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A JAINA VIEW OF COSMOS
-a comparative study,
(from the previous issue )
KASTUR CHAND LALWANI
8.
Jaina models of spheres
Against the background of the traditional models of the orient and the occident, it will be of interest to place in somewhat greater detail the Jaina view. According to this, there is but one loga or loka (world) and beside it there is one aloga or aloka (non-world), the latter surrounding the former on all sides like a hollow sphere and is out of reach because beyond the boundaries of the world, the medium of motion ceases to exist. Viewed in its vertical cross section, the loka narrows from below to the centre and above it, it widens again above almost to the same degree giving the whole the shape of the English cardinal number 8. It need be added that the base and the summit of the loka are built up in a convex shape. The canons, however, distinguish three sections of the world, the lower, the central and the upper with widely differing denigens including plant life, animal life, human life and sub- and superhuman life, the topmost layer being the abode of the liberated. As to the over-all look of the loka, models differ. One model has compared
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