जै · The Jain Encyclopedia
Nandīśvara · the only residences

The four corner Ratikara

विदिशा रतिकर

Four more jewelled discs at the intermediate points of the island, and the only place on the whole continent where anyone lives.

They are the same size as the other thirty-two — 10,000 square, 1,000 high, jhallarī-shaped — but they stand at the corners of the island rather than between the lakes, and they are not counted among the fifty-two.

On the two southern ones are the residences of the eight chief queens of Śakra, Indra of Saudharma; on the two northern, those of the eight chief queens of the Indra of Īśāna. Sixteen queens. Each residence is 1,00,000 yojana square, and each has a Jina temple of its own.

The count of the palaces is not settled. Hemacandra's account names thirty-two, one in each of the eight directions on each pair of mountains; the translator's own note records that another source names only sixteen, one to a queen. Both readings are old and this atlas keeps them both rather than choosing.

Measurements and counts

Count4
Positionthe four corners
Counted among the 52no
Queens of Śakra8, on the two southern
Queens of Īśāna8, on the two northern
Palaces16 or 32, depending on the source

Connected

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समयं गोयम! मा पमायए

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

Uttarādhyayana Sūtra 10