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तीर्थंकर पार्श्वनाथ
· LIFE OF PARSVANATHA
The twentythird Tirthankara Parsvanatha was born in Varanasi. He belonged to the Kasyapa Gotra?. His father was Asvasena, the king of Varanasi. His mother was queen Varmala also called Vamadevis. Uttara Purana mentions the name of the father of Parsva as Visvasena and the mother as Brahmi”. 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 Kalpasutra and Trisastisalaka Purusa his date of birth has been stated to be the midnight of Pousya Krishna Dasami (the 10th day of the dark half of the Pousya month)' while according to the Digambara works like Tiloyapannatti and Uttara Purana the date of birth is Pousya Krisna Ekadasi (the 11th day of the Pousya month).
After Parsva 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 persuation of his parents for marriage. But in the Digambara texis, like Uttara Purana and Maha Purana there is no mention of his marriage. There is evidence to show that the five Tirthankaras :(1) Vasupujya, (2) Mallinatha, (3) Aristanemi, (4) Parsvanatha and (5) Mahavira did not get married. They took to renunciation in the stage of their bachelorhood". At the age of 30, Parsva decided to renounce the world and take up to Sanyasa. It was Magha Sukla Ekadasi (the 11th day of the brighter half of the Magha month). On that auspicious day Parsva left the outskirts of the city of Varanasi and took the vow ofrenunciation!.
After about four months of the practice of severe penance and meditation Parsvanatha attained the state of Kevala Juana (Omniscience). This was in the early hours of the morning of the 4th day (Chaturthi) of Bahula Chaitra.
