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4: Śramana, Vol 62, No. 1 January-March 2011
seven Major Areas (kṣetra), which again are divided into various Minor Areas (khanda, bhūmi).
In the south of Jambudvipa we find the Major Area Bharata which is again divided into six Minor Areas, the south most being Aryakhaṇḍa in which India and the city Ayodhya is found. Bharata is but one of the seven Major Areas of the whole of Jambudvipa, but it is special because it undergoes certain changes over time that follow a specific pattern. This pattern consists of six periods or "spokes," and their names reflect the general state that prevails during each spoke. This cyclic pattern has always existed, and will continue to do so forever. The first spoke of a declining series of these six spokes (avasarpiņi) is known as happy-happy. In this time period people experience continues pleasures, do not need to work for a living, live.for very long and have no worries. After happyhappy the following five spokes are happy (second), happy-unhappy (third), unhappy-happy (fourth), unhappy (fifth) and finally unhappy-unhappy (sixth)4. In this last period humans experience pain and chaos and live for short time periods. It is only when we are in the third and fourth spokes that we can attain salvation and it is during this time that we will have the twenty-four Jinas. These are periods in which true religious actions are possible because they have a suitable mix of pleasures and pains. In all other periods the experience of pain or pleasure is too strong, as is the case in the various heavens and hells where the hellish and celestial beings dwell. Hence, it is not only that humans are the only beings that can reach salvation; they also need to live in the right time to be able to achieve it.
If we divide Jambūdvīpa horizontally in half into a southern and northern part, we will find that it is symmetrical in its two parts. Hence the southern and northern Major Areas, Bharata and Airāvata, look alike and they are the only two Major Areas on Jambudvipa that undergo the changes of the six spokes. Hence Airavata will have its own respective twenty-four Jinas during the passing of the third and the fourth spoke.
