„梂 縈Ｏ３ 蔣潮 J - Jainism, Jain Religion - colleges

FOREWORD
In the theist world the loftiest entity is The God!
It has thousands of names like-Paramatma (the ultimate soul), Bhagavan (the most glorious one), Siddha (the liberated),
Buddha (the enlightened). The God, etc.
In the Jain tradition there are two forms of this entity-
(1) The formless God or Siddha (the liberated)
(2) The God with a form or Tirthankar/Arihant
The Tirthankar is a detached individual who is the ultimate altruist and benefactor of not only mankind but also every living
being. He propagates the
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religious path and
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preaches about it for their benefit.
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His benevolent Jvoice promotes happiness,
peace and infinite bliss for every being.
In the Jain tradition there have been twenty four Tirthankars during the current descending cycle of time, Bhagavan Rishabhdev
being the first and Bhagavan Mahavir the last.
For every Jain these Tirthankars are the entities to be worshipped and revered. The ultimate goal of Jainism is to tread the
path shown by them and acquire infinite powers and virtues.
Out of these twenty-four Tirthankars, many authors have written the biographies of Bhagavan Rishabhdev and Bhagavan
Mahavir. But very little has been done about authentic and complete biographical sketch of all the twenty-four Tirthankars.
And it is even harder to get this material.
When we edited the illustrated Kalpasutra we compiled brief life-sketches of all Tirthankars. As it is already a large volume we
had to be selective in any further additions it was at that time that we thought to compile life-sketches of all the Tirthankars in
an independent book; it would be useful for all. The original plan was to include these brief biographical sketches within a 50-
page book, but as the work progressed it became impossible to follow the plan. Although most of the inspiring incidents from
earlier incarnations of the Tirthankars had to be left, the book became much lager than what we originally thought of. However,
whatever has been included will hopefully prove to be adequately useful, educative, interesting and inspiring for our
readers.
Scriptures like Bhagavati Sutra, Acharanga, Jambudvipa Prajnapti, Samvayang and others contain stray incidents form lives
of Tirthankars. Kalpasutra just lists all the Tirthankars and their periods besides giving brief details about Rishabhdev,
Parshvanath, Aristanemi and Mahavir. It was Acharya Bhadrabahu who first of all attempted to compile biographical sketches
of all Tirthankars in brief.
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Later others worked on providing more detailed biographies a variety of styles both, interesting as
well as informative. Some of these later works are-Pravachansaroddhar, Chauppanna Mahapuris Chariyam (Shilankacharya),
Trishashtishalaka Purush Charitra (Hemachandracharya), Adipurana (Acharya Jinasen), Uttarpurana (Gunabhadra),
Tiloyapannatti (Yativrishabhacharya), etc. Considerable material is available about the lives of Tirthankars from various
works in Prakrit, Sanskrat and Apabhramsha languages.
Shri Ratan Lal Doshi has compiled and edited the biographies of Tirthankars, based on Trishashtishalaka Purush Charitra, in
Hindi in three volumes. Acharya Shri Hastimal ji M., a recognized Jain historian himself, has compiled these biographies with
authentic references and his comments, in the first volume of the voluminous Jain Dharma ka Maulik Itihas. It is a unique
effort.
In this context, other important reference works are “Bhagavan Mahavir” by Upadhyaya Shri Kewal Muni ji and four research
works on four Tirthankars by Acharya Shri Devendra Muni Ji.
With the help of these works we have selected and complied this book; a brief but attractive presentation.
A useful and informative part of the book is its Appendix. All these datas are rarely available at one place. “Vitaraga Vandana’
has been very useful in compiling the appendices.
I am grateful to all those authors, editors and publishers whose knowledge, hard work, and experience have been conveniently
available through their works listed above.
This Edition
Although it is based on information available in ancient scriptures, this book has some unique features-
Amar Muni - Tirthankar Charitra - Surana # 6
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