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156
TATTVĀRTHA SŪTRA
quarters of the Sūryas. At a height 80 yojanas above the Vimānas of the Sūryas—that is at a height of 880 yojanas above the ground-level of Meru—there are situated the Vimānas of the Candras. Upto a height of 20 yojanas above the Vimānas of the Candras—that is, upto a height of 900 yojanas above the level of Meru—there are situated the Grahas, Nakşatras and Prakīrṇatārās. By Prakīrṇatārās are understood such stars as are possessed of no fixed path of motion and so are found to move sometimes abo the Sūryas and Candras, sometimes below them. Within the 20 yojanas thick space rising above the Candras Nakșatras are situated at the end of the first 4 yojanas, the planets Budha at the end of the next 3, the planets Sukra at the end of the next 3, the planets Guru at the end of the next 3, the planets Mangala at the end of the next 3, the planets Sanaiścara at the end of the next 3. When a star with no fixed path of motion moves below a Sürya it moves within that 10 yojanas thick space which lies within the region of Jyotiska-gods. The Süryas etc. are called Jyotiska because they reside in Jyotisa or luminous celestical quarters. In the crown of them all is affixed a symbol luminous like a circle-of-rays and shaped like solar disc etc.; to be precise, in the case of Sūrya the symbol is shaped like solar disc, in the case of Candra it is shaped like lunar disc, in the case of tārā it is shaped like astral disc. 13.
The Mobile Jyotiskas :
That the Manusyaloka extends upto the mountain Mānusottara has already been stated! Now the Jyotiskas to be found in this Manusyaloka are always on the move. And movement on their part takes place around the mountain Meru. In all there are in the Manusyaloka 132 Sūryas and 132 Candras. Thus in Jambūdvīpa there are two of them each, in the Lavanaocean four each, in Dhātakīkhanda twelve each, in the Kālodadhiocean forty-two each, in Puskarārdha seventy-two each. The companionship of one Candra consists of 28 Naksatras, 88 Grahas
1. See chapter 3, aphorism
14.
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