Question

According to the ancient Indian geographical concept ‘Bharatvarsha’ was a part of _____.
A Pushkara Dweepa
B Jambudweep
C Krauncha Dweepa
D Kusha Dwipa

Answer 1

Hint: Bharat is named after Emperor Bharata who was the ancestor of Pandavas and Kauravas. Varsha can be translated as a division of earth separated by mountain ranges. So Bharatvarsha means land of the Bharata.

Complete answer: As per Indian mythology concept, the earth is divided into two hemispheres, the northern hemisphere which was considered to be surrounded by ocean in all the directions, being referred to as “Jambudweep”, and the southern hemisphere is “Patala”. Bharatavarsha, as per Vedic ontology, was considered to be one of the parts of Jambudweep.
On splitting the word, ’Jambudweep’, we get Jambu-an Indian blackberry fruit and Dweepa starting on an island or continent. Jambudweep is considered to be the first island among the uncountable concentric islands present in the Middle Universe.
The geographical region of Bharatavarsha, also called the subcontinent of India, stretches from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin and from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea. The Indian peninsula is a three-cornered, bounded by the giant Himalayas which stretches to the length of 2414 km. On the eastern, western and southern sides, the boundaries are surrounded by water bodies.
The pre-era Buddhists evidence suggests that Jambudweep was a territorial name, actually used from 3rd century B.C. onwards. A great part of Asia, outside China, was known by the name. In the present scenario, the name is not in use. However, the name has its existence only in puranic books, scriptures, rituals, customs and traditions.
Therefore, option B is the correct answer.

Note: The Puranic literature strengthens the belief that the landmass called Bharatavarsha was the larger part of the Jambudweeepa, the innermost of the seven concentric island-continents. Thus, making Jambudweeepa the core and the most important one.