Jainism and Mahavira

Author(s): Bhagchandra Jain Bhaskar
Publisher: Digambar Jain Sahitya Sanskriti Sanskaran Samiti

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ciple of perennial creation, and the truly venerable Mahavira has already risen as a Sun who will lead the massess from darkness to light
Tirthankara Mahavira, the Nigantha Nataputta of pali literature, was a great realist philospher who had not, as a matter of fact, innovated a new philosophy but advocated the old one followed by the predecessors with new additions and interpretations without involving himself in any kind of controversies. He attained enlightement by his own constant striving and then showed the path to all others out of his abundent compassion for suffering beings. His life is, therefore, an human appeal both individual as well as social. Predecessors of Mahavira
Mahavira is the twenty fourth Tirthankara of Jainas appeared at certain intervals and preached the true religion to the suffering world. His twenty three predecessors are ; Rishava, 2) Ajita, 3) Sambhava, 4) Abhinandan, 5) Sumati, 6) Padmaprabha, 7) Suparsva, 8) Chandraprabha, 9) Puspa or Suvidhi, 10) Sitala, 11) Sreyamsa, 12) Vasupujya, 15) Vimala, 14) Ananta, 15) Dharma, 16) Santi, 17) Kunthu, 18) Araha, 19) Malli 20) Munisuvrata, 21) Nami, 22) Nemi, and 23) Parsva. The Kalpasutra presents the life history of only four Tirthankaras, viz, Risabha, Aristanemi, Parsva and Mahavira. This number would have been increased gradually from four to seven and from seven to twenty four as found in Buddhist traditional conception of Buddhas in about first or second century A.D.
In addition to Vedic literature, the pali and Buddhist literature too mention the name of Jaina Tirthankaras. For instance, Risabhavadeva is called one of the Jaina Tirthankaras in Chinese Buddhist literature. The Manjusrimulakalpa* refers to him as Rsabhanirgrantharupin, and the Dharmottarapradipao mentions him along with the name of Vardhamana or Mahavira. It may be mentioned here that the names of Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas, and Bodhisattvas in Buddhism appears to have been influenced by those of the Jaina Tirthankaras.
2. Uttaradhyayana, 23.75-78. 3. The Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, p. 184. 4. Manjusrimulakalpa, Ed. by Ganapati Shastri, Trivendram, 1920, 45.27. 5. Dharmottarapradipa, p. 280 6. See in detail the author's book “Jainism in Buddhist literature", pp. 23-24
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