________________
THE WORLD OF JAINISM
15
a Kshatriya, whose profession was to fight war, but Jainism lays stress on the practice of non-violence of the extreme kind. Founded by a person from the aristocratic warrior caste, it has gathered the largest number of adherents from among the middle class. Its founder taught the highest type of unworldliness but its followers are the repositories of greatest wealth in India. These Jain merchants won't hesitate to pour money on their mendicants and saints.
While Buddhism became a world religion, Jainism did not travel out of India. From its home in Magadha it soon spread to rest of India. Jainism came to have a larger number of followers in the South and Western India than in its home province of Bihar. It rose to prominence in Mysore. It also found many adherents in Tamilnadu. In Western India, Gujarat became its stronghold.
The Tirthankaras
A new religious leader or a reformer normally builds up his new teachings on the tenets of the earlier ones. When Mahavira founded Jainism he adopted most of the teachings of his predecessor Parsvanatha who is considered to be the twentythird Tirthankara while Mahavira himself being the twentyfourth Tirthankara. According to Jaina tradition there are twentyfour Tirthankaras." A few of them seem to be historical figures while others are legendary. Jaina scholars believe that their's is the oldest religion in India. They do not hesitate to cite examples from the Vedas to prove this point. An attempt will be made here to mention briefly about the more important Tirthankaras viz. Risabhadeva or Adinatha. Neminatha or Arista-neminatha, Parsvanatha and lastly Mahavira himself. However, mention must be made of all the twentyfour Tirthankaras. They are: (i) Risabhadeva or Adinatha, (ii) Ajitanatha, (iii) Sambhavanatha, (iv) Abhinandana, (v) Sumatinatha, (vi) Padmaprabhu, (vii) Suparsvanatha, (viii) Chandraprabhu, (ix) Suvidhinatha, (x) Sitajanatha, (xi) Shreyamsanatha, (xii) Vasupujya, (xiii) Vimalanatha, (xiv) Anantanatha, (xv) Dharmanatha, (xvi) Santinatha, (xvii) Kunthunatha, (xviii) Aranatha, (xix) Mallinatha, (xx) Munisuvrata, (xxi) Naminatha, (xxii) Neminatha or Arista-Neminatha, (xxiii) Parsvanatha and (xxiv) Mahavira.
We find the statues of most of these Tirthankaras housed in the precincts of the huge statue of Gomateshwara on the hill top at Shravana Belgola near Mysore.
Risabhedeva
Risabhadeva or Adinatha is claimed to be the first Tirthankara who was born in Kosala in the Jaina era of Dusama
