Religion and Culture of the Jains

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

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RELIGION AND CULTURE OF THE JAINS
as Bhavanavasin, who are the Nagas, Asuras, Suparņas,
etc. 10
The series of heavens start above Mount Meru in a number of stages. First, there are three tiers or Vimanas which are the habitats of Vaimānika gods. The first of them is a set of 12 Kalpas, preceded by 9 Graiveyakas, and above them are the 5 Anuttaras. [The name Graiveyaka comes from grīvā or neck of the cosmic Purușa.] The souls attaining the Anuttara heaven will have no more than two rebirths before complete emancipation. The topmost region of the Anuttara heaven' is called Saryarthasiddha aboye which is the top of the Universe, in the shape of an umbrella of huge dimension, named Iṣatprāgbhāra, where emancipated souls have their final rest. 11
(2
The planetary world, i.e., the Sun, Moon and the constellations, revolve round Mount Meru, each having a presiding deity. A peculiar notion of the Jains is that the whole planetary system has a duplicate, each set covering only half of the journey. While one works, the other rests, and when the latter takes over, the former takes rest, so that we can see only one of them whereas in reality they are two.
✓
As in the Brāhmaṇical theories, according to Jain mythology also, the wheel of time moves continuously with the rim going up and down alternately. The period designating the downward movement is called Avasarpiņi and the upward one is known as Utsarpini. These two main periods are again subdivided into six periods according to the degree of happiness or misery, enjoyed or suffered by the people born in them. The physical stature and life-span of men vary according to the influence of these ages. The height and life-span gradually decrease in the Avasarpiņi era while they increase gradually in the Utsarpini.12
10 Bühler, Indian Sect of the Jains (reprint, 1963), p. 48; JPS, pp. 204ff. JPS, Ch. xi.
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12 ERE, Vol. IV, pp. 160-61; SBE, Vol. XLV, Ch. XXXVI-Uttarddhyayana Sutra.