– Umakant Shah
According to Jainism, the shape of the Cosmos is fixed and unchangeable. Fourteen rajjus in height, it is not uniform in breadth; broadest at the bottom, narrowest at the center, broader still above and at the top narrower again. The shape of the cosmos (loka) is best compared with a man standing in the Vaiśākha position, with arms akimbo, at the bottom resembling a vetrāsana (cane-stand), in the middle a jhallarī (circular flat symbol or gong) and the top a muraja (mṛdaṅga). It is filled with three worlds – lower, middle and upper, the terms being used with reference to Ruchaka. The center of the cosmos comprises the madhya-loka – middle world – with the abodes of human and lower beings, and extending nine hundred yojanas above and below Ruchaka.
The lower world or adho-loka is made up of seven earths, one below the other, in which are terrifying abodes of hell inhabitants: Ratnaprabhā, śarkarāprabhā, Vālukaprabhā, Paṅkaprabhā, Dhūmaprabhā, Tamaḥprabhā and Mahātmaprabhā. The Ratnaprabhā is divided into three parts: the uppermost, called the khara-bhāga, has in its central regions abodes of all the classes of the Bhavanavāsī Devas except the Asurakumāras, and of the various classes of the Vyantara gods except the Rākṣasas. The middle part of the Ratnaprabhā is called the paṅka-bhāga wherein stay the Asurakumāras and the Rākṣasas. Remaining parts of the lower world contain hells wherein live the Nārakas or hellish beings, ugly and grotesque in appearance and tortured mercilessly by Asurakumāras and fifteen other classes of celestial beings known as Amba, Ambaras, Sama, śabala, Rudra, Mahārudra, Kāla, Mahākāla, Asipatra, Dhanu, Kumbha, Vālu, Vetaraṇī, Kharasvara and Mahāghoṣa.
The middle world, a rather circular body, consists of numerous concentric dvīpas or island continents with intervening oceans separating any two of them. In its center is the Mount Meru, golden and surrounded by the Jambūdvīpa, the latter being encircled by the lavaṇoda ocean. Then comes the Dhātaki-khaṇḍa dvīpa and the vāruṇīvara samudra, the kṣīravara and the kṣīroda, the ghṛtavara and the ghṛtoda, the ikṣuvara and the ikṣuvaroda, the nandīśvara and the nandīśvaroda. Human beings are found only in the first two dvīpasa and the first half of the third one. At the end of countless continents and oceans is the great ocean known as the Svayambhuramaṇa.
The Jambū-dvīpa, placed in the center of the middle world, is the most important of all the continents. Six ranges of mountains divide this Jambū-dvīpa into seven regions (kṣetras): Bhārata, Haimavanta, Hari, Videha, Ramyaka, Hairaṇyavata and Airāvata. The six mountain ranges known as Varṣadhara parvatas are: Haimavat, Mahāhimavat, Niṣadha, Nīla, Rukmin and śikharin. On their tops are six lakes, namely, Padma, Mahāpadma, Tigiñca, Kesari, Mahāpuṇḍarīka and Puṇḍarīka respectively, each having a big lotus-island (padmahrada) in its center. In these islands live the six goddesses śrī, hrī, dhṛti, kīrti, buddhi and lakṣmī respectively, attended by sāmānikas, gods of councils, bodyguards and armies.
In each of the seven kṣetras is a pair of chief rivers – Gaṅgā and Sindhu, Rohit and Rohitāsyā, Harit and Harikāntā, Sitā and Sitodā, Nārī and Narakāntā, Suvarṇakūlā and Rūpyakūlā, Raktā and Raktodā.
To the north of the Niṣadha mountains and to the south of Meru are the Vidyutprabha and Saumanasa mountains in the west and in the east. Between them are the bhogabhūmis or enjoyment-lands known as Devakurus. In the Devakurus, on the east and west banks of the river Sitodā are the mountains Citrakūṭa and Vicitrakūṭa, on which are the temples of the Jinas. To the north of the Meru and to the south of the Nīla mountains are Gandhamādana and Mālyavat mountains between which is another bhogabhūmi known as the Uttarakurus, where, on the banks of the river Sitā, are two mountains known as Yamaka.
To the east of the Deva and Uttarakurus are the regions known as the East Videhas, while to the west are the West Videhas, each of the Videhas being divided into sixteen provinces.
In the center of the Bhārata, parallel to the Himavān, is the Mountain Vaitāḍhya or Vijayārdha, dividing the Bhārata kṣetra into northern and southern regions. The northern one is peopled by the Mlecchas. The southern region is divided into western, middle and eastern parts, the Mlecchas again live in the extreme east and west sections, the middle section peopled by āryas is known as the ārya khaṇḍa.
