The four abhiṣeka śilās
Four rock slabs in Pāṇḍaka Vana where every newborn Tīrthaṅkara is bathed by the gods.
When a Tīrthaṅkara is born, the thrones of the Indras shake. Śakra descends, lifts the sleeping infant, leaves a substitute image beside the mother so she notices nothing, and carries the child to Meru's summit. There the gods pour 1,008 pitchers of water drawn from the ocean of milk. This is the janma-kalyāṇaka, the first of the five auspicious events in a Tīrthaṅkara's life.
Which slab is used depends on where the child was born, and the two name-pairs follow the two geographic pairs. Pāṇḍukambalā in the south serves Bharat Kṣetra and Atipāṇḍukambalā in the north serves Airāvat Kṣetra, the two regions that mirror each other north and south. Raktakambalā in the east serves East Mahāvideha Kṣetra and Atiraktakambalā in the west serves West Mahāvideha. Each slab sits in the direction of the region it serves.
Sources differ on which slab stands at which compass point, though every account agrees on the four names, on their number, and on the pairing of Bharat with Pāṇḍukambalā, which is the one the tradition repeats most.
Each slab is described as half-moon shaped, 500 yojana long and 250 wide, of white or red gold, with a throne standing on it.
माप और संख्याएँ
| Count | 4 |
|---|---|
| Length | 500 yojana each |
| Width | 250 yojana |
| South — Pāṇḍukambalā | Tīrthaṅkaras of Bharat |
| North — Atipāṇḍukambalā | Airāvat |
| East — Raktakambalā | East Mahāvideha |
| West — Atiraktakambalā | West Mahāvideha |
| Pitchers poured | 1,008 |