Lore Of Jivavarta: Jarodha Island

The Sthaviras

Long before the people of Jarodha learned about tides, long before their children slept to the breathing of the sea, they were not islanders at all. They were the Sthaviras, the Masters of the Earth. They lived on the coastal plains of Yashantika, where the soil was rich and there was peace and prosperity all around.

Sthaviras worshipped the mighty Sarvabhu, but they worshipped other gods as well. Sarvabhu saw Sthaviras praying to the earth and the water, and offering sacrifices to the fire. He did not like this -- he was the great benefactor who had given them fertile lands and eternal happiness, and yet they divided their devotion. Sarvabhu was enraged at this disrespect, and decided to teach Sthaviras a lesson.


The Night of the Broken Land
The elders say it was not an earthquake. An earthquake is indifferent, but this was deliberate. On a night when the moon was full and the earth was dark, the ground slithered like an old serpent and then, suddenly, it tore open.

The wrath of Sarvabhu was upon the Sthaviras. They ran towards the coast, pleading to the other gods for help. But none of the lesser gods they had worshipped stood a chance against Sarvabhu, the mightiest of all. The fire fumed, the water churned turning thick with ash, and the earth cracked so deep that the land on which the Sthaviras stood broke away from the mainland.

By dawn, the broken piece of land had drifted across a sea that had not yet learned its name. It carried with it the Sthaviras -- mostly the dead, but also the few who survived.



The earth slithers like a serpent as the wrath of Sarvabhu tears the land apart.

The Return of Adi Zesha

Among those who survived was a man named Adi Zesha. He lived only because death, in a hurry, had forgotten to take him. He had survived, yet he had nothing left but his breath. He looked towards the mainland, where the fires had died down, and longed for his home.

There was no wood to build a boat. So Adi Zesha did what only a man who had nothing left could do. He gathered the skin and bones of the dead and, with trembling hands, shaped them into a boat. The water in the sea was still thick with ash, but that could not stop him from rowing back to the home he had never intended to leave.



Shaping skin and bone into a vessel to reclaim a home never meant to be left

The Great Betrayal

In the stories of other lands, the hero returns and lamps are lit in his honor. But when Adi Zesha reached the shore, he found nothing of the sort.

The Amoshin, scavengers from the mountains in the north, had descended on the lands that belonged to Sthaviras. They were walking through the fields and sleeping in the houses that still stood.

"This land is ours," the Amoshin declared, pointing their weapons at Adi Zesha. "Sarvabhu cleansed the earth and took away the land. What Sarvabhu takes, he gives to the first who claims it. Your title burned in the fire, and is now nothing more than the ash that remains. Now this land belongs to us. This is Sarvabhu's wish."

Adi Zesha lifted his face to the sky, tearful but resolute, and challenged not only the Amoshin but also Sarvabhu, who had unleashed this calamity on his people. He vowed a revenge so complete that would make even Sarvabhu repent for his deeds.

But vows do not stop weapons. Adi Zesha was forced back into exile by the Amoshin. The sea accepted him again, and the mainland closed behind him like a door that pretended that it was never open.

The Vow of Taking Back

This is why the people of Jarodha, who still call themselves Sthaviras, live by the Vow of Taking Back. Every child is taught to face the distant shores of the mainland at dawn, and say out loud, "That land is ours, stolen by the Amoshin. We will take it back."

Sthaviras live on the Jarodha island, but they do not belong there. They are only waiting.

Raids of VengeanceTheir vengeance towards Sarvabhu and the Amoshin remains. They break the temples of Sarvabhu, because a god who gives away stolen land is no god worth kneeling to. They raid the mainland and take what they need, because it was theirs before the Amoshin took it away.

When the Sthaviras raid the mainland, they see tall towers and busy markets that did not exist when they were exiled. The Amoshin had built a bright future, while the Sthaviras stayed frozen in time, holding on to their anger. It fills them with rage to see the "thieves" enjoying prosperity that is beyond their reach. Because they cannot have this new world, they burn it. They destroy every beautiful thing they find to remind the mainlanders that nothing earned without honour is meant to last.

Masters of the Sea

There is one skill that Sthaviras excel in, though -- building boats.

For Sthaviras, boat-building is a sacred rite. To be without a boat is to be truly dead, for without a boat there is no return, and without return, there is no justice, and no home.

Also, because Adi Zesha built a boat from what death left behind, every boat they build has at least one bone of an ancestor as a symbol of courage.

When a Sthaviras warrior falls in battle on the mainland, his comrades do not bury him there. They take a bone back to the island to "stitch" into a boat, ensuring that even in death, the Sthaviras are always moving towards the return.

This skill in boat-building gives Sthaviras an upper hand over the Amoshin.

The "black water" surrounding the islands is dark and heavy because of the ash, with thick, oily sludge beneath. Only the Sthavira boats, reinforced with ancestral bones and sacred rites, are able to navigate this water with ease. They glide through the ash-filled water like ghosts, allowing the Sthaviras to raid the coast and vanish before the Amoshin can strike back.

The Amoshin are unable to retaliate. They fear the black water because their ships are unable to survive in it -- they get stuck in the sludge, and sink without a trace.

So, while the Amoshin rule the land, the Sthaviras remain the undisputed masters of the sea.

The Fire Test

When a Sthavira boy becomes an adult, he must walk across hot, glowing wood. This "Fire Test" proves he is tough and no longer fears the flames that took their homeland. While others walk on soft grass, the Sthaviras choose the heat to show they are stronger than their enemies.

The scars on their feet stay forever, reminding them with every step that they are survivors who will one day return to reclaim their land.


Walking through the heat of glowing wood to prove a soul stronger than the flames.

False Gifts of the Island

The Jarodha island is covered in rich black soil. This soil makes plants and trees grow without much effort. When sown, crops abound and feed the plenty. The forests on the island are flush with rare iron-wood trees, as are the hills with minerals.

However, the Sthaviras loathe this bounty. They believe that Sarvabhu offers these gifts not as kindness, but as a bribe to make them forget their stolen home.

So, they refuse to seek benefits from the land that shelters them -- and because they never work the land, every man and woman has nothing to do but train for war and keep their anger alive.

They are physically strong and well-fed, but they refuse to enjoy the food or improve their life on the island. They leave their houses deliberately unfinished, for they are merely waiting to depart.

Family Stone

Each Sthavira family keeps a "Family Stone" that is actually a secret map of their stolen land. Every child must memorize the exact location of their ancestor’s lands using the carvings on the stone.

Even though the mainland has changed over thousands of years, the Sthaviras know exactly where their borders were, making their ancient maps more accurate than of the Amoshin’s new cities.

Carved into each stone are words that time has failed to erode:

The land was stolen by the midnight thief,
To leave us drowning in a sea of grief.
Kindness fades, but thefts remain,
The true owner returns to claim his pain.


Ancient carvings that hold the secret borders of a home that was never forgotten.


Jarodha Island was first introduced in Lair of the Monster. When invaders attacked the Jivavarta mainland, the islanders welcomed and allied with them.

Jivavarta is a fictional land created by Shon Mehta, where epic tales of power, survival, and social upheaval unfold, as seen in her novels The Timingila and Lair of the Monster, along with many other stories and parables set in this richly imagined world.