Study of Jainism

Author(s): T G Kalghatgi
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 62

Other Tirthankaras
Parsvanatha the 23rd tirthankara was born in Varanasi. He belongs to the Kasyapagotra. 45 His father was Asvasena, the king of Banaras. His mother was queen Varmala also called Vamadevi.46 Uttarapurana mentions the name of the father of Parsva as Viśvasena and the mother as Brahmi. 47 The slight difference in the mention of his birth date in the Svetambara and the Digambara traditions does not materially affect the dates. In the Kalpasūtra and Triṣaṣṭisalakapurusa his date of birth has been stated to be the mid night of Pouşya Kriṣṇa Dasami (the 10th day of the dark half of the Pouşya month); while according to the Digambara works like Tiloyapanṇatti and Uttarapuraṇa the date of birth is Pouşya Kriṣṇa Ekadasi (the 11th day of the month).
47
As a young blooming boy, Parsva was handsome and strong. An interesting incident has been described which expresses his extraordinary sense of understanding and discrimination. As a young boy he used to go with his friends for playing. Once he saw in the forest, a tapasvi (ascetic) who was practicing severe penance with fire burning surrounding him and the hot Sun shining on his head. The ascetic was feeding the fire with logs of wood. But in a big log of wood there were two serpents inside the wood writhing with pain in the fire. The tapasvi did not see them as they were inside in the hallow of the log of wood. The young Parsva said to the ascetic, "Sir, please do not burn this log of wood, because you would be causing injury to the two serpents which are inside the log". But the ascetic would not listen, as he did not see any living creature in the wood. Then the ascetic cut the log with an axe, and, to his surprise, he found that the young boy was right. The two serpents were born, in their next lives, as king Dharanendra and queen Padmavati in Nagaland. 48
Parsva now came of age and grew into a handsome youth. His parents wanted him to get married. The Svetambara tradition mentions that Parsva was married to Prabhavati the daughter of king Prasenajit, on account of the persuasion of his parents for marriage. But in the Digambara texts, like Uttarapurana and Mahapurana there is no mention of his marriage There is evidence to show that the five tirthankaras: (i) Vasupūjya, (ii) Mallinatha, (iii) Ariṣṭanēmi, (iv) Parsvanatha and (v) Mahavira did not get