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CHAPTER I
THE TIRTHANKARAS
The traditional number the Jainas give for their Tirthamkaras is 24. The historicity of all these 24 Tirthamkaras cannot be proved for many reasons. First of all, the number is not an original one, it is canonically the same as given by the Buddhists and the Hindus for thcir respective incarnations. Either we must believe that the Hindu number is older copied by the Jainas and Buddhists for the sake of form or the number is purely conjectural and stercotyped which the thrcc religions adopted in order to keep some identity. The second objection to accrediting the number is the mythically high age, which the Jainas attribute to their Tirtharikaras. The period assigned, if we believe it, would cover many milleniums and exceed all anterior limits of the Vedic age in India. Nor can we prove the authenticity of all the carly Tirthamkaras from literary records of sccond millenium B. C., which do not belong to the Jainas. Some Jaina scholars quote from the Vedas some identical names of the Jinas, which to Vedic scholar would positively prove none but those of Vedic Rşis. Under the circumstances, it would be a scientific crror to suppose that the 24 Tīrthamkaras lived and preached as the Jainas rcligiously believe and as their books written in the Buddhistic age record. It would be far more correct to say if we all have to put some belief in all the 24, that some of them had flourished side by side and others flourished in succession to one another. The first Tirthamkara Rşabhanātha about whom recorded traditions are so varied and old images (say of the Kushān agc) are so many that one finds it rather dislicult to disavow his historical existence. The intervening ages of thc Jainas are, of course, appalling and cannot be accepted as true.
Whether real or ficticious, one fact is certain that these Tīrthamkaras represent truly Jaina elements and their origin is not due to any extranuous influences. In this connection, it is to
