World Of Jainism

Author(s): Vishwanath Pandey
Publisher: Vishwanath Pandey

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THE ORIENT
susama. He was born of a Rajput prince. The birth of most of the Tirthankaras is associated with a dream of the mother who gave birth to them. Risabhadeva's mother had seen a bull in her dream bebore the birth of her son and he came to be called Risabha. He was the first to teach the Jaina faith. He also taught seventytwo sciences to men and sixtyfour arts to women which were mainly meant for the benefit of the people. He lived for 84 lakhs of purva of time a part of which he spent in asceticism. King Bharata was one of his hundred sons and he attained Moksha on Kailasa. His followers included a large number of Sramanas, nuns and others."
Neminatha
Neminatha or Arista-neminatha the twentysecond Tirthankara is represented as black like the twentieth Tirthankara. He was born to King Samudravijaya of Sauripura. His mother saw in a dream before the birth of her son a nemi, the outer rim of a wheel, consisting of Rishta stones (black jewels), flying upto the sky. He was named Aristanemi after this dream. He was a contemporary of Sri Krishna and his brother Balaram. After neglecting his body for fortyfour days and practising other severe penances he obtained the highest knowledge, Kevala Jnana. He had a large following of Sramanas, nuns, lay votaries and others. During his time a great part of Dushmasushma era had elapsed. He obtained Moksha on the summit of mount Girnar.20
Parsvanatha
Parsvanatha the twentythird Tirthankara, seems to be a historical figure. He was born in Benares in about 817 B.C. His father Asvasena was the King of the town. He came to be called Parsva because his mother before giving birth to him saw a black serpant crawling about in the dark while lying on her couch. During his lifetime he was connected with snakes. Once he rescued a snake hiding in a log which was going to be burnt by a Brahmin. This snake later protected him from his enemies and a hooded serpent became the symbol of Parsya. He was married to Prabhavati but renounced the worldly life at the age of 30 by performing similar ceremonies as Mahavira later did. After 83 days of severe penance he attained Keval Jnana and became the leader of a community of his followers. He lived a life of a teacher for the next forty years and died as a people's favourite on the summit of mount Sammeta in Bengal."
He asked his followers to practise four principles of good life. They were: i To practise non-violence, ii. not to steal,