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Tirthankaras of the Future
I do not claim here to exhaust the subject; I shall mainly focus on data connected with the F. Ts, as they occupy a prominent position in the available sources, when compared to other categories of mahapurusas, viz. Cakravartins, Baladevas, Vasudevas and Prativasudevas
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1. Data about F. Ts.
:
1.1. Statements about the existence of F. Ts. utsarpini-mythology and lists of F. Ts.
1.1.1. Canonical sources will be reviewed first their collation may be of some help for the question can rightly be asked as to the antiquity of the concept of future Tirtharakaras in Jainism: do they form an original part of the Jaina mythology or are they a later addition, added for the sake of perfect symmetry in the description of the Universe? Though less important past Tirthankaras sometimes also have their place in the texts....
At an early stages, an indirect statement about the existence of 24 F. Ts. as a whole is to be found in the Viyahapannatti (5th Amga), in an old chapter belonging to the nucleus of the work (XX,8). It is put both in Gotama's and
Mahavira's mouth:
Jambuddive dive Bharaheväsa agamessäṇam carima-Titthagarassa Kevaiyām kalam titthi aṇusvjjissai? Goyamā, jāvaie ṇamevaiyāim samkhejjāim āgamessāņam carima-Titthagarassa titthe anusajjissai (S. I, 805,3-5).
How long will the Lore survive the twenty-fourth future Tirthankara? -The Lore will survive the twenty-fourth Tirthankara by the same definite number (of thousand of years] as...".
While an extensive list of the 24 Ts' names from Rṣabha to Mahavira has been supplied in a preceding passage of the Viy (XX, 8, 3a), not a single name is quoted in the present case at the sutra level. But no conclusion can be drawn from this fact. On the other hand, no place seems to be alloted to the F. Ts. in the debates about time-divisions put forward in the fifth Amga.
The Ayäramgasutta (1, 4, 1, 1), an earlier part of the Canon, might suggest the idea that a complete Jaina mythology was fixed at a very early date:
se bemi je ya aiya, je ya paḍuppanna, je ya ägamissä arahanta bhagavanto, savve te evan aikkhanti, evam bhasanti, evam pannaventi, evam pari venti (S. I. 13,27-28).
"The Arhats and Bhagavata of the past, present, and future, all say thus, speak thus, declare thus, explain thus."10
However, I would rather interpret these lines as a general utterance, as a standard stock-phrase to express totality11, insisting upon the everlasting character of the
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