Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods
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Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods
三十三天 (Jpn Sanjusan-ten)
Also, Trayastrimsha Heaven. According to ancient Indian cosmology, the second lowest of the six heavens in the world of desire. The Sanskrit word trayastrimsha means thirty-three. This heaven is located on a plateau at the top of Mount Sumeru, where thirty-three gods, including the lord Shakra, live. Shakra rules from his palace in the center, and the other thirty-two gods live on four peaks, eight gods to a peak, in each of the plateau's four corners. The beings in this heaven have a life span of one thousand years, each day of which is equal to a hundred years in the human, or saha, world. This means that their life span is equal to about 36.5 million human years.
