Elements of Jaina Geography: The Jambudvipasamgrahani of Haribhadra Suri

The present work provides a critical edition and translation of the Jambudvipasamgrahani (JDSH) of Haribhadra Suri (c.1123 A.D.) together with its Sanskrit commentary by Prabhananda Suri. The JDSH is one of the minor texts of Jaina Geography written in standard Maharastri. It consists of thirty gathas and describes the structure of Jambudvipa in a very concise manner. The Jaina vision of the universe and the world is complicated, inventive, and above all, extremely idealized. In the centre of the middle part of the Jaina universe, between the upper world consisting of seven heavenly regions and the lower world consisting of seven hellish abodes, Jambudvipa, the island of the Rose Apple tree (Jambu), lies. The Madhyaloka is a vast flat disc made up of an innumerable amount of oceans and lands concentrically surrounding the core, being Jambudvipa itself. It is rimmed by a wall and is divided into seven continents. Haribhadra Suri treats all these topics very succinctly in his JDSH. This concise presentation of the subject matter is carried out in the typical aphoristic sutra style. However, this very sketchy geographical information is fortunately rather elaborately commented upon by Prabhananda Suri. In Fact, without Prabhananda’s commentary the basic text of the JDSH would be quite unintelligible for a reader not already familiar with Jaina geography.

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