Tirthankara

The word tirthankara signifies the founder of a tirtha which means a fordable passage across the sea of interminable births and deaths (called saṃsāra).[13][14][15][16] Tirthankaras are variously called "Teaching Gods", "Ford-Makers", "Crossing Makers" and "Makers of the River-Crossing.[17][16]

Tirthankara images at Siddhachal Caves inside Gwalior Fort.

Jain texts propound that a special type of karma, the tīrthaṅkara nama-karma, raises a soul to the supreme status of a Tīrthaṅkara. Tattvartha Sutra, a major Jain text, lists sixteen observances which lead to the bandha (bondage) of this karma:[18]

• Purity of right faith
• Reverence
• Observance of vows and supplementary vows without transgressions
• Ceaseless pursuit of knowledge
• Perpetual fear of the cycle of existence
• Giving gifts (charity)
• Practising austerities according to one's capacity
• Removal of obstacles that threaten the equanimity of ascetics
• Serving the meritorious by warding off evil or suffering
• Devotion to omniscient lords, chief preceptors, preceptors, and the scriptures
• Practice of the six essential daily duties
• Propagation of the teachings of the omniscient
• Fervent affection for one's brethren following the same path.

Auspicious dreams seen by a tirthankara's mother during pregnancy

Five auspicious events called Pañca kalyāṇaka mark the life of every tirthankara:[19]

1. Gārbha kalyāṇaka (conception): When ātman (soul) of a tirthankara comes into his mother's womb.[20]
2. Janma kalyāṇaka (birth): Birth of a tirthankara. Indra performs a ceremonial bath on tirthankara on Mount Meru.[21][22]
3. Tapa kalyāṇaka (renunciation): When a tirthankara renounces all worldly possessions and become an ascetic.
4. Jñāna kalyāṇaka: The event when a tirthankara attains kevalajñāna (infinite knowledge). A samavasarana (divine preaching hall) is erected from where he delivers sermons and restores sangha after that.
5. Nirvāṇa kalyāṇaka (liberation): When a tirthankara leaves his mortal body, it is known as nirvana. It is followed by the final liberation, moksha, after which his souls dwells in Siddhashila.

Samavasarana of Tirthankara Rishabha (Ajmer Jain temple)

After attaining kevalajñāna, a tirthankara preaches the path to liberation in the samavasarana. According to Jain texts, the heavenly pavilion is erected by devas (heavenly beings) where devas, humans and animals assemble to hear the tirthankara.[23] A tirthankara's speech is heard by all humans and animals in their own language. It is believed that during this speech, there is no unhappiness for miles around the site.[24]

Jainism postulates that time has no beginning or end. It moves like the wheel of a cart. The wheel of time is divided in two halves, Utsarpiṇī (ascending half cycle) and Avasarpiṇī (descending half cycle). 24 tirthankaras are born in each half of this cycle. In Jain tradition the tirthankaras were royal in their final lives, and Jain texts record details of their previous lives. Their clan and families are also among those recorded in legendary stories. Jain canons state that Rishabhanatha, the first tirthankara,[13] founded the Ikshvaku dynasty,[25] from which 21 other tirthankaras also rose over time. Two tirthankaras – Munisuvrata, the 20th, and Neminatha, the 22nd – belonged to the Harivamsa dynasty.[26]

In Jain tradition, the 20 tirthankaras attained moksha on mount Shikharji, in the present Indian state of Jharkhand.[27] Rishabhanatha attained nirvana on Mount Ashtāpada (Mount Kailash), Vasupujya in Champapuri, Bihar, Neminatha on mount Girnar, Gujarat, and Mahavira, the last tirthankara, at Pawapuri, near modern Patna. Twenty-one of the tirthankaras are said to have attained moksha in the kayotsarga (standing meditation posture), while Rishabhanatha, Neminatha and Mahavira are said to have attained moksha in the Padmasana (lotus position).[17]

Digambara Mahāvīr Swami iconography

Śvētāmbara Simandhar Swami iconography

A tīrthaṅkara is represented either seated in lotus position (Padmasana) or standing in the meditation Khadgasana (Kayotsarga) posture.[33][34] This latter, which is similar to the military standing at attention is a difficult posture to hold for a long period, and is preferred by Jains because it reduces to the minimum the amount of the body in contact with the earth, and so posing a risk to the sentient creatures living in or on it. If seated, they are usually depicted seated with their legs crossed in front, the toes of one foot resting close upon the knee of the other, and the right hand lying over the left in the lap.[1]

Tirthankara images do not have distinctive facial features, clothing or (mostly) hair-styles, and are differentiated on the basis of the symbol or emblem (Lanchhana) belonging to each tirthanakar except Parshvanatha. Statues of Parshvanath have a snake crown on the head. The first Tirthankara Rishabha can be identified by the locks of hair falling on his shoulders. Sometimes Suparshvanath is shown with a small snake-hood. The symbols are marked in the centre or in the corner of the pedestal of the statue. The sects of Jainism Digambara and Svetambara have different depictions of idols. Digambara images are naked without any ornamentation, whereas Svetambara ones are clothed and decorated with temporary ornaments.[35] The images are often marked with Srivatsa on the chest and Tilaka on the forehead.[36] Srivatsa is one of the ashtamangala (auspicious symbols), which sometimes resembles fleur-de-lis, an endless knot, a flower or diamond-shaped symbol.[37]

The bodies of tirthankara statues are exceptionally consistent throughout the over 2,000 years of the historical record. The bodies are rather slight, with very wide shoulders and a narrow waist. Even more than is usual in Indian sculpture, the depiction takes relatively little interest in the accurate depiction of the underlying musculature and bones, but is interested in the modelling of the outer surfaces as broad swelling forms. The ears are extremely elongated, alluding to the heavy earrings the figures wore in their early lives before they took the path to enlightenment, when most were wealthy, if not royal.

Sculptures with four tirthanakars, or their heads, facing in four directions, are not uncommon in early sculpture, but unlike the comparable Hindu images, these represent four different tirthanakars, not four aspects of the same deity. Multiple extra arms are avoided in tirthanakar images, though their attendants or guardians may have them.[38]

The first Tirthankara, Rishabhanatha is mentioned in Hindu texts like the Rigveda,[39] Vishnupurana and Bhagwata Purana.[40] The Yajurveda mentions the name of three Tīrthaṅkaras – Ṛiṣhabha, Ajitnātha and Ariṣṭanemi.[41] The Bhāgavata Purāṇa includes legends about the Tirthankaras of Jainism particularly Rishabha.[42] Yoga Vasishta, Chapter 15 of Vairagya Khanda, Sloka 8 gives the saying of Rama:

I am not Rama. I have no desire for material things. Like Jina I want to establish peace within myself.[43]

Champat Rai Jain, a 20th-century Jain writer, claimed that the "Four and Twenty Elders" mentioned in the Book of Revelation (the final book of the Christian Bible) are "Twenty-four Tirthankaras".[44]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tirthankaras.

• God in Jainism
• Kundakunda
• List of Tirthankaras
• Tattva (Jainism)