Parshvanatha Ji

Parshvanatha is the twenty-third tirthankara, and the earliest of the twenty-four whom mainstream scholarship accepts as probably a historical figure. That distinction matters: the twenty-two before him are treated as pre-historical. His emblem is the snake, and he is unmistakable in Jain art: a multi-hooded serpent canopy fanned above his head like an umbrella. He is the most widely enshrined tirthankara in India, and his epithet says why: purisadaniya, beloved of the people.

Parshva, Parasanatha. The epithet purisadaniya, beloved of the people.

Lanchana, the emblem: the snake, given as green in colour, with a cobra also carved beneath his feet. Body colour: blue-black. Shown seated in lotus or standing in kayotsarga, with the shrivatsa on the chest. The serpent hood is the identifying feature, and the hood count matters. The earliest surviving images, from the first century BCE, show seven hoods. This is how you distinguish him from Suparshvanatha, the seventh tirthankara, who is also shown with a serpent canopy but with five. Anyone identifying an image should count. Yaksha and yakshi: Dharanendra, a naga king, and Padmavati, a serpent goddess. They are not incidental attendants here: they are the two figures from the central narrative of his life, and Padmavati is venerated in her own right.

The storm at Ahichchhatra is the defining episode. While Parshvanatha meditated, an enemy from a former life, named Kamatha and reborn as the ascetic Meghamali or Samvara in different tellings, conjured a violent storm to break his concentration. Dharanendra spread a canopy of serpent hoods above his head, and Padmavati coiled around his body to hold him clear of the rising water. He remained undisturbed and attained omniscience. The place took its name from the event: Ahichchhatra, the serpent umbrella. There is an earlier act behind that rescue. Tradition holds that as a prince he saved a pair of serpents being burned alive inside a log. Reborn as celestial beings through that compassion, they became Dharanendra and Padmavati, and returned to shelter him. The narrative is a closed circle of mercy repaid. His liberation was at Shikharji, at the age of one hundred, on the hill that carries his name as Parasnath.

Father: King Ashvasena. Mother: Queen Vamadevi. Birthplace: Varanasi, in the kingdom of Kashi. Dynasty: Ikshvaku, of the Ugravamsha lineage. On marriage the sects differ: Digambara tradition holds he never married; Shvetambara texts hold he married Prabhavati, daughter of King Prasenajit.

Shikharji, where he attained liberation, is the most sacred Jain pilgrimage site of all, and this platform carries it. Ahichchhatra marks his omniscience. He is enshrined more widely than any other tirthankara. On this platform: the Parshvanatha temple at Khajuraho, with its precisely dated consecration inscription of 954 CE; Shankheshwar in Gujarat; Nakoda; the Parshvanatha temples in Jaisalmer Fort; Sittanavasal and Kalugumalai in Tamil Nadu; the Gopachal colossi at Gwalior; and the Ellora Jain caves.

Marriage: Digambara says never; Shvetambara says he married Prabhavati. Doctrine, and this is the substantive one. Shvetambara tradition holds that Parshvanatha taught only four restraints, ahimsa, truth, non-stealing and non-possession, and that Mahavira added celibacy as a fifth vow; it also holds that monks in Parshvanatha's line could wear simple garments. Digambara tradition holds there was no doctrinal difference between the two teachers. This is not a small disagreement: it concerns whether Mahavira reformed the tradition or merely restated it. Confusion risk: Suparshvanatha, the seventh tirthankara, is also shown with a serpent hood. Count the hoods, seven against five.