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COSMOLOGY : OLD AND NEW
universe. The alokäkāśa is an infinite space without any soul or a particle of matter and it surrounds lokākāśa on all sides.
The following brief description of the lokākäśa may be given :
The loka, i.e., the universe is supported in the middle of the aloka in the form of a human trunk with siddha-sila at the top where head should be. The surrounding zones of air in which the universe is floating are said to be three, the inner zone being humid, the middle dense and the outer of rarefied gases. The siddha-silā, the abode of 'Perfected Souls', is the summit of the universe in the form of a bi-meniscus convex lens with its concavity downwards. The universe is divided into three big divisions, the upper world, the middle world. and the lower world. They are situated one above the other and are inhabited by celestial beings, worldly creatures and the hellish beings, respectively.
The total volume of loka, according to Digambara text is 343 cubic rajjus 202 and according to Svetāmbaras 239 cubic rajjus. One definition of rajju is given in the footnote on page 80. There is another, quoted by Pt. Mädhavācārya, Research Scholar, in the “Anekānia", Vol. 1, 3 :
"एक हजार भार का लोहे का गोला इन्द्रलोक से नीचे गिर कर ६ मास में जितनी दूर पहुँचे, उस सम्पूर्ण लम्बाई को एक 'राजू' कहते हैं।"
(Tr. ---Rajju is the distance travelled in six months by a ball of iron weighing 1,000 bhara (probably tolas; 1,000 tolās= 12.5 seers) let fall freely from Indraloka (the abode of heavenly beings).
This definition cannot be subjected to computation since the law of fall of bodies from Indraloka is not known. It appears that in Indraloka the rate of fall depends upon the size of the body and then nobody can say what the uniform acceleration would be.
202. In the standard work on astronomy "Trilokasára' of Nemicandra Siddhanta Cakravarti we read in gāthā 3: Fafe
foregrot fer, i.e., the cube of Jagatsreni is the volume of the Loka and Jagatsepi in terms of rajju is defined in gatha 7 as rreglurh THT TW: i.e., 1/7th of jagats reni is rajju or jagatsrepi is equal to 7 Rajjus. Therefore cube of. jagasreni is cube of 7 rajjus. Hence the volume of the Universe is 7X7X 7=343 cubic Rajjus.
It should be noted that this gives us another definition of rajju in terms of jagatsreni but since the latter has been said to be countless maha yojan as it cannot be subjected to a mathematical computation.
