The Jain 1988 07

Author(s): Natubhai Shah
Publisher: UK Jain Samaj Europe

Page 88

the various parts and sometimes with the dimensions. Dimensions have been calculated, sometimes apparently to be taken literally, the unit of measurement being the yojana, being the distance which a celestial being can fly in six months in a straight line at a speed expressed in certain (apparently) immeasureable units. Sometimes dimensions are given as proportions, a certain number of raiju or ropes, not originally to be taken as absolute measurements. The impression conveyed, however the highly speculative units of measurement are taken, is one of vast extent.
In the simplest terms, the lower world holds the hells, the middle world is the world of animals and humans, which we know, and the upper world is the seat of celestial beings.
The lower world consists of seven regions in the form of layers one above another, separated by considerable distances. The several regions are named in some texts and their dimensions given. They decrease in lateral extent from the lowest region upwards, hence giving a pyramidal form to the lower world as a whole. Some texts go into great detail as to the structure of the lower world. Graphic descriptions are given in different texts as to the nature of the hells, which are as unpleasant as human descriptiveness can depict them, dark, noisome, malodorous, extremely hot or extremely cold. The occupants are vaiously described as human beings tortured by sadistic keepers, or beings of non-human form, repulsive in appearance, evil-smelling, undergoing torments of hunger, thirst, heat and cold, suffering pain when merely touched, terrible in attackting each other. As the seven hellish regions are graded, from the uppermost to the lowest, so are the torments of their inhabitants greater. Strangely, however, the uppermost hell has other inhabitants, the gods of the lower world and other divinities. They occupy a pleasant, bright and well-provided section of the top hellish region.
The middle world, as mentioned above, is commonly depicted in plan, being shown usually as a circular disc. The representation is a highly imaginative map of the world as it was believed in ancient times to be. The whole picture was given regular form, and dimensions were provided. The centre of the world is occupied by a circular continent, Jambudvipa, divided into a number of parts. Bharat (India) lies on the southern side. Around the central continent is an ocean, and, moving outwards, other continents and oceans in concentric rings. (It is not improbable that the idea derives from imperfect knowledge of the real world: from the eastern side of India, Indo-China, Thailand and the Malay peninsula might seem like another continent encircling that of which India is the southernmost part.)
The centrel continent of Jambudvipa is divided laterally by six ranges of mountains, creating thus
seven zones: the southernmost of these is Bharaha or Bharat. In the centre of each mountain range is a lake from which the great rivers flow: three Ganga flows eastward through Bharat, and the Sindhu westward. The whole schema is symmetrical, so that each zone has its mountains on its boundaries and rivers flowing through. Detailed dimensions may be found in the old texts.
The central part of Jambudvipa is known as Mahavideha, and in the middle of this land is Mount Meru. Representions of this holy mountain are common: it may be found in sculptures in stone as well as depicted in drawings. It is of great height, described as one lakh of yojanas. Mount Meru (another name is Mandara) is terraced and laid out with parks and pleasant places, palaces and sanctuaries for the Jinas.
The upper world begins high above the stars. Like the lower world, the upper world is arranged in layers. Here are the abodes of the heavenly beings. devas, we can call them gods if we are clear that they are not the same as the eternal omnipotent god of other religions. For the gods are subject, like every living being, to the cycle of death and rebirth, and eventually they too pass on to another form of life, just as they have been reborn after a previous incarnation as a human or other living being. Here in the heavenly realms are kings (Indras) and kingdoms, and in the different heavens the gods and goddesses pass their time in luxury and pleasure. As the several heavens are graded upwards, the pleasures become more rarefied as desires become less burdensome. In Jain paintings the heavens are depicted in delightful form, with trees and flowers.
At the very top of the universe is the abode of the siddhas or liberated souls. Its shape is like that of an inverted umbrella, so when depicted in side elevation, as it usually is, it appears as a crescent with the open or concave edge upwards. Here the liberated souls abide in permanent and tranquil bliss.
This concludes a brief description of the universe as conceived in traditional Jain thought. To some today it is very real and complete. To others, of course, it is to be taken metaphorically, not literally. Modern science shows us a different universe. However, an understanding of the Jain universe helps, even today, in understanding the way in which Jain philosophers have explained the fundamentals of Jainism. As a framework on which to place the concepts of karma and rebirth, the nature of the soul and of space and time, of motion and of rest, it has value even for the most modern and scientific thinker today.
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Jain Education Intemational 2010_03