Tirthankaras of the Future

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: Z_Aspect_of_Jainology_Part_3_Pundit_Dalsukh_Malvaniya_012017.pdf

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Tirthamkaras of the Future
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I do not claim here to exhaust the subject; I shall mainly focus on data connected with the F. Ts, as they occupy a prominent position in the available sour. ces, when compared to other categories of mahāpuruşas, viz. Cakravartins, Baladevas, Vāsudevas and Prativasudevas
1. Data about F. Ts. 1.1. Statements about the existence of F. Ts. : utsarpini-mythology
and lists of F. Ts. 1.1.1. Canonical sources will be reviewed first : their collation may be of some help for the question can rightly be asked as to the antiquity of the concept of future Tirthamkaras in Jainism : do they form an original part of the Jaina mythology or are they a later addition, added for the sake of perfect symmetry in the description of the Universe ? Though less important past Tirthampkaras sometimes also have their place in the texts....4
At an early stages, an indirect statement about the existence of 24 F. Ts. as a whole is to be found in the Viyāhapannatti (5th Amga), in an old chapter belonging to the nucleus of the work (XX,8). It is put both in Gotama's and Mahāvira's mouth :
Jambuddive dive Bhārahevāsa ãgamessäņam carima-Titthagarassa Kevaiyām kalam titthi anusdjjissai ? Goyama, jāvaie namevaiyaim samkhejjāim āgamessāņam
carima-Titthagarassa titthe amusajjissai (S. I, 805,3-5). <<•How long will the Lore survive the twenty-fourth future Tirthammkara ? -The Lore will survive the twenty-fourth Tirthainkara by the same definite number (of thousand of years] as..." While an extensive list of the 24 Ts' names from Rşabha to Mahävira has been supplied in a preceding passage of the Viy (XX, 8, 3a)', not a single name is quoted in the present case at the sutra level. But no conclusion can be drawn from this fact. On the other hand, no place seems to be alloted to the F. Ts. in the debates about time-divisions put forward in the fifth Amga.
The Ayäramgasutta (1, 4, 1, 1), an earlier part of the Canon, might suggest the idea that a complete Jaina mythology was fixed at a very early date :
se bemi : je ya aiyā, je ya paduppannä, je ya ägamissã arahantā bhagavanto, savve te evam āikkhanti, evam bhāsanti, evam pannaventi, evam parūventi“ (S.I.
13,27-28). "The Arhats and Bhagavata of the past, present, and future, all say thus, speak thus, declare thus, explain thus."10 However, I would rather interpret these lines as a general utterance, as a standard stock-phrase to express totality11, insisting upon the everlasting character of the
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