Pārśvanātha

Pārśvanātha , or Pārśva and Pārasanātha, was the 23rd of 24 <a href="/facts/Tirthankara/cf8K8DIL">tīrthaṅkaras</a> ("Ford-Maker" or supreme preacher of <a href="/facts/Dharma_(Jainism)/HU1Nvwzy">Dharma</a>) of <a href="/facts/Jainism/h0glxhjH">Jainism</a>. According to traditional accounts, he was born to King Aśvasena and Queen Vāmādevī of the <a href="/facts/Ikshvaku_dynasty/AR7otF7b">Ikshvaku dynasty</a> in the north west Indian city of <a href="/facts/Benaras/w0ELEKrB">Varanasi</a> in 9th century BCE. Pārśvanātha is the earliest Jaina tīrthaṅkaras who is acknowledged as possibly a historical figure: with some teachings attributed to him that may be accurately recorded, and a possible historical nucleus within the legendary accounts of his life from traditional hagiographies. Historians consider that he may actually have lived between c. 8th to 6th century BCE, founding a proto-Jaina <a href="/facts/%25C5%259Arama%25E1%25B9%2587a/ka4nb2ve">ascetic</a> community which subsequently got revived and reformed by <a href="/facts/Mahavira/46A5AGc3">Mahāvīra</a> (6th or 5th century BCE).
According to traditional Jaina sources, Pārśvanātha was born 273 years before <a href="/facts/Mahavira/46A5AGc3">Mahāvīra</a>, which places him between the 9th and 8th centuries BCE. Renouncing worldly life, he founded an ascetic community. He was the spiritual successor of the 22nd Tirthankar <a href="/facts/Neminath/pIpBXty2">Neminatha</a>. He is popularly seen as a supreme propagator and reviver of Jainism. Pārśvanātha is said to have attained <a href="/facts/Moksha_(Jainism)/UKSF1T36">moksha</a> on Mount <a href="/facts/Parasnath/KnzT3QA8">Sammeda</a> (<a href="/facts/Madhuban/aY34MryF">Madhuban</a>, <a href="/facts/Jharkhand/eYFQURjk">Jharkhand</a>) popular as Parasnath hill in the <a href="/facts/Ganges/q0IGurvB">Ganges</a> basin, an important Jaina pilgrimage site. His iconography is notable for the serpent hood over his head, and his worship often includes <a href="/facts/Dhara%25E1%25B9%2587endra/2HRG6vtj">Dharaṇendra</a> and <a href="/facts/Padm%25C4%2581vat%25C4%25AB/5IdqB6Lt">Padmāvatī</a> (Jainism's serpent Devtā and Devī).
Texts of the two major <a href="/facts/Jain_sects/pwjxf451">Jaina sects</a> (<a href="/facts/Digambara/xFbhn0WI">Digambaras</a> and <a href="/facts/%25C5%259Av%25C4%2593t%25C4%2581mbara/SKHpc6l8">Śvētāmbaras</a>) differ on the teachings of Pārśvanath and Mahāvīra, and this is a foundation of the dispute between the two sects. The Digambaras believed that there was no difference between the teachings of Pārśvanātha and Mahāvīra.
Pārśvanath taught that every individual <a href="/facts/Jiva_(Jainism)/skKloQVH">soul</a> possesses <a href="/facts/Kevala_jnana/f2Qdby8T">infinite knowledge</a> and boundless bliss, but this is obscured by ignorance, causing the soul to identify with the physical <a href="/facts/Body_(biology)/godjowY2">body</a>. Through diligent practice of 'bheda-jñāna', which entails right belief and active awareness of one's true nature as a pure soul, unencumbered by the body and its passions, an individual can shed the perception-obscuring <a href="/facts/Karma/lI4wDYby">mohanīya karma</a>. This enables the soul to experience its true essence, known as samyak darshan or self-realization, opening the pathway to <a href="/facts/Moksha/b3uuA7jI">liberation</a> from the <a href="/facts/Samsara/Iwy5Ukmq">cycle of birth and rebirth</a>. According to the Śvētāmbaras, Mahāvīra expanded Pārśvanātha's first four restraints with his ideas on <a href="/facts/Ahimsa/gV8J0KQI">ahimsa</a> (lit. 'non-violence') and added the fifth monastic vow (celibacy). Pārśvanātha did not require celibacy and allowed monks to wear simple outer garments. Śvētāmbara texts, such as section 2.15 of the <a href="/facts/%25C4%2580c%25C4%2581r%25C4%2581%25E1%25B9%2585ga_S%25C5%25ABtra/ILkCU5gl">Ācārāṅga Sūtra</a>, say that Mahāvīra's parents were followers of Pārśvanātha (linking Mahāvīra to a preexisting theology as a reformer of Jaina mendicant tradition).

Pārśvanātha open-in-new

Pārśvanātha