Jainism the Creed for All Times

SR No.: 006564
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D S Baya
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
Publication Year: 2006
Total Pages: 420
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 54

of His eldest son, Bharata, and became the very first ascetic! engaged in the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment, after attaining which He preached the faith and established the four-fold religious order referred to as 'ford (tīrtha)'and became the very first Tīrthankara (founder of the ford)', and salvation, which He, ultimately, attained atop Mt. Kailasa referred to as Astāpada in the Jaina lore. The eldest of His one hundred sons, Bharata, became the very first paramount sovereign or king--emperor (Cakravartī) of the land that was named as Bhāratavarşa after him. In this connection Dr. Hermann Jacobi wrote, “there was nothing to prove that Lord Pārsvanātha was the founder of Jainism. Jaina tradition is unanimous in holding Lord Rsabhadeva, the first Tīthankara as its founder and there may be something historical in the tradition which takes Him as the first
Tīrtharkara.” With such reliable evidence being available, there is nothing to prevent us from believing that Jainism is the most ancient religious philosophies of the world that started with the advent of human civilisation and evolved with time.
After Lord Rsabhadeva, there was a succession of twentythree Tīrtharkaras who propounded and preached almost the same precepts and practices that the first Tīrtharikara had propounded with due modifications felt necessary due to the changing times and the changing human nature. Lord Mahāvīra (599-527 BC) became the last Prophet--propounder (Tīrthankara).
Lord Pārsvanātha, the twenty-third Tīrtharkara, is accepted as a historical personality by the modern historians such as Vincent Smith, RC Mazumdar and RK Mukerjee, who regard Him as a great preacher of Jaina Dharma. He was the prince of Varanasi, who became an ordained monk, practised grave penance and achieved spiritual enlightenment, propounded the faith and preached it for nearly seventy years before He ultimately attained nirvāṇa atop Sammedaśikhara (Pārasnāth Hill) in the Jharkhand state. Before Him, the twenty-second Prophet, Lord Ariştanemi,
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