णमो अरिहंताणं · णमो सिद्धाणं · णमो लोए सव्वसाहूणं
The lives of the 24 Tirthankaras from the classical texts, with Shvetambara and Digambara tellings both shown and each life linked to its verified star.
The lives of the Tirthankaras are the heart of this site’s Claim Your Story mission: told from the classical texts (Hemachandra’s Trishashti-Shalaka-Purusha-Charitra, the Kalpasutra, the Adi Purana), with Shvetambara and Digambara tellings both honored, tradition and scholarship clearly labeled, and each life linked to its verified birth star.
The series begins where everything begins: with the first.
Tirthankara
The complete, sourced life of Bhagwan Rishabhanatha: his 13 previous births, the bull dream, the invention of civilization, why his idols alone have hair
Tirthankara
Ajitanatha, the 2nd Tirthankara: born at Ayodhya under Rohini on the night Sagara the Chakravartin was born, the elephant lanchhana, 95 ganadharas, and the marble …
Tirthankara
Sambhavanatha, the 3rd Tirthankara: the only one born at Shravasti, named for a harvest, initiated on a full moon, and the one Tirthankara whose nirvana star did not …
Tirthankara
Abhinandananatha, the 4th Tirthankara, is the one born under Abhijit, the 28th nakshatra that was dropped from the standard 27. His kalyanakas, the monkey lanchhana, the …
Tirthankara
Sumatinatha, 5th Tirthankara: named for his mother's judgment rather than his own, a lanchhana that survives translation badly, and a nirvana star that runs backwards …
Tirthankara
Padmaprabha, the 6th Tirthankara: the lotus-couch craving that named him, the most technical astronomy line in the whole corpus, Kaushambi, and 803 monks at nirvana.
Tirthankara
Suparshvanatha, the 7th Tirthankara: the couch of one, five and nine serpent hoods, how museums tell his images from Parshvanatha's, Bhadaini in Varanasi, and 500 munis.
Tirthankara
Chandraprabha, the 8th Tirthankara: the moon-coloured body and crescent lanchhana, Chandrapuri on the Ganga with its 1091 CE inscription, and a nirvana in Shravana under …
Tirthankara
Suvidhinatha or Pushpadanta, 9th Tirthankara: the only one with two names from one ceremony, the order that went extinct after him, and a birth star popular astrology …
Tirthankara
Shitalanatha, 10th Tirthankara: the fever that gave him his name, why Hemachandra marks him with the shrivatsa when Digambara lists give a wishing tree, and a …
Tirthankara
Shreyansanatha, 11th Tirthankara: a birthplace a mile from Sarnath, a chapter of Hemachandra that is mostly about somebody else, and five kalyanakas that every panchang …
Tirthankara
Vasupujya, 12th Tirthankara: the one who refused the throne, the only town holding all five kalyanakas, the Digambara claim for Mandargiri, and a birth star the sects do …
Tirthankara
Vimalanatha, 13th Tirthankara: a boar on the pedestal and a six-faced yaksha above it, both borrowed from the neighbours, a birthplace out of the Mahabharata, and a …
Tirthankara
Anantanatha, 14th Tirthankara: why Hemachandra says his father's wars gave him the name, why Shvetambaras carve a falcon and Digambaras a porcupine, and the 7,000 who …
Tirthankara
Dharmanatha, 15th Tirthankara: the vajra on his pedestal, the Pushya versus Revati birth-star split we could not resolve, and Ratnapuri, the kalyanaka-bhumi 24 km west of …
Tirthankara
Shantinatha, 16th Tirthankara: the dove and the hawk told from Hemachandra, the epidemic that gave him his name, the deer on four dated images, and a life that ends on …
Tirthankara
Kunthunatha, 17th Tirthankara: a name that means either a minute insect or a heap of jewels, a diksha tithi that falls before his birth tithi, and the shortest biography …
Tirthankara
Aranatha, 18th Tirthankara: a lanchhana that is also an auspicious diagram, three kalyanakas on three consecutive tithis, the third Chakravartin-Jina in a row, and the …
Tirthankara
Malli, the 19th Tirthankara and a woman in the Shvetambara telling: the golden statue that defeated six kings, the deceit in a past life that earned her a woman's birth, …
Tirthankara
Munisuvrata, the 20th Tirthankara: the horse of Bhrigukachchha and the Ashvavabodha tirtha, the Hari line he founded a dynasty in, Rajgir as his kalyanaka-bhumi, and all …
Tirthankara
Naminatha, 21st Tirthankara: the siege that gave him his name, the other Nami of Mithila he is confused with, two towns that both claim to be his Mithila, and a lanchhana …
Tirthankara
Neminatha, 22nd Tirthankara: the wedding procession he turned back, the animals penned for the feast, Krishna's cousin, and the three kalyanakas that made Girnar a …
Tirthankara
Parshvanatha, the 23rd Tirthankara: the serpent in the log, the fourfold restraint, the Keshi and Gautama debate, Posh Dashami, and why historians accept him as real.
Tirthankara
Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara: the five kalyanakas in Uttara Phalguni, the embryo transfer the sects dispute, the argument over where he was born, and the Diwali …