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JANUARY, 1986
109
The above larger units have also their corresponding 2-d and 3-d units named as pratarloka and ghanaloka or loka respectively. These are equal to the square and cube of jagaśreni unit. Lokaprakāśa mentions another of 3-d unit of khandhaka equal to one-fourth cube (1/64) of a rajju. This and its derivative units are not found in Digambara tradition.
The above description of larger units shows the pramāna yojana to be different in different traditions. Thus, descriptions based on them will have a variance and their reliability will be more mythological. The current century, however, requires uniform value of pramāna yojana for proper evaluation of various descriptions in cannons.
Some Descriptions Based on Larger Length Units
Many descriptions relating larger distances, area and volumes are available in Jaina cannons. Some of them are presented here in current terms in Table 8. Let us first look at the island Jambudvipa in which we live. It is named after a Jambu tree25 in its centre. It is 6 yojanas in height, 8 yojanas in length and 6 yojanas in diameter. The corresponding description is given in Table 8. It is clear that this cannot be based on pramāņa yojana. Basing it on utsedha yojana also looks like as exaggeration. Not only this, 108 Jambu trees of half the dimensions of the main tree are surrounding it. If we assume that there is at least one tree surrounding it in one direction, there will be a row of approximately 27 trees of 60 km. length covering a distance of 27 x 60=1620 km. in one direction. This is equal to a distance from Delhi to Karipeth, Bombay, Veraval and Howrah. Thus, it seems that more than half of the present India will contain only the family of Jambu trees. This description seems to be imaginary when one thinks of current distances and descriptions of the trees.
The Jambu island has a diameter of 105 pramānas yojanas.26 This island has the Bharata Khanda 27 with an area of 1/190 of main island and a diameter of app. 526 pramāna yojanas. The island has Meru mount28 in the centre which is 99,000 pramāna yojanas overland and 1000 pramāna yojanas underland. The current values for these descriptions in Table 8 suggest that it is very difficult to determine the
15 See f.n. 7, p. 169. ** Ibid., p. 170. 17 Ibid., p. 190 23 Sari, Srutasagara, Tattvarthavrtti, Bharatiya Jnanapith, Delhi, 1944, p. 124.
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