The Puranas describe a dvipa to be one of the seven islands[2] or continents that are present on earth, each of them surrounded by an ocean.
[12] The Mahabharata names the following as the seven islands of the world:[13] The British author Benjamin Walker offers the following description of the dvipas:[14] Beneath the celestial regions, the earth is arranged in these seven concentric rings of island continents.
The shell of the cosmic egg known as Brahmanda lies beyond this darkness, cradling all of creation.
The Brahma Purana describes the sapta-dvīpa as such:[15] O brahmins, there are seven continents viz—Jambū, Plakṣa, Śālmala, Kuśa, Krauñca, Śāka and Puṣkara.
In its centre, O leading brahmins, is the Meru the mountain of gold.The Bengali text Chaitanya Charitamrita, written c. 1557, describes the concept in the following manner:[16] "The "planets" are called dvīpas.