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Lord Mahåvira Gangeya, a follower of Parsva, in Vaniyagama. Gangeya gave up the Châturyama-dharma and embraced the Panchayama (the five great vows) of Mahâvîra. Kalasavasiyaputta was another follower of Parsva who became a follower of Mahâvîra. 26 The Avasyaka Churni mentions several ascetics such as Uppala27 and Munichanda28 of Parsva sect.
These arguments clearly show that Parsvanatha was a real historical figure. He is supposed to have attained liberation about 246 years before Mahâvîra at Sammedasikhara which is known by his name Parsvanatha hill. If 526 B. C. is taken as the year of Lord Mahavira's Nirvana, in 772 B. C. must have occurred the death of Parsvanatha. According to the tradition, he dwelt in the world exactly one hundred years, we may conclude from this that he was born in about 872 B. C. As we have not a single certain date in Indian history before the time of Buddha, it is evidently impossible to prove this.
We know very few facts of Parsva's life. From the Kalpasûtra, we know that he was Kshatriya by caste. He is said to have been a son of Asvasena, king of Benaras, and his wife Vama. No such person as Asvasena is known from Brahmana records to have existed. The only individual of that name mentioned in the epic literature was a king of the snakes (nâgas), and he cannot in any way be connected with the father of the Jaina prophet, Parsva.
Parsva must have been of a genial nature as he is always given the epithet 'purisadaniya beloved of men. He lived for 30 years in great splendour and happiness as a householder, and then, leaving all his wealth, became an ascetic. After 84 days of intense meditation, he reached the perfect knowledge of a prophet, and from that time, he lived for about seventy years in the state of most exalted perfection and saintship and reached his final liberation.
In regard to the teachings of Parsva we have no exact knowledge. We are told that Parsva enjoined on his followers four great vows, viz., not to injure life, to be truthful, not to steal, and to possess no property. Mahâvîra added a fifth requistion, viz., that of chastity. Further, it is known that Parsva allowed his disciples to wear an upper and an under garment. Mahâvîra, on his part, followed the more rigid rule which obliged the ascetic to be completely naked.29
