________________
49
VI.
(5) The first Indraka Bila or Central hellish hole or resid.
ence of the denizens of hell in the first layer of hell, one
lac Yojanas below our earth. It is also interesting to note that there are 3 regions with a diameter of 1 lac Yojanas, and 2 regions with a height and thickness of the same extent respectively,
(1) Jambúdvípa, the first Continent in the centre of the
middle World. (2) The last Indraka Vimána or central celestial Car or
residence in Sarvártha Siddhi in the last or 3rd layer of
the Upper World. (3) The last Indraka Bila, or Central hellish hole, or residence
of the denizens of hell in the last or 49th layer of hell in
the seventh earth in the Lower World. (4) The height of Mount Sumeru minus its top of 40 Yojanas. (5) The thickness of the first Earth from its crust at the
Middle World down to the end of the second part ; Panka Bhága, i. e., just before the beginning of the first layer
of the first hell is also 1 lac Yojanas. Now the Central or first Continent, Jambú Dvípa, has a diameter of one lac Yojanas. This is divided into 7 Countries (Kshetra) each separated from the other by a mountain (Kuláchala). Thus we have 7 countries and 6 mountains. The first is a Country; the second, a mountain and so on. Each succeeding division has double the width of its predecessor, till we reach Videha, the central region round Sumeru, from where the width begins to be half of its predecessor. Thus arithmetically the divisions are 1,2,4,8,16,32,64, 32,16,8,4,2,1, a total of 190 units. The countries in the extreme north and south being each of one unit have a width of one lac Yojanas divided by 190 i.e. 526. great Yojanas.
The second, third and fourth Countries have respectively 4, 16, and 64, units of width; as also the corresponding countries in the North, counting North to South, i,e, in each case from Lavaná Ocean to Mount Sumeru.
In these 3 pairs of Countries there are the three Bhog Bhumis or Enjoyment-Lands, being the Lowest (Jaghanya), Middle (Madhyama), and the Highest (Utama) Bhoga-Bhúmis, respectively.
In Videha, however, the Eastern and Western Countries, beyond the Eastern and Western Limits of the Bhadra Shála forest, are Karma Bhumi. The rest alone, i.e. the region immediately round Sumeru is the Highest Bhoga Bhumi. The region in the North
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