Critical Study Of Paumacariyam

SR No.: 022643
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: K R Chandra
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology and Ahimsa
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 672
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_English & Book_Devnagari
File Size: 18 MB

Page 534

GEOGRAPHICAL PLACES, PEOPLES AND TRIBES
505
the India proper while to the Jainas and the Brāhmanas Jamūdvīpa cannot a very big continent and Bharatavarşa of the Jainas was the real India.
The PCV further at (102.109) refers to two trees namely the Šalmali and the Jambu growing in Jambūdvīpa. The Jambüdivapannatti tells us that the Jambū tree stands in the Uttarakuru, to the south of the Nila, to the north of the Mandara, to the west of the Malavat and on the eastern bank of the river Sitā. After the name of this tree the whole continent is called as Jambūdvipa,
In the Brahmanical works also this tree is said to be the reason of naming the island as Jambūdvipa.?
The Buddhist works also assign the same reason for calling it as Jambūdvipa". The tree is said to be standing near the Anavatapta Sarovara beyond the Himavat.4
According to the Jaina tradition, the country was named Bhāratavarşa after the name of the first Cakravartin Bharata, the son of the first Tirtharkara".
According to the Brahmanical sources the name Bhāratavarşa was derived from king Bharata, a descendant of Priyavrata, the son of Manu Svayambhū.
Thus it is clear that according to the Jaina tradition, Bhārata is the Indian continent which is surrounded by Lavaņodadhi (Indian ocean) in the south and the Veyaddha (the system of Vindhya mountains) divided the country into the northern plains and the southern plateau. Further the PCV refers to the Sindhu Sagara (112.17), the Himalayas (10.13), the Ganges (11.111), the Jamuna (55.42), the Sindhu (98.63), the Narmadā (10.29) and the Tāpti rivers (25.1). Sindhusāgara is the Arabian sea on the west. The Ganges, the Jamuna and the Sindhu rivers water the northern plains of India while the Narmada and Tāpti flow into the western Vindhya region and empty into the Arabian sea.
Now we proceed to explain the geographical terms mentioned in the PCV and then after we will try to identify the locations of various geographical places referred to in the PCV.
1. Su. 90; also TP, 4. 2195. 2. Vn. pu, 2.2.18. 3. Vinaya Texts, I. p. 127. Visuddhi magga, I. 205-206. 4. Vinaya Texts, I. p. 30. 5. See VH, p. 186 & LAI, p. 375. 6. Bhäg Pu, XI. 2.15ff.