Ages
Sushama-sushama
Also Known As The First Ara
Position 1 in Its Cycle
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Sushama-sushama is the first and most excellent of the six ara of the avasarpini, the descending half of the beginningless Jain cosmic time cycle, an age of supreme human happiness, stature and lifespan at the very start of the world's long decline. Jain cosmology describes each ara of the avasarpini as worse than the one before it, and this first ara stands at the opposite extreme from Dushama-dushama, the cycle's final and harshest age. This entry names its position in the cross traditional cycle of world ages this atlas already tracks; the doctrine page elsewhere in this atlas carries the fuller treatment of the avasarpini and utsarpini cycle itself.
Facts
Identity
SymbolNo individual glyph marks the age on its own; Jain tradition instead pictures all twelve ara of the avasarpini and utsarpini together as spokes on a single wheel of time, kalachakra, with Sushama-sushama occupying the first spoke of the descending half, opposite Dushama-dushama at the wheel's low point. 1 Dating
Proposed DatingMeasured in sagaropama, an inconceivably large unit of cosmic time, at four crore of crore sagaropama by Jain reckoning, the longest of the six ara. No source in the tradition attempts a calendar conversion, and the atlas does not invent one. 1 Attributions
TraditionJain cosmological texts including the Tattvartha Sutra and its commentaries, which set out the avasarpini's six ara. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Belongs to Tradition
The first and most excellent of the six ara of the avasarpini, the descending half of Jain cosmic time.
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