जै · The Jain Encyclopedia
The last continent and the last ocean

Svayambhūramaṇa

स्वयम्भूरमण

The outermost ring of all. Beyond its far shore there is no more middle world.

Between Nandīśvara's ocean and this one the rings are innumerable — not a large number, but a number the tradition declines to give, doubling at every step.

The next few are named — Aruṇa, Aruṇavara, Aruṇābhāsa, Kuṇḍala, Rucaka — and then the naming stops long before the counting does. The atlas draws the remainder as a single fading band, because that is honestly all that can be drawn.

What is known is where they stop: Svayambhūramaṇa is the last continent, its ocean is the last ocean, and the wall of the Loka stands past it. Animals and plants live out here in enormous numbers. No person does, and so, for all its size, none of it can be the place where anything is decided.

Measurements and counts

Positionoutermost
Rings betweeninnumerable
Named beyond NandīśvaraAruṇa, Aruṇavara, Aruṇābhāsa, Kuṇḍala, Rucaka
Beyond itthe wall of the loka

Connected

Open in the interactive atlas →

समयं गोयम! मा पमायए

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

Uttarādhyayana Sūtra 10