Religion and Culture of the Jains

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

Page 26

SM. S. SENGUPTA
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is placed between the Gandhamādana and Mālyavat mountains. It is to the east of the Gandhamādana and the west of the Mālyavat and to the north of the Meru and the south of the Nila. The texts give a detailed description of the lakes, rivers, mountains and mansions wherein deities live." Another place called Devakuru is placed to the south of the Mandara.
The Jain cosmographical accounts mention the Bharata and Airāvata regions of Jambudvipa and also two continents besides Jambudvipa, which are separated from it by impassable seas, are exactly like Jambudvipa in all respects and are called Dhātakiknanda and Puskarardha or Puskaradvipa. Both of them have the eastern and western Bharata and Airāvata
it makes a total of ten regions : Jambudvipa having two and Dhātakikhanda and Puşkarārdha four each. To each of these regions, is alloted twenty-four past, present and future Tirthankaras. Bharatavarşa, i.e. India, is said to be a small portion in the southern side of Jambudvipa..
The upper and lower worlds, i.e., the heaven and hell, are described in Jain cosmographical works in detail. They start from the bottom, i.e., the hell and proceed upwards to heaven, via the earth which stands at the centre. There are seven lower regions, one below the other, which are named-from top to bottom--Ratnaprabhā, Sarkarāprabhā, Vālukāprabhā, Pamkaprabhā, Dhūmaprabhā, Tamaḥprabhā and Mahātamahprabhā, each of which contains numerous hells. where people committing different grades of sin are sent to undergo punishment of varying degrees. The lowermost naturally are the worst of all. The periods of stay in these hells also are fixed according to the gravity of the sins committed. These regions are separated from each other by thick layers of vacuum with no inhabitants. Only in the layer between the uppermost nether region and the earth, there lives a class of gods, known
7 Ibid., pp. 100 f. 8 Ibid., p. 108.
.9 For a comparative study, refer to the cosmographical sections of the Purāņas.