Loka

Loka is a Sanskrit word for "world". In Hindu mythology it takes a specific meaning related to cosmology.

Jainism

In Jain texts, universe is referred to as Loka. Jain Cosmology postulates an eternal and ever-existing loka which works on universal natural laws, there being no creator & destroyer deity. According to the Jain cosmology, the universe is divided into 3 parts:

Hindu tradition

In the Puranas, and already in the Atharvaveda, there are fourteen worlds, seven higher ones (Vyahrtis) and seven lower ones (Pātālas), viz. bhu, bhuvas, svar, mahas, janas, tapas, and satya above and atala, vitala, sutala, rasaataala, talatala, mahaatala, patala and naraka below.

The scholar Deborah Soifer describes the development of the concept of lokas as follows:

Hence, inherent in the 'loka' concept in the earliest literature was a double aspect; that is, coexistent with spatiality was a religious or soteriological meaning, which could exist independent of a spatial notion, an 'immaterial' significance.

Loka (disambiguation)

Loka is a word in Sanskrit, in Hinduism and Hindu mythology, meaning world, dimension, plane, abode, and/or place or plane of existence.

Loka may also refer to:

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Shloka

Shloka (meaning "song", from the root śru, "hear") is a category of verse line developed from the Vedic Anustubh. It is the basis for Indian epic verse, and may be considered the Indian verse form par excellence, occurring, as it does, far more frequently than any other meter in classical Sanskrit poetry. The Mahabharata and Ramayana, for example, are written almost exclusively in shlokas. The traditional view is that this form of verse occurred to Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, on seeing a hunter shoot down one of two birds in love. The shloka is treated as a couplet. Each hemistich (half-verse) of 16 syllables, composed of two Pādas of eight syllables, can take either a pathyā ("normal") form or one of several vipulā ("extended") forms. The form of the second foot of the first Pāda (II) limits the possible patterns the first foot (I) may assume, as in the scheme below.

The Pathyā and Vipulā half-verses are arranged in the table above in order of frequency of occurrence. Out of 2579 half-verses taken from Kalidasa, Magha, Bharavi, and Bilhana, each of the four admissible forms of shloka in the above order claims the following share: 2289, 116, 89, 85.