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Mrs. Sinclair Stevenson, M. A., Sc. D. (Dublin) says in her book:-"The Heart of Jainism" :
(a). "Parsavanath, the Tirthankara, who immediately preceded Mahavira, may also have been a historical person. Very probably he did something to draw together and improve the discipline of the homeless monks, who were outside the pale of Brahamanism, much as St. Benedict did in Europe. If so, he was the real founder of Jainism, Mahavira being only a reformer who carried still further the work that Parsavnath had begun.” ( page 48. )
(b). “Mahavira was not an originator, he merely carried on, with but slight changes, a system which existed before his time, and which probably owes its most distinguishing features to a teacher named Parsavanath, who ranks in the succession of Jains as the predecessor of Mahavira.”- Encyclopedia Britanica, XI edition, Vol. XV. page 127, first column.
(c). "But according to the Jains the founder of their religion, in this half cycle of time was Rishabhdeva, the first of their 24 lords (Tirathankaras) although their version is that their religion is eternal."
In reply to the above criticism we make bold
