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Patriarchs of the third age · three laws

The seven kulakaras

कुलकर

Seven men who kept order as the trees failed, with laws that were only words — hā, mā, dhik — the last of them Nābhi, father of Ṛṣabha.

As the trees weakened and the twins began to quarrel over them, patriarchs arose to settle disputes. Hemacandra, with the Sthānāṅga and the Āvaśyaka, names seven: 1 Vimalavāhana — the hākāra; 2 Cakṣuṣmat; 3 Yaśasvin — the mākāra; 4 Abhicandra; 5 Prasenajit — the dhikkāra; 6 Marudeva; 7 Nābhi, father of Ṛṣabha.

Their whole penal code was three words. Vimalavāhana's hākāra — "Hā! you did that wickedly" — was enough for a people who had never been reproached. When it stopped being enough, Yaśasvin added the mākāra, "do not"; when that failed, Prasenajit the dhikkāra, "shame". Nothing harsher existed until Ṛṣabha, Nābhi's son, established courts.

The count differs by text: the Jambūdvīpaprajñapti gives fifteen, the Digambara tradition fourteen. This atlas follows the Śvetāmbara seven, and the choice is logged in the The Śvetāmbara reckoning.

Madyāṅgagives drinkno craft in its placeBhṛṅgagives vesselsTuryāṅgagives musicno craft in its placeDīpaśikhāgives lightno craft in its placeJyotiṣkagives lightno craft in its placeCitrāṅgagives wreathsno craft in its placeCitrarasagives foodMaṇyaṅgagives ornamentsno craft in its placeGehākāragives housesAnagnagives clothesthe ten kinds of wishing-tree, in Hemacandra's orderPotters× 20the first — a vessel of clayCarpenters× 20Painters× 20Weavers× 20Barbers× 20answers no treefields and firein the food-tree's placefive crafts of twenty parts each — one hundreda dashed line: a gift, and the craft recorded in its placeVimalavāhanahāCakṣuṣmatYaśasvinmāAbhicandraPrasenajitdhikMarudevaNābhiṚṣabhathe third age — the trees' powers go “very, very slowly”not to scale: two koṭākoṭi sāgaropamathe seven kulakarashā · mā · dhik — the three laws, only wordsthe learning, counted72arts, to Bharata64arts of women18scripts, to Brāhmī — right handarithmetic, to Sundarī — left handTen trees, and what replaced themthe ten kalpavṛkṣa and what each gives — Hemacandra I.2, from the Jambūdvīpaprajñaptithe third age: the trees fail, seven kulakaras keep order with three wordswhat Ṛṣabha taught in their place — and the six gifts nothing replaced100crafts, to replace four gifts
Ten trees, and what replaced them — The seven kulakaras highlighted

Measurements and counts

Count7 — Śvetāmbara
Elsewhere15 Jambūdvīpaprajñapti · 14 Digambara
Lawshā (Vimalavāhana) · mā (Yaśasvin) · dhik (Prasenajit)
LastNābhi — father of Ṛṣabha
Agethe end of the third

Connected

The Wishing-TreesWhat was never replacedṚṣabhanāthaSuṣamā-duḥṣamāThe Śvetāmbara reckoning

Open in the interactive atlas →

समयं गोयम! मा पमायए

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

Uttarādhyayana Sūtra 10