What is Jainism

SR No.: 006714
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain
Total Pages: 210
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 11 MB

Page 57

RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION
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merely takes us back to the time of the 23rd Tirthamkara whose name was Parasva Nath, after whom the great Jaina place of Pilgrimage in Bihar in India came to be known as the Pareshnath Hill. Between Rişabha Deva and Parasva Nath intervened 21 other Tirthamkaras, whose lives are described in the Jaina Tradition, which is preserved in Scriptures, termed Puranas. So far as the historicity of the first Tirthamkara is concerned, I do not think there can be any manner of doubt about it, for he is not only recognized in Jainism, and referred to in Buddhism, but actually accepted as the founder of the Jaina Religion in the Hindu Books. This is the most valuable confirmation of the Jaina tradition, and as Stevenson, a great European scholar, observes cannot be disregarded. The important point is that the Hindus do not know of any other explanation of the rise of Jainism, nor of any founder of Jainism other than Rişabha Deva, whom the Jainas name in this connection. If Jainism had been founded by any other and a much later personage, it is impossible that the Hindus would be ignorant of the fact, and would be actually endorsing the Jaina claim instead of refuting it. In my opinion this consideration is quite sufficient to show the historicity of the first Tirthamkara conclusively, How far back in time gone by did Rişabha Deva flourish can be roughly guessed in the light of the fact that His son, Bharat Chakravarti, was the first Emperor after whom India came to be known as Bharat Varşa, as the Jaina and the Hindu accounts concurrently maintain.
The Jainas maintain that as a science Religion is eternal, though it is periodically lost and rediscovered by men. The last great Teacher of Jainism was the Tirthamkara Mahavira who was a senior contemporary of Buddha. All the Tirthamkaras were men, who became Perfect and fully divine. They are the real living Gods ; besides them Jainism recognizes the claim of no other gods or goddesses to divinity.
The word Tirthamkara signifies the maker or founder of a Tirtha (which is a fordable passage across a sea). Because the Tirthamkaras discover and establish such a passage across the sea of samsara (transmigratory state of souls), They are given that title. The Jaina worship of the Tirthamkaras is not idolatry. The Tirthamkara is not an idol in any sense of the word. It is idealatry, as I have explained