At the centre of the map lies the continent of Jambudvipa, the land of the rose-apple tree, which exists in Jain cosmology as the central realm, the middle world, from which liberation of the cycle of rebirth is possible. Its axis is Mount Meru. This is the middle world (madhyaloka), the only realm in the Jain cosmology where men can be born, and consequently where Jain devotees can attain enlightenment, following the path of the historical saviors, the Jinas (awakened ones) or Tirtankaras (ford crossers).

Surrounding Jambudvipa is first the Salt Ocean (Lavanasamudra), followed by the ring-shaped continent Dhatakikhandadvipa. Surrounding this is a second water body, the Black Water Ocean (Kalodadhi), populated here with fish. Finally, there is the inner half of the third continent of Puskaradvipa, which is bordered on its outer edge with a serrated ring marking the mountain range beyond which men cannot go. Outside this middle world, in the four corners, are temples enshrining Jinas, flanked by celebrants holding flywhisks and celestial attendants offering garlands.

The tradition of Jain Cosmological maps dates to the thirteenth Century. Jainism, one of the most ancient Asian religious cultures, holds that three realms exist: an upper or celestial world, the middle or mortal world, and the lower, infernal world. Abstract representations of these concepts are recorded from the thirteenth century onwards and exist on paper or parchment, linen, and stone and were displayed in temples, pilgrimage sites, or carried by holy men. They were typically produced in the northwest Indian states of Rajasthan and Gujarat, the areas in which Jainism was predominant. These cosmological diagrams, essentially maps of theological belief, may show the entire cosmos of three continents concentrically arranged and separated by oceans, as in this case, or the central region, Jambudvipa, alone. 

Jain cosmology stressed a spatial boundlessness in which the universe contained both known and unknown universes. Earth and its universe were pivoted on Mount Sumeru, an axis mountain of fabulous proportions in the Tibetan Himalayas or Central Asia. Water, mountains, and continents grew from this mountain axis; the continents were arranged symmetrically like the petals of a lotus blossom, or as concentric circles of alternating seas and continents. The inhabited earth, Jambudvipa, lay at the centre of this scheme of things, or otherwise constituted the southern ‘petal’, and contained the Bharatvarsha, which was the traditional territorial reach of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain cultures.

This richly detailed chart presents Adhaidvipa, the cosmological map of the universe according to the Jain religion. Jainism stressed a spatial boundlessness with a multiverse containing both known and unknown worlds. Earth and its universe pivoted on Mount Sumeru, an axis mountain of fabulous proportions in the Tibetan Himalayas or Central Asia. Water, mountains, and continents grew from this mountain axis. The continents were arranged symmetrically like the petals of a lotus blossom or as concentric circles of alternating seas and continents. The inhabited earth, called ‘Jambudvipa’, lay at the centre of this scheme of things, or otherwise constituted the southern ‘petal’, and contained the ‘Bharatvarsha’, which was the traditional territorial reach of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain cultures.

Until the arrival of Islam, cosmology in Southeast Asia was highly influenced by cosmological considerations that ultimately came from India. These external influences, which were themselves the result of a co-mingling of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain beliefs, conceived the earth as a small part of the vast cosmos, in stark contrast to the Creation in Christian and Islamic doctrine. The desire to understand the cosmos was a natural concern since it was simply an extension of knowledge about one’s own immediate environment. The nature of the cosmos became even more significant when Buddhism took hold in Southeast Asia, and ‘other worldliness’ began to play an increasingly important part in formalized cultural practices. 

An extremely detailed and richly coloured representation of Adhaidvipa, the cosmological map of the universe according to the Jain religion, with some unusual features, including an extra ring between the central continent, Jambudvipa, and the surrounding salt ocean, Lavanoda, and a great many inscriptions within the area of the ‘two and a half’ continents, which are more usually found around its circumference.

A Cosmological Map of the Universe, according to the Jain religion