The 4 Seas of Māla: Myth, Maritime Memory, and the Indian Ocean

Early Buddhist literature, whose earliest layers are generally dated to c. 5th–3rd century BCE and transmitted orally before later written redactions, contains several accounts that blur the boundaries between myth, geography, and lived maritime experience. Among the most evocative of these is a passage found in Jātaka Tales, which describes a long ocean voyage departing from Bharukaccha (modern Bharuch, Gujarat). During this journey, the ship encounters a sequence of extraordinary seas collectively referred to as the Seas of Māla.

The tale does not identify these seas with any specific nation or coastline. Instead, each sea is defined by color, material richness, and unusual marine life. Yet, when read against the geography of the Indian Ocean, and the realities of ancient navigation, these descriptions invite closer attention.

The Four Seas of Māla

The Jātaka describes four seas whose names all share the suffix māla (meaning “garland” or “chain”), suggesting a series of connected maritime zones rather than a single body of water.

Khuramāla: A sea inhabited by fish with human-like bodies and razor-sharp snouts, from which “diamonds” are drawn. This imagery is often read as a mythic rendering of swordfish or sawfish, creatures familiar to the tropical Indian Ocean, whose hard, glinting forms may have inspired associations with gemstones.

Aggimāla: Described as radiant or fiery, this sea yields gold. Rather than literal extraction, the gold may symbolize wealth, trade value, or the perceived richness of distant waters encountered by early sailors.

Dhadhimāla: White like milk or curds, this sea produces silver. Its milky appearance recalls shallow lagoons, reef shallows, or rare natural phenomena such as bioluminescent “milk seas,” occasionally recorded in the Indian Ocean.

Nalamāla: An expanse likened to reeds or bamboo groves, filled with red coral. The description closely resembles coral reef environments, particularly those of low-lying atoll systems where coral formations dominate the seascape.

Following the four Seas of Māla, the narrative introduces a fifth sea, often named Valabhāmukha, meaning “the chasm-mouth” or “whirlpool sea.” Unlike the Māla seas, this final expanse is not associated with abundance or discovery, but with danger. It is described as a place where the sea appears to fall away, currents rise like walls, and ships are said not to return.

Within the story, the fifth sea functions as a boundary: the limit of safe navigation and the edge of accumulated maritime knowledge. It may reflect real hazards faced by ancient sailors: powerful currents, reef passages, or deep-water zones encountered after long ocean crossings. Symbolically, it stands in contrast to the Seas of Māla, marking the point where exploration gives way to restraint, and where survival depends not on extraction or wealth, but on judgment and wisdom.

Together, the Seas of Māla and the fifth sea form a layered oceanic map; one shaped as much by experience and memory as by myth; offering insight into how early seafarers understood the Indian Ocean as a place of both promise and the unknown.

Māla, Dvīpa, and the Maldives

The repetition of māla in these sea names has drawn scholarly attention, especially when considered alongside the ancient name Māla-dvīpa, meaning “garland of islands” - a term historically associated with the Maldives.

Geographically, a vessel sailing south or southwest from Gujarat would naturally encounter the Maldive atolls: a long chain of reefs, lagoons, and channels that could easily be perceived as a sequence of distinct seas. Each atoll system presents its own visual character; changes in water color, depth, marine life, and reef density, reinforcing the idea of a “garland” rather than a single expanse of ocean.

Maritime Knowledge and Cultural Memory

The Jātakas are not maps or historical records, but moral stories shaped by oral tradition. Even so, they preserve traces of early maritime knowledge: long-distance sea travel, dangerous currents, reef environments, and the value of ocean resources.

Archaeological, linguistic, and historical evidence suggests that the Maldives were known to South Asian seafarers by the mid-first millennium BCE. Within this context, the Seas of Māla may be read as poetic reflections of real oceanic experience rather than pure invention.

Reading the Seas Today

For a contemporary reader, the Seas of Māla offer an ancient perception of the islands: neither fully known nor entirely unknown. Rather than providing a definitive origin story, these passages invite reflection on how island worlds enter history, not always through chronicles and dates, but through the stories sailors carried home.

A Continuation in Fine Art: The 4 Seas of Mala Framed Sculptures

These framed sculptures draw from Jātaka No. 360, which recounts a voyage through the mythical Seas of Māla: Khuramāla, Aggimāla, Dhadhimāla, and Nalamāla; described through swordfish, gold, silver, and red coral.

Rather than illustration, Imma Rasheed distills these seas into relief and clay surfaces, treating them as thresholds between myth and the Indian Ocean world. The works gesture toward Māla Dīv (the Maldives) as a poetic geography of early maritime contact, where memory and oceanic imagination converge.

Editorial Note

This article is informed by the personal research and referenced source material compiled by Raniya Mansoor, co-founder of Oevaali Art Shop. It does not claim historical certainty or definitive conclusions. Some interpretations remain speculative or drawn from incomplete records. The piece is offered as a space for reflection and curiosity, inviting dialogue, questioning, and deeper engagement with Maldivian heritage.

Archival Context: 5th–3rd centuries BCE: Early Buddhist oral tradition (later redactions reflecting Indian Ocean seafaring knowledge).

References

Maloney, C. (1980). People of the Maldive Islands. Orient Longman.
Heyerdahl, T. (1986). The Maldive Mystery. George Allen & Unwin.
Cowell, E. B. (Ed.). (1895–1907).
The Jātaka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births (Vols. I–VI). Cambridge University Press.
Geiger, W. (1912). The Mahāvaṃsa. Pali Text Society.

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