On the northern and the southern slopes of the Mount Vaitāḍhya are cities of the Vidyādharas, fifty in the south and sixty in the north. At ten yojanas above the abodes of the Vidyādharas are two rows adorned with abodes of the Vyantaras. Above these again are nine peaks. There are two caves on the Vaitāḍhya, known as the Tamisra guhā and the Khaṇḍaprapāta guhā. Kṛtamālaka a Vyantara god is the superintending deity of the first while Narttamalaka, another Vyantara god, rules over the second. There are similar Vidyādhara cities in the airāvata and Videha kṣetras.
In the Bhārata and the Airāvata kṣetras, in the extreme south and north of the Jambū continent, there is an increase and decrease of age, height, bliss etc., of the their inhabitants, in the two chief eras of time – Utsarpiṇī and Avasarpiṇī – while in the other five kṣetras there is no increase and decrease of any sort.
In the center of the Jambū dvīpa is the Mount Meru, golden and having the shape of a truncated cone. At the base of Meru is a grove Bhadraśāla resembling a surrounding wall. At five hundred yojanas from Bhadraśāla, on a terrace, is the grove called Nandana. On a second terrace, at a certain distance above Nandana is the garden Puṇḍarīka. In the last grove is performed the Janmābhiṣeka kalyāṇaka (birth-bath ceremony) of the Tīrthaṅkaras. Each of the above mentioned groves has four śāśvata Jina Bhavanas.
The continent of Jambū dvīpa has a fortification wall [jagatī] of diamond, with a lattice work around it which latter is surmounted by a beautiful terrace named Padmavara, the pleasure ground of gods. In the fortification wall are four gates in the four cardinal points. They are: Vijaya, Vaijayanta, Jayanta and Aparājita with gods of the same name superintending over them. Over each gate is a dvāraprāsāda, with various pavements, vāraṇakas, shining with jewel lamps, having pillars adorned with various śālabhañjikās, jeweled minarets and flags. It appears beautiful with various sculptures and painting and excellent curtains. On these gates are the images of Jinas sitting on lion-seats and adorned with haloes, umbrellas, fly-whisks etc.
The cities of Mahoraga gods situated in the vedi have palaces of square and rectangular plans, and of white, ruby, golden or various colors. These mansions contain various apartments, such as olagaśālā, mantraśālā, bhūṣaṇaśālā, abhiṣekaśālā etc. The Tiloyapannatti further says that Vyantara cities if the jambūdvīpa have various types of gṛhas namely sāmānyagṛha, caityagṛha, kadalīgṛha, garbhagṛha, latāgṛha, nādagṛha and āsanagṛha. In the beautiful palaces of the city are various types of seats, of the shape of elephants, lions, parrots, peacocks, crocodiles, eagles, swans etc.
The Lord of the jambūdvīpa is a Vyantara god called Anādṛta or Anādara. Similarly there are lords of kṣetras, samudras and mountains.
Besides the seven mountain ranges (varṣadhara parvatas) noted above, there are other similar but smaller mountains in different kṣetras. All the mountains have various peaks (kūṭas). The Vaitāḍhya, for example, has nine peaks known as siddhāyatana kūṭa, dakṣiṇārdhabharata kūṭa, khaṇḍaprapāta kūṭa, maṇibhadra kūṭa, vaitāḍhya kūṭa, pūrṇabhadra kūṭa, tamisraguhā kūṭa, uttarabharatārdha kūṭa and vaiśramaṇa kūṭa, the last eight derive names from gods of the same name superintending over them, while the first one is so called from the Siddhāyatanas or temples of the Siddhas situated on it. Such shrines are also known as śāśvata Jina Bhavanas with images of śāśvata Jinas installed in them.
Next to the Jambū dvīpa is the Lavaṇoda ocean, then the Dhātaki khaṇḍa, then the kāloda ocean and following it is Puṣkaravara dvīpa. Half of the Puṣkarava is inhabited by human beings. The human world, therefore, is made up of two and a half continents, two oceans, thirty-five zones and a number of mountains, rivers etc. Beyond it is the Mānuṣottara, a mountain range, round like a city-wall, surrounding the human world. Situated half-way in the Puṣkaravara dvīpa, Mānuṣottara is so called because ‘man is not born except on this side of it’, which is the ultimate limit of regions inhabited by human beings.
Surrounding the Puṣkara dvīpa is the Puṣkara ocean, followed by continents and oceans called the vāruṇīvara, the kṣīravara etc., the eighth from Jambū being the Nandīśvara dvīpa, which resembles a heaven.