Prof. Muni Mahendra Kumar
These cylinders are named śālākā, pratiśalākā, mahāśalaka and anavasthita. For sake of convenience, let them be called A, B, C and Xo respectively. The dimensions of A, B, C are kept fixed, while those of the X are alterable. Keeping the height of the last cylinder constant, its diameter is changed and new cylinders of this series, which we may call as X1, X2, X3........ are made.
Now, first of all the anvasthita container Xo is filled fully with the sarsapa (mustard) seeds up to the top and above it a conical heap is formed in such a way that on the summit there remains only one mustard seed.
Now, it is imagined that there is a deva who carries this container and starts dropping one mustard-seed each in the concentric continents and oceans situated in the middle universe. We have already mentioned that the innermost circle is Jambūdvīpa with the diameter of 1,00,000.yojanas; the next to it is Lavaṇa Ocean which is around Jambūdvīpa in a shape of the ring with the width of 2,00,000 yojanas, and so on up to the last ocean called Svayambhūramaṇa ocean, with each successive ring having double the width of the previous ring. (See figure no. 15 on p. 165). By dropping one seed in each of the rings, when the cylinder Xo becomes empty the deva drops one mustard seed in the cylinder A and then makes the second anavasthita cylinder, X1, with its diameter equal to the width of the last ring in which the last seed of Xo was dropped. Again, X1 is filled as before and again emptied by dropping one seed each in the successive rings further. Again, the second mustard seed is dropped in the cylinder A. In the same way, the cylinders X2, X3...... are made and every time after emptying anavasthita cylinder, one mustard seed is dropped in the cylinder A. This process continues till the cylinder A is fully filled with mustard seeds in the same way as Xo was filled in the beginning. When the cylinder A is thus filled for the first time, one mustard seed is dropped in the cylinder B. Then, the cylinder A is emptied by taking out seeds one by one and dropping them successively in the rings ahead. When it becomes completely empty, second mustard seed is dropped in the cylinder B. Again, new anavasthita cylinders are made of the widths equal to the diameters of the rings in which the last seed was dropped, and the same process is repeated as before till the cylinder B becomes fully filled with conical heap above. Then one seed is dropped in the cylinder C. Again the cylinder B is emptied in the same manner and the above process is repeated till the cylinder C is fully filled with the conical heap above. Now the ultimate anavasthita cylinder is made of the width of the ring in which the last seed was dropped (keeping the height 1000 yojans as before). Now, if the number of seeds in the ultimate anavasthita cylinder is x, then the Utkṛṣṭa Saṃkhyātas (U.S.) = x-1.
