Jain Journal 2004 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 28

HAMPA NAGARAJAIAH: THE ADIPURANA
Mahāpurāṇa, on the other hand, describes the lives of sixtythree prominent men of the Jain faith" [ P.L. Vaidya,: "Intro": xxx].
According to the Jaina notion the manifest universe has the outline of a man standing with arms akimbo and legs apart. The universe with all its components is eternal and has neither a beginning nor an end. In other words, nobody created it nor any one can destroy it. Within this vast but finite three-dimentional structure are vertically ordered three tiers. The Jambudvipa, named after the jambu tree, is in the middle tier called Madhya-loka. [Ādipurāṇa 4. 48-50]. The Jambudvipa, the world of human activity, contains seven continents, including Bharata-kṣetra in the centre of which lies Bharatavarṣa, the present subcontinent of India, separated from one another by six great mountains. The continents are divided into karma-bhūmi, realms of action, and bhoga-bhūmi, realms of enjoyment.
In the everlasting universe the wheel of time revolves incessantly in half-circles. The units of cosmic time are divided into two parts, namely the utsarpini-kāla, half progressive in the ascending order, and avasarpini-kāla, half-regressive in the descending order [Adipurāṇa, Parva 3, verses 17-18]. The realms of action and enjoyment, i.e., the karma-bhūmi and bhōga-būmi, are subject to these temporal cycles of half-circle period. In the context of human life, the systematic concept of utsarpini and avasarpini deserves a detailed description, because they mark the gradual evolution and devolution in happiness, physical strength and stature, span of life, and the length of the age itself.
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Each of the utsarpini and avasarpiņi kālas, the half-circle eons of time in the manifest universe, are further divided into six subdivisions, as follows:
a. the six units of utsarpini, progressive half-cycle;
i) duşama-duṣama, extremely unhappy
ii) duṣamā, unhappy
iii) duṣama-suṣamă, more unhappy than happy iv) suṣama-duṣamā, more happy than unhappy v) suṣama, happy
vi) suşama-suşamă, extremely happy
[Adipurāna 3. 22-51].