Jainism the Creed for All Times

SR No.: 006564
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D S Baya
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
Publication Year: 2006
Total Pages: 420
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 255

finger measures are Ātmāngula (the length of the finger tip of an average healthy person :1/84" of his height) that is equivalent to two Utsedha-angula and Pramāṇāngula, which is equivalent to 500 or 1000 Utsedhārgula. These three finger-measures were used for measuring heights of bodies and idols, lengths of items of utility and lands, land and sea distances as well as astronomical distances. Yojana (The Larger Unit of Distance) –
The Yojana, too, has been variously described. According to one view an Utsedha Yojana is equivalent to 7,68,000 UA or eight miles. Another view expressed in the book entitled Our True Geography', published by Jambūdvīpa Vijñāna Samsodhana Kendra, Palitana, holds it that the present day equivalent of an Utsedha Yojana, which equals four Gāu or nine miles or 15 Km.
Again, the Utsedha Yojana was only a measure of terrestrial measurement. For astronomical measurements the unit in vogue was the Pramāna Yojana, which is 400 times that of an Utsedha Yojana or equivalent to 3600 miles at the very least. Rajju: The Measure Of Universal Space -
When the distances are immensely incalculable, the units also have to be equally immense. Rajju is one such unit. The universal space has been mentioned in terms of this unit in the Jaina scriptures. To have an idea of the immensity of Rajju, we have this formula that beats all imagination - “If a heavenly god were to go at a speed of a hundred thousand (Pramāna) Yojana in an instant, for a period of six months, the distance described by him will be one Rajju. It is also the diametrical distance between one end of the outermost Svayambhūramana Samudra (of the middle universe) to the other. No known measurable distance comes anywhere near. The present day concept of a 'Lightyear' distance is quite stupefying but the finite but incalculable distance of a Rajju is decidedly flabbergasting.
KŞETRA LOKA (SPATIAL UNIVERSE): 227