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COSMOGRAPHY
205
to cover by it; in figures the world measures times 1014 joyanal in all directions (Viy. 579 a) Seen in its vertical cross-section it narrows from below to the centre and then widens again in nearly the same degree to above (Vıy. 248a; 616 b). Both the summit and the base are built up in a convex shape. To make it plain we may compare it with an 8 of equal halves rotated round its axis Canonically, however, the three sections (Thān. 126a)-we call them by the names of the lower, the centre and the upper world2-are compared with a bed to rest on (palıyanka), a so-called thunderbolt (vara-vaira), and an upright standing drum (uddha-muinga)— this following the teaching of Pasa (Viy. 248 a); acc. to V1y. 522a the lower and centre section are even illustrated by a couch (tappa) and a cymbal (jhallari), resp For the whole Viy. 522 a; 616 b apply the comparison with a supart
thaga, i.e a "broad-bottomed" vessel By these concept
tions it is demonstrated as good as certain that the horizontal cross-section was thought to be circular. The calculations, however, drawn from the Lokaprakāśa of the Svet. (composed 1708 A.D) by KIRFEL prove that its author imagined the world as three pyramids one upon the other each having a square base and rising in steps on all sides, the centre one of which standing on its top surface, whereas the description given by the Dig 5 shows three roof-like bodies of the same unchanging length but of a steadily de-, resp increasing width In the Canon we read of these details as little as we do of the unit of measure of rajju, “rope”, by means of which the proportions of the parts is being expressed With the height of the whole
6
I. 1 ko dāko ḍi (Jiv kodikodi)
1014
2 Acc to Than 171 b the upper world causes the least, the lower world the greatest difficulty for understanding (abhigama) (The passage is a fragment)
3 talpa, not tapra (uḍupaka Vy)
4 Kosmographie, p 210 f
5 Comp. Brahmaveda on Davvasamgaha, 20 (SBJ 1, 47 ff) Virasena in Satkhanḍāgama Vol 4, p 11 f and Introd P II gives tala-rukkhasamthana as the shape of the world
6 The rajju which is nothing but a proportional number has also been made to be some kind of an absolute quantity (Comp COLEBROOKE, Misc. Essays III. 1983.)
