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Lord Mahavira
comprises seven varsa or "continents”: Bharata, Haimavata, Ramyaka, Videha, Hari, Hairanyaka, and Airavata.66 These continents are separated from one another by six great mountains. Of the seven continents, only Bharata, Airavata, and half of Videha are karmabhumi, or realms of action, that is, places in which moksa can be attained. Actions which bring about rebirth in the highest heaven or the lowest hell are also limited to these karma-bhumis. The remaining four-and-a-half continents are bhogabhumi, realms of enjoyment, where there occurs nothing but the experiencing of sense pleasures; such places are not, of course, conducive to renunciation. 67
The first ring surrounding Jambûdvipa is called Dhatakikhanda; its land mass is twice that of Jambu, and it has an identical arrangement of continents and bhûmis. Next is Puskaravara, which is in turn double the size of Dhatakîkhanda; it too has an analogous internal structure. (As we have seen, however, only the interior half of this ring is inhabitable by human beings. Questions of action (karma) versus enjoyment (bhoga) thus become irrelevant beyond this point.) Given the fact that Jinahood can only be attained in a karma-bhumi area, we are now in a position to tentatively calculate how many continents are "available," as it were, to the appearance of a Tirthankara. Jainas perform this calculation by taking the continent-size of Jambudvîpa as the standard of measurement. Thus we have: Jambudvipa
21/2 karma-bhumi continents Dhataki-khanda
5 karma-bhumi continents (2/2 x 2, since each continent
is twice the size of its Jambudvipa counterpart) Puskaravara
5 karma-bhumi continents (27/2 x 4 = 10 x 1/2 = 5, since each continent is four times the size of its Jambudvipa counterpart, but only half the land is inhabitable by human beings).
This gives a total of twelve-and-a-half continents conceivably suitable for the arising of a Jina. The situation is complicated further, however, by the Jainas' belief that karma-bhumi areas
