The eternal temple
A temple nobody built and nobody can destroy, one hundred yojana long, with four doors and a hundred and eight images inside. There are fifty-two of them on this island.
The dimensions are the same on every one of the fifty-two, whether it stands on a black peak 84,000 yojana high or on a jewelled disc 1,000 high: 100 yojana long, 50 wide, 70 high, with four doors, each 16 yojana high and 8 wide and 8 deep. Inside is a jewelled platform 16 yojana square and 8 high.
On it stand 108 images, and they bear four names: Ṛṣabha, Vardhamāna, Candrānana and Vāriṣeṇa. Fifty-two temples of 108 comes to 5,616 images, which is the figure the tradition quotes.
Śāśvata means eternal in the strict sense. These were not made, they are not maintained, and they will not end — unlike every temple on earth, which is why the earthly copies are called something else.
Measurements and counts
| Count on Nandīśvara | 52 |
|---|---|
| Length | 100 yojana |
| Width | 50 yojana |
| Height | 70 yojana |
| Doors | 4, each 16 × 8 × 8 |
| Platform | 16 yojana square, 8 high |
| Images each | 108 |
| Images in all | 5,616 |
| Built | never |