Suvarnadvipa, Suvarṇadvīpa, Suvarna-dvipa: 10 definitions

Introduction:

Suvarnadvipa means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, the history of ancient India. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

In Hinduism

Kavya (poetry)

[«previous next»] — Suvarnadvipa in Kavya glossary
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”.

The Kathāsaritsāgara (‘ocean of streams of story’), mentioning Suvarṇadvīpa , is a famous Sanskrit epic story revolving around prince Naravāhanadatta and his quest to become the emperor of the vidyādharas (celestial beings). The work is said to have been an adaptation of Guṇāḍhya’s Bṛhatkathā consisting of 100,000 verses, which in turn is part of a larger work containing 700,000 verses.

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.

Kavya book cover
context information

Kavya (काव्य, kavya) refers to Sanskrit poetry, a popular ancient Indian tradition of literature. There have been many Sanskrit poets over the ages, hailing from ancient India and beyond. This topic includes mahakavya, or ‘epic poetry’ and natya, or ‘dramatic poetry’.

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In Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)

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: OSU Press: Cakrasamvara Samadhi

Suvarṇadvīpa (सुवर्णद्वीप) is the pīṭha associated with Cakravarmiṇī and Ākāśagarbha, according to the Cakrasaṃvara-maṇḍala or Saṃvaramaṇḍala of Abhayākaragupta’s Niṣpannayogāvalī, p. 45 and n. 145; (Cf. Cakrasaṃvaratantra, Gray, David B., 2007).—The Cakrasaṃvara mandala has a total of sixty-two deities. [...] Three concentric circles going outward, the body, speech and mind wheels (kāya-vāka-citta), in the order: mind (blue), speech (red), and body (white), with eight Ḍākinīs each in non-dual union with their Ḍākas, "male consorts".

Associated elements of Cakravarmiṇī and Ākāśagarbha:

Circle: kāyacakra (body-wheel) (white);
Ḍākinī (female consort): Cakravarmiṇī;
Ḍāka (male consort): Ākāśagarbha;
Bīja: suṃ;
Body-part: calves;
Pīṭha: Suvarṇadvīpa;
Bodily constituent: prasveda (sweat);
Bodhipakṣa (wings of enlightenment): smṛtibodhyaṅga (awakening of mindfulness).

Source: MDPI Books: The Ocean of Heroes

Suvarṇadvīpa (सुवर्णद्वीप) is the name of Chandoha (category of holy sites), according to the 10th-century Ḍākārṇava-tantra: one of the last Tibetan Tantric scriptures belonging to the Buddhist Saṃvara tradition consisting of 51 chapters.—Accordingly: “Now, [the Blessed One] has taught [holy sites] such as the chandoha and upachandoha in sequence. [...] (5) Pretapurī, Gṛhadevī, Saurāṣṭra, and Suvarṇadvīpa are the chandoha [sites]. (6) The upacchandoha [sites] are Nagara, Sindhu, and Maru. Kulitā (for Kulatā or Kulutā) is also the upacchandoha. [...] Girls who are in these places are of [the nature of] the innate, born in their own birthplaces. [...]”.

Tibetan Buddhism book cover
context information

Tibetan Buddhism includes schools such as Nyingma, Kadampa, Kagyu and Gelug. Their primary canon of literature is divided in two broad categories: The Kangyur, which consists of Buddha’s words, and the Tengyur, which includes commentaries from various sources. Esotericism and tantra techniques (vajrayāna) are collected indepently.

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India history and geography

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.

Source: Singhi Jain Series: Ratnaprabha-suri’s Kuvalayamala-katha (history)

Suvarṇadvīpa (सुवर्णद्वीप) is the name of an ancient country, according to Uddyotanasūri in his 8th-century Kuvalayamālā (a Prakrit Campū, similar to Kāvya poetry).—Page 88.32: Here is a reference to Kuḍaṅga-dvīpa to which had floated three merchants after experiencing shipwreck on return journey from Ratnadvīpa, Suvarṇadvīpa and Laṅkāpurī. It is stated that those merchants mounted a lofty tree and brandished remains of the wrecked boat to attract the attention of the passing ship. It happened that certain merchants noticed their sign and despatched the sailors in a small doṇī to take them.

India history book cover
context information

The history of India traces the identification of countries, villages, towns and other regions of India, as well as mythology, zoology, royal dynasties, rulers, tribes, local festivities and traditions and regional languages. Ancient India enjoyed religious freedom and encourages the path of Dharma, a concept common to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

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Languages of India and abroad

Sanskrit dictionary

[«previous next»] — Suvarnadvipa in Sanskrit glossary
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Suvarṇadvīpa (सुवर्णद्वीप):—[=su-varṇa-dvīpa] [from su-varṇa] m. n. ‘golden island’, ([probably]) Name of Sumatra, [Kathāsaritsāgara; Buddhist literature]

[Sanskrit to German]

Suvarnadvipa in German

context information

Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

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