Aḍhāī-dvīpa is a Hindi term meaning 'Two and A Half Continents''. The Two and A Half Continents is in the centre of the middle world – madhya-loka. There are three worlds in the Jain conception of the universe. The Two and A Half Continents is the only part of the universe where human beings can be born so it is also known as 'the world of humans' – manuṣya-loka.

The middle world in Jain tradition is formed of concentric rings of differing size. Every other ring is a continent, which is surrounded by a ring of ocean. These alternate rings of continents and oceans number 90 in all, but the Two and A Half Continents is the main focus of many works of Jain cosmology.

Starting from the centre, the Two and A Half Continents consists of the following elements:

1. the central continent, called Jambū-dvīpa
2. the first ocean, known as Lavaṇa-samudra or 'Salt Ocean'
3. the second continent, Dhātakīkhaṇḍa
4. the second ocean, called Kālodadhi or 'Black-Water Ocean'
5. half of the third continent known as Puṣkara-dvīpa.

The maps of the Two and A Half Continents are very detailed and usually have long labels identifying the different elements. Based on the lengthy texts explaining Jain cosmology, the iconography is highly complex and characteristically repetitive and symmetrical.

Jambū-dvīpa – the first continent

The central circle in diagrams of the Two and A Half Continents is the first continent, Jambū-dvīpa. The innermost yellow disk is the cosmic axis, Mount Meru. It has three terraces set atop one another in decreasing order of size, and all planted with parks and forests. A temple to the Jinas is at the peak.

The semi-circles on each half of Mount Meru are the pairs of 'Elephant Tusk' – Gajadanta – mountains. These form the borders of the two Lands of Enjoyment.

Lands of Enjoyment

Colour	Location	Region	Name of associated tree
Green	North	Uttara-kuru	Jambū tree
Red	South	Deva-kuru	Śālmalī tree

Here people can spend their days in pleasure because wish‑fulfilling trees enable them to get all they want without any effort.

Around Mount Meru are seven other regions – varṣa – picked out by six coloured lines. These symbolise parallel mountain ranges – varṣa-dhara. Apart from those in the north and south, the mountain ranges do not have standard colours in images of Jambū-dvīpa. The name of the range farthest north, Nīla, means 'dark blue' or 'dark', and is usually shown as green on maps. The mountain range in the south is generally red.

At the summits of each mountain range is a lake.

From south to north, these parts of Jambū-dvīpa are called:

Mountains, lakes and regions of Jambū-dvīpa

Mountain range	Lake at summit	Region
Himavant – 'Small Himavant'	Padma	Bharata and Haimavata
Mahā-himavant – 'Large Himavant'	Mahā-padma	Harivarsa
Nisadha	Tigiñcha	Mahā-videha
Nīla	Kesarī	Ramyaka
Rukmin or Rūpī	Mahā-puṇḍarīka	Hairaṇyavata
Śikharin	Puṇḍarīka	Airāvata

These lakes are the sources of two rivers that flow east and west respectively through the seven regions. Both rivers flow into the Lavaṇa-samudra.

At the far north and south of these regions are the twin mountain ranges of Vaitāḍhya.

The Mahā-videha region forms a wide block in the centre of the diagram. The region is made up of 32 provinces between the mountain ranges of Niṣadha and Nīla. These provinces are divided into 16 oblongs in the east and 16 in the west. These two sets of oblongs are split into smaller groups of eight oblongs on each side of the rivers that run through the seven central regions. Forests mark the boundary of the region.

There are gates at the four cardinal points of Jambū-dvīpa, which open the land to the ocean:

• north – Vaijayanta
• south – Aparājita
• east – Vijaya
• west – Jayanta.

Lavaṇa-samudra – the first ocean

Around Jambū-dvīpa is the first ocean, Lavaṇa-samudra or 'Salt Ocean'.

In the water four sets of pots – pātālas or kalaśas – are suspended. They are filled with water and then emptied and filled with air in a regular cycle, which regulates the tides. Their locations correspond to the four directions. There are four big ones and 7,884 smaller ones, with 1,971 smaller ones at each compass point.

Tidal movement is also directed by the Shore Retainers – Velaṃ-dharas. Four large ones lie at the cardinal directions and four small ones in between each point. The name means both the mountains and the dragons that live inside.

Eight tusk-shaped peninsulas extend into the sea from Jambū-dvīpa, each containing seven inhabited regions. These make up the 56 Intermediate Islands – Antara-dvīpa.

Dhātakīkhaṇḍa – the second continent

The second, larger concentric ring is the continent of Dhātakīkhaṇḍa. Although double the size of Jambū-dvīpa, this is never clear in cosmological artwork.

A mountain range called Iṣvākāra or 'Arrow Shaped' runs north to south, dividing Dhātakīkhaṇḍa into eastern and western halves. Jain temples within vertical lines mark the range of mountains. One temple sits in the southern half, the other in the north.

Dhātakīkhaṇḍa's eastern and western halves each hold a Mount Meru, on the same plane as the central one.

Each half of Dhātakīkhaṇḍa also holds seven regions with the same name as the seven regions in Jambū-dvīpa. There are six mountain ranges in each half, dividing the seven regions from each other. Thus Dhātakīkhaṇḍa has a total of 14 regions and 12 mountain ranges.

Kālodadhi – the second ocean

Dhātakīkhaṇḍa is enclosed by Kālodadhi or 'Black-Water Ocean', which is the second ocean in the Two and A Half Continents.

There are no tides in Kālodadhi but there are two islands in the eastern and western parts ruled by the two deities Kāla and Mahā-kāla.

Puṣkara-dvīpa – the third continent

The outermost ring shows half of the third continent, Puṣkara-dvīpa. Only the inner half, where human beings live, is shown.

At the perimeter of Puṣkara-dvīpa is a ring of mountains known as Mānuṣottara-parvata or 'Mountain beyond Mankind'. It is 1721 yojanas high and 1022 yojanas broad. On the other side of the range lies the half of the continent where humans cannot live.

Like Dhātakīkhaṇḍa, Puṣkara-dvīpa is split into eastern and western parts by the Iṣvākāra mountains. Again, each half has a Mount Meru on the horizontal axis.