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OCTOBER, 1981
Sumati, Padmaprabha, Suparsva, Candraprabha, Suvidhi, Sitala, Sreyamsa, Vasupujya, Vimala, Ananta, Dharma, Santi, Kunthu, Ara, Malli,? Suvrata, Nami, Aristanemi, Parsva and Mahavira, are historical fligures or not.
The Jaina religious texts like Acārānga, Samavāyānga and KalpaSūtra contain ideas about the Tirthankaras. The Anga texts are the oldest in the Jaina literature and these date back from the time of the first Jaina council held at Pataliputra more than 160 years after the death of Mahavira.8 Hence, these cannot be taken as ancient texts. Moreover, if one computes the age or period of the Jaina Tirthankaras in accordance with the accounts given in these religious texts, one would have to place most of the early Tirthankaras at periods when men did not appear, according to the Geological calculation, on this world. So, very little reliance can be placed on these texts with reference to the dates or periods of time of the early Jaina Tirthankaras.
Historical existence of the last two Tirthankaras viz. Parsvanatha and Mahavira, has been established in recent times. In the case of the 22nd Tirthankara viz. Aristanemi the scholars have found that he was a first cousin of Krsna, the prophet of the Bhagavad Gitā, and that his father Samudravijaya was a brother of Krsna's father, Vasudeva. Because of this reference, Aristanemi has become less mythological than his forerunners. There are statues of the Jaina Tirthankaras scattered all over India and there are inscriptions, mostly found in Mathura, an important Jaina Centre of ancient India, in the names of Sambhavanatha, Santinatha, Aranatha and Aristanemi.
Moreover, it is seen from a study of the article entitled 'Jaina Sampradaya' by Late A.C. Dasothat Late Colonel J. Tod, after having studied the insciptions on the stones and the copper plates of the Jainas found in Saurastra, Jaisalmer and certain other parts of Rajasthan where the Jainas used to live in the old days, came to the conclusion that the 1st Tirthankara
ainas who founded the Lunar dynasty was born in 2500 B. C.. the 22nd Tirthankara, Neminath, in 1120 B.C., the 23rd Thirthankara Parsvanath in 650 B.C. and the 24th Tirthankara, Mahavira in 533 B.C. After noting this, Late Das held that all the twentyfour Tirthankaras
?Svetambaras believe that this Tirthankara was a woman, Digambaras do not believe
this. 8 According to the Jaina belief, Mahavira died on 527 B.C. H. Jacobi, however,
advocated 467 B.C. as the appropriate year of Mahavira's death. • Reprinted in Bangalir Dharma Darsan Cinta (in Bengali) edited by A. Banerjee, Calcutta, 1980, Nava Patra Prakasan, p. 62.
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