुक भारत जाकर बुद्ध के 8 केश लाए थे जिन्हें उन्होंने रंगून के निकट श्वेदेगुन पगोड़ा में संरक्षित किया था.