Ārya Khaṇḍa
The southern middle division of Bharat — the strip between the two rivers, below the mountain, on the shore. This is our part of the map.
Vaitāḍhya cuts Bharat in two and the Gaṅgā and Sindhu cut each half into three, giving six divisions. Five of them are Mleccha khaṇḍas, where conditions barely change from age to age. This one is different.
Everything the tradition treats as history happened here: Ṛṣabhanātha founding agriculture, writing and kingship; the twenty-four Tīrthaṅkaras of this half-cycle; Ayodhyā, Rājagṛha, Pāvāpurī, Śatruñjaya, Sammeta Śikhara. The twenty-five and a half ārya countries are here, and a Tīrthaṅkara is born nowhere else in Bharat.
It is also where the Kāla Cakra bites hardest. Lifespan, height, food, memory and the availability of teaching all rise and fall here across the twelve spokes, while the other five khaṇḍas sit relatively still.
The scale is worth holding on to. This division is a fraction of a region that is itself one part in 190 of one continent, in a human world of 45 lakh yojana, inside a universe fourteen rajju high.
Measurements and counts
| Position | south middle, on the ocean |
|---|---|
| Neighbours | 5 Mleccha khaṇḍas |
| Ārya countries | 25½ |
| Tīrthaṅkaras born here | 24 per half-cycle |
| Time cycle | acts strongly here |