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SUPARSHVA AND PARSHVA - SOME REFLECTIONS
— Prof. Shubhachandra* Of the twentyfour Jaina Tirthankaras, Suparshva is the seventh and Parshva is the twentythird. While Suparshva belongs to the pre-historic period, Parshva belongs to the ninth century B.C. and is considered a historical personage. Though they are chronologically separated by thousands of years, there are certain striking correspondences between them, apart from their similar names and the overhead hooded-naga. It is the purpose of this paper to highlight some of these correspondences.
Part I
Many Jaina literary works refer to Suparshva and one of them is Srimad Gunabhadracharya's Uttara Puran. Uttara Purana gives a graphic account of Suparshva. This account may be summarised thus:
Maharaja Suprathishta, who belonged to Rishabha Tirthankara's illustrious lineage, was the king of Kashi and his queen was Prithvishenadevi. Suparshva was their son. He inherited his father's kingdom during his youth and enjoyed perfect domestic bliss. Since he was able to practise self-control even in the midst of royal luxuries, his joys were within limits and this naturally led to his karma-nirjara. One day, he noticed how the season suddenly changed. This brought him the realisation that all earthly things were subject to change and nothing in this world was permanent. His wealth and kingdom appeared to be mere illusions.
* Dept. of Jainology & Prakrit, University of Mysore, Mysore
