Tattvartha Sutra

Author(s): Umaswati, Umaswami, Manu Doshi
Publisher: Shrutratnakar Ahmedabad

Page 73

MADHYALOK JAIN CONCEPT OF GEOGRAPHY
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Yojans up, Saumanas is 63000 Yojans up and Pandakvan is at the top of the mountain. There are thrones on all the four sides of Pandakvan, where bathing ceremony is performed for the Tirthankar born in the respective direction of Meru. BHARAT KSHETRA
Bharatkshetra lies on the extreme south of Jamboodweep. It is bounded by Himvän mountain range in the north and Lavan Samudra on the remaining three sides. That Kshetra itself is the Indo-Gangetic plain. Jain concepts of that area, however, differ from the geographical details in several respects. It is considered to have a crescent shape. Its east-west length is given as 14401 - Yojans and north-south distance as 526. Yojans, which is 1/190th part of the diameter of Jamboodweep. In the center of Bharat Kshetra lies the mountain Vaitädhya extending from east to west and dividing the Kshetra into north and south.
Sindhu and Ganga are two major rivers of Bharat Kshetra. They rise from the lake Padma on Himvan mountain range, which could be the same as Himalayas. They are considered of the equal length and size and are supposed to flow southward, Sindhu meeting the Lavansamudra at the west coast and Ganga at the east coast. Those two rivers and the mountain Vaitädhya divide Bharat Kshetra into six parts, which are termed as Khand. Chakravartis (sovereign kings) conquer all those six, while Väsudevs, who are termed as half-Chakravarti, conquer three of them. Airävat Kshetra is analogous to that of Bharat Kshetra, but the details from our perspective are in the reverse order.