Sramana 2011 01

SR No.: 525075
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sundarshanlal Jain, Shreeprakash Pandey
Publisher: Parshvanath Vidhyashram Varanasi
Publication Year: 2011
Total Pages: 172
Language: Hindi
Classification: Magazine, India_Sramana, & India
File Size: 15 MB

Page 21

The Enduring Significance of Jaina Cosmography
: 3
In secondary books on Jainism the descriptions of Jaina cosmography are typically focused on various versions of the cosmic man, the keyhole shaped model of the three layers (hellish, human, celestial) with the abode of the liberated souls on its very top. The stylized version of this shape, with a svastika and a hand, has become a standard symbol for the Jaina community in the last thirty-five years (Dundas 2002: 92). The cosmographical details of the middle part of this model (madhyaloka), in which human beings are found, are typically skipped or only briefly mentioned. Jaini's classic work on Jainism, The Jaina Path of Purification, does mention the first two-and-a-half islands (adhāidvīpa) in this middle world, but does not go beyond this (1998: 29-32). The same is true of Cort's Jains in the World (2001: 20-1) and Dundas' The Jains (2002: 90-1). One reason for this is simply that human beings cannot live outside these two-and-a-half islands. But to conclude that the remaining parts outside the two-and-a-half islands are unimportant because humans cannot go there or because salvation is not possible there is erroneous and we will soon see why. Further, the soteriological implications of how these two-and-a-half islands are understood should interest us, for although the twenty-four Jinas of our age and place have passed, there are still areas in which living Jinas are operating in this very moment: The Jinas are alive! The middle world in which we live is believed to consist of innumerable islands which lie in concentric circles around the central island Jambūdvīpa. Jains distinguish between innumerable and infinite. These islands are not infinite in number, and Jaina texts give the name of the first thirteen or more islands and the last sixteen, between which there are innumerable other islands. Between each island there is an ocean, and the last island is encircled by the ocean Svayambhūramaņa. Our world as we know it (i.e. the countries found on planet Earth) is found in the south of the innermost and central island Jambūdvīpa. Its size is only a 190th part of the entire island. Human beings are not only found here, but also in other areas of Jambūdvīpa. Jambūdvīpa is divided into