Jainism and list of Tirthankars.

Jainism traces its roots to a succession of 24 Jinas. The first Jina is traditionally believed to have been a giant who lived 8.4 million years ago. The most recent and last Jina was Vardhamana Mahavira and was the founder of the Jain community. He attained enlightenment after 13 years of deprivation. In 467 BCE, he performed holy act of salekhana which is fasting to death. Each Jina has "conquered love and hate, pleasure and pain, attachment and aversion, and has thereby freed `his' soul from the karmas obscuring knowledge, perception, truth, and ability..."

Jainism contains many elements that are somewhat similar to parts of Hinduism and Buddhism. The world population of the Jain followers is almost 4 million.

 

 

The Jain Festival of Paryushana  begins in the month of August.

Jainism is the ancient religion founded by Lord Mahavira that teaches that the way to liberation, bliss is to live lives of harmlessness and renunciation and is parallel to Buddhism.

The essence of Jainism is concern for the welfare of every being in the universe and for the health of the universe itself.

·         Jains believe that animals and plants, as well as human beings, contain living souls. Each of these souls is considered of equal value and should be treated with respect and compassion.

·         Jains are strict vegetarians and live in a way that minimises their use of the world's resources.

·         Jains believe in reincarnation and seek to attain ultimate liberation - which means escaping the continuous cycle of birth, death and rebirth so that the immortal soul lives for ever in a state of bliss.

·         Liberation is achieved by eliminating all karma from the soul.

·         Jainism is a religion of self-help.

·         There are no gods or spiritual beings that will help human beings.

·         Jainism has no priests. Its professional religious people are their Sadhus, who lead strict and ascetic lives.

 

 

List of Tirthankaras.

 

 

 

1) Rishabha (Adinath)	Nabhi-raja	Maru-Devi	Ayodhya
2) Ajitnath	Jita Satru	Vijaya-Devi	Ayodhya
3) Sambhavanath	Jitari	Sena	Sravasti
4) Abhinandannath	Samvara	Siddhartha	Ayodhya
5) Sumatinath	Megh-Prabha	Sumangala	Ayodhya
6) Padmabrabha	Dharana (Sidhara)	Susima	Kausambhi
7) Suparshvanath	Supratishtha	Prithvi	Kasi (Banaras)
8) Chandraprabha	Mahasena	Lakshmana	Chandrapuri
9) Pushpadanta	Sugriva	Rama (Supriya)	Kakandi
(Suvidhinatha)
10) Shiatnath	Dridharatha	Sunanda	Bhadrikapuri
11) Shreyansanath	Vishnu	Vishnudri (Vishna)	Simhapuri
12) Vasupujya	Vasupujya	Vijaya (jaya)	Champapuri
13) Vimalnath	Kritvarman	Suramya(Syama	Kampilya
14) Anantnath	Simhasena	Sarvavasa	Ayodhya
15) Dharmanath	Bhanu	Suvrata	Ratnapuri
16) Shantinath	Visvasena	Acira	Hastinapura
17) Kunthunath	Surya(Sura)	Sri-Devi	Hastinapura
18) Aranath	Sudarsana	Mitra(Devi	Hastinapura
19) Malinath	Kumbha	Rakshita	Mithilapuri
20) Munisuvrata	Sumitra	Padmavati	Kusagranagara
			(Raj-grih)
21) Nami Natha	Vijaya	Vapra (Vipra)	Mithilapuri (Mathura)
22) Neminatha	Samudravijaya	Sivadevi	Sauripura (Dvaraka)
23) Parsva Natha	Asvasena	Vama	Kasi (Banaras)
24) Mahavira (Vardhamana)	Siddharatha	Priyakarni (Trishala)	Kundapura