692 THE MADHYA-LOKA
This world is one reju in extent, a reju being equal to the distance over which the sun travels in six months. Jambu- Dwipa, which is the earth on which we live, occupies only
a small part of the Madhya-loka. It is surrounded on all sides by a vast ocean, and in the centre of it is an immense
lake extending for a hundred thousand yojanas, or about four hundred thousand leagues. In the middle of this lake rises the famous mountain Mahameru. Jambu-Dwipa is divided into four equal parts, which are placed at the four cardinal points of Mahameru. India is in the part called Bharata-Kshetra.
These four divisions of Jambu-Dwipa are separated from
each other by six lofty mountains, which are called Himavata, Maha-Himavata, Nishada, Nila, Arumani, Sikari, all running
in the same direction from east to west, stretching across
Jambu-Dwipa from one sea to the other.
These mountains are intersected by vast valleys, where
the trees, shrubs, and fruits, which all grow wild, are of a beautiful pink colour. These delicious retreats are inhabited by good and virtuous people. Children of either sex livingthere arrive at maturity forty-eight hours after their birth.
The inhabitants are not subject to pain or sickness. Always happy and contented, they live on the succulent vegetables
and delicious fruits which nature produces for them without any cultivation. After death they go straight to the delights of Swarga.
A spring rises on the top of Mahameru which feeds fourteen large rivers, of which the principal are the Ganges and the Indus. All these rivers pursue a regular and even course, which never varies. Unlike the false Ganges and the false
Indus of the Brahmins, the waters of which rise and fall, the
Ganges and Indus of the Jains can neverbe forded, and their
waters always maintain the same level.
The names of the fourteen rivers of the Jains are the
Ganges, the Indus, the Rohita-Toya, the Rohita, the Hari- Toya, the Harikanta, the Sitta, the Sitoda, the Nari, the Xarikanta, the Swarna-kula, the Rupaya-kula. the Rikta, and the Riktoda.
The sea which surrounds Jambu-Dwipa is two hundred thousand yojanas, or eight hundred thousand miles long.
Beyond this ocean there are three other continents,