ABSTRACT
The seven great insular continents are concentrically surrounded by seven great seas: the sea of saltwater, of sugar-cane juice, of wine, of clarified butter, of curds, of milk, and of fresh water. The trope of vidya-sagara or oceanic wisdom encapsulates three key thematics in the understanding of knowledge: fluidity, potentiality and circulation. A context-sensitive society requires a mythic paradigm that must naturally be generative and full of potential. According to a more recent interpretation of the myth, the seven seas mentioned at the beginning of this chapter represent the constituent fluids of the body: salt water (urine), sugarcane juice (perspiration), wine (the senses), clarified butter (semen), curds (mucus), milk (saliva) and fresh water (tears). This kind of internal anthropomorphizing of natural phenomena is common in the Indian tradition; there is a sense that there is great swirling ocean within each of us.
