Religion and Culture of the Jains

Author(s): D C Sirkar
Publisher: University of Calcutta

Page 25

16
RELIGION AND CULTURE OF THE JAINS
cosmography seems not only popular, but also an important subject of study for the Jains.
Corresponding to the Jambudvīpa-varṇanā of the Brahmanical texts there are a number of texts in Jainism in connection with Jambudvipa, like the sixth Upanga Jambudīpapaņṇati and post-canonical works like Umāsvāti's Jambudipasamāsa, Jambudivasamghāyaṁ, and Padmanandin's
Haribhadra's
Jambudivapanṇattisaṁgaha (JPS). 2
The shape of the world in the Jain texts is compared to 'a woman with her arms akimbo's or, in older accounts, to the figure of a man. It is also 'compared with a threedimensional figure 8', the upper and lower loops representing the upper and the lower world, while the middle portion, i.e., the junction of the two loops, which may be the waist of 'the man-represents the world we live in and is called Jambudvipa. This Jambudvipa, which is round like the sun and of immense dimension, is at the centre of the horizontal disc and separated from each other by oceans. At the centre of Jambudvipa and therefore of the world, stands the great Mount Meru or Mandara, which is fabulously high. The Jambudvipa has thirteen divisions, of which there are seven kşetras, viz. Bharata, Haimavata, Harivarṣa, Videha or Mahavideha, Ramyaka, Hairanyavat and Airavata; and six kulaparvatas, viz. Himavat or Culahimavat, Mahāhimavat, Niṣadha, Nila, Rūpya or Rukmin and Sikharin. Of these, Himavat and Śikharin are made of gold and the others of different precious stones. The great river Ganga flows from the Padmahrd on the Himavat mountain and, flowing for 500 yojanas, enters into a big lake at the foot of the same mountain; in its course, it washes many an image of the Jina."
5
Uttarakuru is regarded as a land of the blessed in Brahmanical literature. In the Jain cosmography, Uttarkuru
2 Loc. cit.
3 ERE, Vol. IV, pp. 160-61.
4 Loc. cit.
5 For the dimension and description of the Meru-parvata, cf. JPS, Ch. IV, 21-40.
6 JPS, p. 33.