Jokasha Monastery
| Jokasha Monastery | |
|---|---|
| Usage | Home of the Devotary of the Mind |
| Region | The Horneater Peaks |
| World | Roshar |
| Universe | Cosmere |
Jokasha Monastery, sometimes referred to simply as Jokasha, is the home of the Devotary of the Mind, a scholarly group of ardents on Roshar. It is considered a peaceful and desirable location, with many ardents spending half their lives trying to get transferred there.[1]
Location[edit]
The monastery is in Jah Keved, on the western slopes of the Horneater Peaks. It lies in a forest and has protection from the violence of the highstorms. The relatively weak storms make the area lush, but humid.[1]
Structure[edit]
The Jokasha Monastery is made up of a lower building and a higher building connected by a tree-lined pathway. The buildings are adjacent to the forest and ardents are free to study outside. The upper building contains a library attached to a long hallway open to the outdoors. There are open windows and reading desks to work at.[1]
History[edit]
Although Jokasha was thought of as a peaceful place, there is more bickering and politicking than outsiders would expect. The atmosphere was further disturbed with the advent of the Everstorm. The location had previously been protected from the worst violence of the highstorms, but the Everstorm destroyed some of the surrounding forest. This led to impassioned arguments among the ardents, including the master scholars. Some, like Bettam, claimed that they needed to move the monastery to a new location before the entire area was wiped out. The ardents studied the wind speed and travel speed of the Everstorm to learn more about it.[1]
It was also one of the locations where the Dawnchant was studied and translated. This research was started before the Everstorm came, when Navani sent a key based on Dalinar's visions. Ellista's study disproved Fiksin's claim that all Dawnchant books originated at the same location, instead explaining that it was the written language of scholars used across Roshar. She theorized that Dawnchant fell into disuse and was replaced by other written languages after a Desolation. Urv realized that the Covad Fragment was an example of a transition period where the Dawnchant was used to phonetically write a different language.[1]
Since the ardents were on the cutting edge of Dawnchant research, it is likely that Jokasha Monastery was one of the Veden monasteries that began translating ancient Dawnchant texts, including the Eila Stele.[2]