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Idols at The Jain Dehrasar
Dilip Sheth
Tirthankara Mahavira
decorated from a Swetamber tradition point of view.
The lifestyle of Mahavira begins with a series of dreams seen by his mother, and witnessing these dreams indicated that she would give birth to a Tirthankara or a universal monarch.
Mahavira was born in 599 BC in the kingdom of Vaishali, Magadha region of India. His father, King Siddhartha and mother, Trishala named him Vardhamana, meaning the one whose birth offers universal prosperity and happiness to all living beings. His numerous marvels and saintliness were evidenced in the early childhood acts of non-violence and bravery, hence appropriately given the name, Mahavira, meaning "the Great Hero". The history notes that Mahavira honored a request from his parents and later married to a princess, Yashoda, and that they had a beautiful daughter called Priyadarshana.
At the age of 30 years, Mahavira left his family and abandoned the worldly life to seek enlightenment. After exactly 12 years, 6 months and 15 days of ascetic path and penance in the forest, Mahavira attained enlightenment at the age of 42 while he was sitting under a tree at the banks of a river, Rjukula. Having reached this stage of omniscience (total knowledge) Mahavira began preaching and teaching the path of peace, purity and happiness using language of the masses, called Ardha Magadhi, the language in which the earliest Jain scriptures were recorded. For the next 30 years, Mahavira preached a path, which could remove the sufferings of humankind and lead to spiritual perfection.
At the age of 72, in the year 527 BC, Mahavira delivered his last sermon at Pavapuri (Bihar), India, where his soul left the body and attained nirvana. The Tattvartha Sutra records that he left 14,000 monks, 36,000 nuns and 159,000 shravaks (male lay followers) and 318,000 shravikas (women lay followers). Lord Mahavira taught us that Ahimsa (non-violence) is the highest religion and that everyone should show love and compassion for all living beings, while becoming tolerant towards the perverse views. As we know, Mahatma Gandhi called Mahavira 'the incarnation of non-violence'. Today, 2,500 years later, his life and teachings continue to provide instruction and inspiration for Jains in their daily life.
The idol of Tirthankara Mahavira is
Tirthankara Parshvanath
Parshvanath was the 23rd Tirthankar, born about 250 years before Mahavira, in 775 BC at Benaras (Varanasi), India, in royal family of King Ashvasen and queen Vamadevi. In his very young age Parshva became omniscient, allknowing and all-seeing, though yet embodied but perfect in spirituality.
Lord Parshvanath began to preach four-fold path of restraint of Truth, Non-violence, Nonstealing and Non-possession, until he reached the age of 100 years. After having preached extensively, he came to the hill of Sammeda Sikharji, where he ended his journey and entered into the last stage of Shukladhyana thereby attaining nirvana. It is claimed that Lord Parshvanath systemized the Jain religion by dividing its followers into four categories: Sramana (monks), Sramani (nuns), Sravak (male laity) and Sravika (female laity). The Sammeda Sikharji hill today is a center of Jain pilgrimage and is called the Hill of Parshvanath.
The idol of Tirthankara Parshvanath represents a Digamber tradition point of view.
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