Elements of Jaina Geography - The Jambudvipasamgrahani of Haribhadra Suri

Title: Elements of Jaina Geography: The Jambūdvīpasaṃgrahaṇī of Haribhadra Sūri — Critically Edited and Translated with the Commentary of Prabhānanda Sūri  
Original Author: Haribhadra Sūri  
Critical Editor and Translator: Frank Van Den Bossche  
Commentator: Prabhānanda Sūri  
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers  
Place of Publication: Delhi  
Edition/Year: First Edition, 2007  
Language: English, Prakrit and Sanskrit  
Binding: Hardcover  
Pages: xiv + 327  
ISBN: 81-208-2934-4  

Description

The present work provides a critical edition and English translation of the Jambūdvīpasaṃgrahaṇī of Haribhadra Sūri, composed around 1123 A.D., together with its Sanskrit commentary by Prabhānanda Sūri.

The Jambūdvīpasaṃgrahaṇī is one of the minor, or Laghu, texts of Jaina geography written in standard Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit. It consists of thirty gāthās and describes the structure of Jambūdvīpa in a concise manner.

In Jaina cosmography, Jambūdvīpa—the island of the rose-apple tree—occupies the center of the Middle World, between the heavenly regions of the Upper World and the hellish regions of the Lower World. The Middle World is conceived as an immense disc composed of concentric continents and oceans, with Jambūdvīpa forming its central region.

Haribhadra Sūri presents this complex cosmographical system in the compressed, aphoristic style characteristic of such texts. Prabhānanda Sūri’s detailed Sanskrit commentary explains and expands the primary text, making its geographical and cosmological material accessible to readers who are not already thoroughly familiar with the Jaina tradition.

Together with its commentary, the Jambūdvīpasaṃgrahaṇī was one of the primary sources used by Willibald Kirfel for his comprehensive study Die Kosmographie der Inder nach den Quellen dargestellt, published in 1920.

Frank Van Den Bossche’s scholarly edition places the text within the broader study of Jaina cosmography and Indian intellectual history. It examines the available printed editions and manuscript sources, explains the ten principal subjects treated in the work, and provides a critically established primary text with translation.

With its Prakrit source text, Sanskrit commentary, English translation, manuscript analysis, appendices, bibliography, index and twelve explanatory figures, this volume is an important research resource for Jaina studies, Prakrit and Sanskrit studies, Indian cosmology, historical geography and the academic study of South Asian religions.

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations and Typesetting

INTRODUCTION

Jaina Cosmography and Geography

The Jambūdvīpasaṃgrahaṇī and Its Vṛtti

Haribhadra Sūri and Prabhānanda Sūri

The Text

The Subject Matter: Ten Topics

The Critical Edition

The Printed Editions

The Manuscripts

TEXT AND TRANSLATION

Maṅgalācaraṇa

Sūtra 1

Sūtra 2

Sūtra 3

Sūtras 4 and 5

Sūtra 6

Sūtra 7

Sūtra 8

Sūtras 9 and 10

Sūtras 11 and 12

Sūtra 13

Sūtra 14

Sūtra 15

Sūtra 16

Sūtra 17

Sūtra 18

Sūtra 19

Sūtra 20

Sūtra 21

Sūtra 22

Sūtra 23

Sūtra 24

Sūtra 25

Sūtra 26

Sūtra 27

Sūtra 28

Sūtra 29

Sūtra 30

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: The Circumference of Jambūdvīpa

Appendix 2: Materials for the Study of the Jaina Haribhadras

FIGURES

Fig. 1: The Jaina Universe

Fig. 2: The Continents

Fig. 3: The Main Mountain Ranges

Fig. 4: The Main Rivers

Fig. 5: The Lakes

Fig. 6: Bhārata

Fig. 7: Mahāvideha—The Provinces

Fig. 8: Mahāvideha—The Mountain Ranges

Fig. 9: Mahāvideha—The Inland Rivers

Fig. 10: Devakuru and Uttarakuru

Fig. 11: A Province in Mahāvideha

Fig. 12: The Vaitāḍhya or Vijayārdha Mountains

Bibliography

Index