The sixty-three
Twenty-four Tīrthaṅkaras, twelve Cakravartins, and nine sets of three — sixty-three positions held by sixty people, once in every half-turn of the wheel.
Śalākā-puruṣa means a man marked with a tally-stick: one of the counted. Every descending and ascending half-cycle produces exactly the same roster — 24 Tīrthaṅkaras, 12 Cakravartins, 9 Baladevas, 9 Vāsudevas and 9 Prativāsudevas. Hemacandra's great work is named for them, and this atlas has been quoting one chapter of it for weeks.
Sixty-three positions, sixty people. Śānti, Kunthu and Ara were each a Cakravartin who went on to become a Tīrthaṅkara, and each is counted twice.
The tradition ranks their strength precisely, in a chain of multiples that climbs from one strong man to an Indra. And then it does something more interesting than ranking: it shows the ranking barely matters. The thirty it ranks all sit inside a single factor of four of one another — a Cakravartin is exactly four Baladevas. Their destinations, meanwhile, run from the seventh hell to the crest of the Loka.
The chain covers three of the five classes and stops. It gives no figure for the Prativāsudeva, and it puts the Tīrthaṅkara beyond measurement altogether — so thirty of the sixty-three have a stated strength, and this atlas does not supply the rest.
Among those thirty, strength varies four-fold. Where they end up varies by the whole height of the universe.
माप और संख्याएँ
| Tīrthaṅkaras | 24 |
|---|---|
| Cakravartins | 12 |
| Baladevas | 9 |
| Vāsudevas | 9 |
| Prativāsudevas | 9 |
| Positions | 63 |
| People | 60 |
| Counted twice | Śānti, Kunthu, Ara |
| Per half-cycle | one full set |