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Loka - The Jain Universe

By Mr. Paul Dundas

Author analyses the theory of the universe as presented in Jain scriptures

 

The vast but finite universe in which action, rebirth and the attainment of enlightenment take place and under whose roof the delivered souls find their final abode is called the loka (world) or sometimes thetriloka (triple world). Although loka means originally "open space", Jain teachers generally preferred to derive it from the verbal root lok (see) and explain the term as "that which is seen by the soul". The loka is both a shorthand designation for the five basic ontological categories of the souls, motion, rest, atomic matter and space, which permeate the universe and, in its more usual concrete sense, the massive structure which contains the heavens and the hells, along with the system of island continents divided by mountain ranges and surrounded by oceans lying at its center. Outside the loka there is only then non-loka (aloka) where there is nothing except strong winds.

The loka is without beginning or end in time and was not brought into existence through the agency of any divine being. To this extent, Jainism is an atheistic religion. It regards it an illegitimate conclusion that there is a conscious creator who can control or intervene in the affairs of living creatures. Such a being would have to be either without a body, in which case a locus for the intention and effort of creation would be lacking, or if embodied unable to fulfill the necessary requirement of being all-pervading since in this case the ontological categories would not find any room in the loka. Alternatively, if non-pervading, such a god would have to be an entity possessing component parts and thus non-eternal. For the Jains deities such as Brahma and Vishnu, whom Hindus credit with a creative role in the universe, are themselves subject to the process of rebirth in the same manner as all other embodied souls in the loka.

Early Jain cosmography as found as found in the Shvetambara scripts provides only sketchy information about the dimensions of loka. Totally absent is any reference to the "rope" (rajju), which is the distance travelled by a god flying for six months at a speed of ten million miles a second. Nor is there any mention of the lokapurusha, a universe in the shape of a giant man (purusha) measuring fourteen ropes from head to foot, which is frequently depicted in Jain art from about the 16th century onwards. However, the classical delineation of the loka is recognizable in a passage in the "Exposition of Explanations" where it is said to be expanded at the bottom, narrow in the middle and broad in its upper dimensions. Described in works of fantastic mensural complexity dating portrayed in paintings of often striking colour and imagination, the loka represents the arena in which rebirth takes place and where, as Hemachandra puts it, all living creatures, Brahman or untouchable ,m Brahma or worm, are actors in the play called transmigration and the manifold types of existence are as temporary and uncertain as living.

The central strip of the loka, the Middle World, represents its smallest area, being only one rope wide and one hundred thousand leagues high, It is of the greatest significance since it is inhabited by human beings, the only creatures who can attain enlightenment in the course of their lives. The Middle World consists of a system of alternating oceans and continents with the central continent of Jambudvipa, "The Island of the Roseapple Tree". With the adjacent continent of Dhatakikhanda and half of the continent nearest to it, Pushkaradvipa there are a series of regions bordered by mountain ranges and rivers, of which Bharata (that is India), Airavata and Mahavideha are Karmabhumi where ford makers are preachings at this very moment.

Below a middle world is a series of hells, each successively darker, more dismal and unpleasant where hell-beings suffer grievously at each other's hands and through the tortures inflicted by their demonic jailers. Underneath the bottommost hell there are no habitations of any sort, only clouds. 

Above the Middle World is a series of heavens of increasing brightness whose divine inhabitants lead lives of pleasure reminiscent of those of earthly monarchs. However, these gods should not be regarded as objects of adoration. Indeed, their situations ultimately profoundly unsatisfactory since after the disappearance of their stock of merit, which enabled them to be reborn as gods, they will fall from heaven. The torment endured by hell-beings is similarly finite and after lengthy expiation in hell rebirth must ensue at some point.

Above the heaven and at the very crown of the loka is "The Slightly Curving Place", Ishatpragbhara, which is shaped like a parasol and where the liberated and disembodied souls live experiencing pure knowledge and bliss without any further rebirth.

This account of the loka can scarcely do justice to Jain cosmography, a branch of technical learning of such intricacy that even the polymath Hemachandra seems to have occasionally lost his way within it. However, the incorporation of stylist representation of the loka into the common symbol of the Jain religion which was adopted in 1975 and the recent expenditure of large sums of money by both the Digambar and Shvetambara communities to construct scale replicas of the loka at Hastinapur and Palitana respectively suggest that it is not a matter of purely esoteric interest or eccentric theorizing run riot but of enduring significance for all Jains.

From a doctrinal point of view the purpose of the loka is obvious. It provides a framework within 3which the manifold nature of human destiny can be structured, a backdrop for a vast narrative literature of pious exemplification and a focus for contemplation. The massive dimensions of the loka and the insignificants space occupied by the karmabhumis also serve as a reminder of the rarity and value of human birth and the limited confines in which serious religious activity can be conducted. However some broader understanding of the function of the loka might be gained comparing it with another ancient cosmography, that of Manichaeism.

Mani, the founder of Manichaeism from the third century, is usually associated with the promulgation of a simple ethical model which centers around the struggle between light and darkness, the two positive and negative forces in the universe.

A similar process can most likely be seen at work in Jainism. The classical description of the loka provided by the Jain cosmographers, while admittedly drawing on material also found in Hinduism, is uniquely Jain and is one which, when linked with the Universal History, provides a fully and internally consistent picture of the universe. In this the only values which hold sway are those of Jainism and is thus an emblem of religious identity and separateness through which the Jains could differentiate themselves from other religions.

Jains react to their religion's cosmography in different ways. Some, especially ascetics uninfluenced by western-style education, have been happy to accept it as an exact portrayal of reality, while others have struggled to reconcile their knowledge of terrestrial geography with the statements of the ancient texts (there has been a recent instance of a monk returning to the laity for this reason). However, most Jains would on reflection be happy to subscribe to two cosmographical systems, one relating to the everyday transactional world and the other to the more profound symbolic realm of region.

 

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Source : Paul Dundas is Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit at the University of Edinburgh
The above article is extracted from Paul Dundas' book "The Jains" Published By Routledge

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