The 24 Tirthankaras: names, symbols and places

Which texts this list follows

Shw. = Shwetambar, Dig. = Digambar. Symbols: Shwetambar, from Hemachandra’s Abhidhana-chintamani (1.47–48) and the birth passages of his Trishashti-shalaka-purusha-charitra (“Hem.”, book.chapter, Helen Johnson’s translation), where each Tirthankara is born “marked with” his emblem; Digambar, from Yativrishabha’s Tiloyapannatti (“TP”) 4.604–605. Birthplaces: Trishashti book 1, chapter 6, where Rishabhdev tells the towns and parents of the twenty-three Jinas to come, and TP 4.526–549. Nirvana: the moksha passage of each life and TP 4.1185–1208. For Rishabhdev, Neminath, Parshvanath and Mahavir also the Kalpa Sutra (Jacobi’s translation).

Mallinath: two traditions

In the Shwetambar tradition the nineteenth Tirthankara, Malli, was a woman. By Hemachandra (book 6, chapter 6) the queen bore a daughter because of karma from a former life, “the marvellous nineteenth Arhat, marked with a water-jar”; by Jaini the canonical source is the eighth chapter of the Jnatadharmakatha (Nayadhammakahao). The Digambar tradition, in which a woman must be reborn a man to attain liberation, holds Mallinath to have been a man like the other Tirthankaras; Jaini cites Gunabhadra’s Uttarapurana (canto 66) for this.

Where the symbols differ

By M. N. P. Tiwari the list of symbols was settled by about the eighth or ninth century, and the two traditions differ only for four Tirthankaras: Suparshvanath, Shitalnath, Anantnath and Arnath. There are small differences of wording for Sumatinath and Chandraprabha too.

The five places of nirvana

The texts of both traditions agree on the places of nirvana. By Jaini, Sammed Shikhar is the Parasnath hills region of Bihar, where Parshvanath and nineteen other Jinas were liberated; the other four places of nirvana are Mount Kailasa in the Himalayas, Champapuri in Bihar, Girnar in Saurashtra and Pavapuri near modern Patna. (The Parasnath hill is today in Giridih district, Jharkhand.)

Ayodhya is the birthplace of five Tirthankaras: Rishabhdev, Ajitnath, Abhinandannath, Sumatinath and Anantnath (Hemachandra; the TP, which also calls it Saketa and Ayodhyapuri). Shantinath, Kunthunath and Arnath were born at Hastinapura (Gajapura), and Mallinath and Naminath at Mithila.

Where the traditions and sources differ

• Mallinath: a woman (Malli) in the Shwetambar tradition, a man in the Digambar.
• Symbols: Suparshvanath, Shitalnath, Anantnath and Arnath have different symbols in the two traditions (table above).
• Lineage: by the Abhidhana-chintamani (1.35) 22 Tirthankaras were of the Ikshvaku kula and Munisuvrata and Neminath of the Harivamsha; the Tiloyapannatti (4.550) puts Dharmanath, Kunthunath and Arnath in the Kuru line, Mahavir in the Natha line and Parshvanath in the Ugra line.
• Mahavir’s marriage: by the Shwetambar Acharanga (2.15.15) he married Yashoda and had a daughter, Priyadarshana; in the Digambar tradition he remained unmarried (Jaini).
• Forms of names: Rishabhdev’s nirvana at Ashtapada (Shw.) / Kailasa (Dig.), Mahavir’s birth at Kundagrama (Shw.) / Kundalapura (Dig.), Chandraprabha’s at Chandranana (Shw.) / Chandrapuri (Dig.).

Frequently asked questions