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Glimpses of World Religions
The Tirthankaras in Jain religion
From time immemorial, there were Tirthankaras, who had expounded the Jain Dharma. At present the 24th Tirthankar Mahavir Swami reigns the religion. In future there will continue the chain of 24 Tirthankaras.
The first Tirthankar of this period of Avasarpinee's twenty four-series was Adinath-Rishabhdev Bhagwan, who had taught the arts and crafts of Asi-Masi and agriculture as well as swinging of swords for self-defence as well as the possession of a pen and the ink for writing and agriculture for maintenance of life and thus provided the ideals of marriage and familylife through the daughters Bādri and Sundari.
Mahāvir, born 26 years ago raised up the Jain Dharma. Seeing the violence prevailing that time, Bhagwan Mahāvir restored the non-violence cult by Shraman culture. The Present 24 Tirthankaras of Jain Dharma
(1) Rishabhdev Adinath (2) Ajitnath (3) Sambhavnath (4) Abhinandan Swami (5) Sumatinath (6) Padma-prabhu (7) Suparshwanath (8) Chandraprabhu Swami (9) Savidhinath (10) Sheetalnath (11) Shreyansanath (12) Vasupujya Swami (13) Vimalnath (14) Anantnath (15) Dharmanath (16) Shantinath (17) Kuntunath (18) Arnath (19) Mallinath (20) Muni Suvrat Swami (21) Naminath (22) Neminath (23) Parshwanath (24) Veer Wardhman Mahavir Swami. Āgam :
Jain Dharma's authorised valid collection of Shastras are called Āgamas.
A = prescribed by Āpta purusha G = knitted by Ganathar M = put into practice by Muniraj