Book Title: Studies In Umasvati And His Tattvartha Sutra
Author(s): G C Tripathi, Ashokkumar Singh
Publisher: Bhogilal Laherchand Institute of Indology
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The Jaina Universe in a Profile of Cosmic Man 147 shape of a cymbal (hānjh or mañjīrā), and the upper world is also like a drum (mrdanga). The whole universe is, then, said to resemble a vajra, which means, according to Monier-William's Sanskrit Dictionary (p. 913), the form of two transverse bolts crossing each other like the letter 'X'.
His description of the loka above as well as that of its structure and dimension made in the T.S. and its bhāsya, chs. III-IV, do not contradict those made in the modern works, except the unit of ‘rajju' in measuring the loka, which is the post-Umāsvāti usage
An illustration of this Jaina loka, for instance, shown in figure 1, may naturally arouse our imagination that it resembles a human being, having his head on top and his hands at the part of waist that falls in the position of the middle world. But Umāsvāti does not compare it to Cosmic Man as modern commentators on the T.S. do. Neither do so the early commentators of the T.S., both Śvetāmbara and Digambara, including Haribhadra, Pūjyapāda and Akalanka, whose works I hold. I shall be most happy if any scholar would be kind enough to inform me, of the earlier works on the T.S. or otherwise that refer to the Jaina loka expressed in human appearance.
Schubring mentions in The Doctrine of the Jainas (p. 206), 'A third non-canonical conception refers to a world of human appearance (as loka purusa)'.1 He, then, makes a note that an expressly female figure appearing in Grünwedel's Alt-Kutscha, 1.47, etc. is quite doubtful. True, an idea of the loka in the profile of Cosmic Woman can never be accepted in the context of Jainism.
However, an illustration of a female-figured Jaina loka, dated the 18th century, Rajasthan, has been widely circulated in Japan also, as shown below.2
