जै · The Jain Encyclopedia
Land of enjoyment · south of Meru

Devakuru

देवकुरु

A land of enjoyment inside Mahāvideha, held between two tusk-mountains south of Meru.

It sits between the Saumanasa and Vidyutprabha tusk-mountains, with Niṣadha at its back and Mount Meru at its head, measuring 11,842 2⁄19 yojana north to south.

It is the best of the lands of enjoyment. People live three palyopama, stand six thousand bows tall, take food once in three days, and are supplied by ten kinds of kalpavṛkṣa — trees that yield vessels, music, light, lamps, food, clothing, garlands, fragrance, dwellings and ornament.

The great śālmalī tree stands here, matching the Jambū tree of Uttarakuru. Both are permanent jewelled structures rather than ordinary plants, each with a shrine and a presiding god.

For all of that, no one here can be liberated. It is the clearest statement Jain cosmology makes about comfort: it is not the goal, and it is not even on the road.

NĪLA · blue berylNIṢADHA · red goldKaccha1Sukaccha2Mahākaccha3Kacchakāvatī4Āvarta5Maṅgalāvarta6Puṣkala7Puṣkalāvatī8Maṅgalāvatī16Ramaṇīya15Suramya14Ramya13Vatsakāvatī12Mahāvatsa11Suvatsa10Vatsa9Nalināvatī24Nalina23Kumuda22Śaṅkha21Padmakāvatī20Mahāpadma19Supadma18Padma17Vapra25Suvapra26Mahāvapra27Vaprakāvatī28Valgu29Suvalgu30Gandhila31Gandhilāvatī32SĪTĀ →← SĪTODĀUTTARAKURUJambū treeDEVAKURUŚālmalī treeMERU1,00,000 yoj.west mahāvideha · vijayas 17–32east mahāvideha · vijayas 1–16A living Tīrthaṅkara teaches here — four of the twenty Vihārmān JinasVakṣaskāra ranges · four in each quarterAntaranadī rivers · three in each quarterEach vijaya: 2,212 7⁄8 yojana east–west, 16,592 north–south.Every one has its own Vijayārdha range, river pair, six divisions and capital.The band runs 1,00,000 yojana east to west — 64 parts of Jambūdvīpa’s 190.NESW
Mahāvideha and its thirty-two provinces — Devakuru highlighted

Measurements and counts

BetweenSaumanasa and Vidyutprabha
North–south11,842 2⁄19 yojana
Lifespan3 palyopama
Height6,000 bows
Kalpavṛkṣa kinds10
Great treeŚālmalī
Liberation possible?no

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समयं गोयम! मा पमायए

Do not be heedless, Gautama, for even a single samaya.

Uttarādhyayana Sūtra 10