The Fourteen Purvas (meaning ancient or prior knowledge) are a large body of Jain scriptures that was preached by all Tirthankaras (omniscient teachers) of Jainism encompassing the entire gamut of knowledge available in this universe. The persons having the knowledge of purvas were given an exalted status of Shrutakevali or "scripturally omniscient persons". Both the Jain traditions, Śvetāmbara and Digambara hold that all the fourteen purvas have been lost. According to tradition, the Purvas were part of canonical literature and deposited in the third section of Drstivada (the twelfth and last canon). Knowledge of Purvas became fairly vulnerable after Mahavira 's nirvana (liberation) and on account of effects of famine, such that, eventually only one person— Bhadrabahu Svami had a command over it. In accordance with the prophecy of Mahavira, the knowledge of Purvas died within 1,000 years of his nirvana and eventually, the whole of Drstivada disappeared as well.( Bhagvati Sutra 20.8) However, a detailed table of contents of the Drstivada and the Purvas has survived in the fourth Anga, Samavāyānga and Nandīsūtra. Furthermore, certain portions of Drstivada and Purvas is said to have survived in Satkhandāgama and Kasāyaprabhrta, especially the doctrine of Karma .
41-593: Below is a list of the fourteen Purvas, containing various descriptions and details: The contents of the Purvas was so vast, that the tradition holds that, the first one is written by the volume of the ink that is equivalent to the size of one elephant. Second one is two times larger, and third one is two times larger than second one and so on. It was said that, all efforts to describe the knowledge of Purva in words were in vain. It provided detailed information about six kinds of reals or substances, all kinds of living creatures,
82-400: A Jina and Arhat ( Arihant ), he was a Kevali, omniscient and comprehending all objects; he knew and saw all conditions of the world, of gods, men, and demons: whence they come, whither they go, whether they are born as men or animals or become gods or hell-beings ( upapada ), the ideas, the thoughts of their minds, the food, doings, desires, the open and secret deeds of all the living beings in
123-432: A bridge for others to follow them from saṃsāra to moksha (liberation). In Jain cosmology , the wheel of time is divided into two halves, Utsarpiṇī , the ascending time cycle, and avasarpiṇī , the descending time cycle (said to be current now). In each half of the cycle, exactly 24 tirthankaras grace this part of the universe. There have been infinitely many tirthankaras in the past. The first tirthankara in
164-440: A different part of an elephant (trunk, leg, ear, etc.). All the men claimed to understand and explain the true appearance of the elephant, but could only partly succeed, due to their limited perspectives. This principle is more formally stated by observing that objects are infinite in their qualities and modes of existence, so they cannot be completely grasped in all aspects and manifestations by finite human perception. According to
205-453: A disciple of Pārśva , and Payasi , a materialist king. In this dialogue, Kesi proves the existence of jiva and its ability to obtain kevala jñana to the king. The Jains have a long debate with Hindus and Buddhists regarding omniscience. Bhikkhu Dharmakirti criticized the Jain notion of omniscience in his Pramanavartika . The Hindu philosopher Kumarila argued that only Veda had
246-506: A reason for the existence of omniscience. This concept is a well-known fact which is "we have no valid methods of knowing to deny the existence of omniscience". Hemacandra ( c. 1088 – c. 1173 ) combined Samantabhadra and Akalanka's ideas of sarvajña in his Pramanamimasa to establish the existence of omniscience. In Jain epistemology, there are two kinds of valid methods of knowledge: pratyakṣa or "direct knowledge" and parokṣa or "indirect knowledge". Kevala-jñana
287-400: A result of this, unlimited siddhis , or spiritual powers, are readily available to them, which they use exclusively for living beings' spiritual elevation. Through darśana , divine vision, and deshna , divine speech, they help others attain kevalajñana and moksha (final liberation). The word tirthankara signifies the founder of a tirtha , a fordable passage across saṃsāra ,
328-563: Is called a kevalin ( केवलिन् ). According to the Jains, only kevalins can comprehend objects in all aspects and manifestations; others are only capable of partial knowledge. The views of two sects of Jainism, Digambara and Śvētāmbara Jains differ on the subject of kevalins . According to Digambaras, a kevalin does not experience hunger or thirst, whereas according to Svetambaras, a kevalin has normal human needs and he travels and preaches too. Digambara Jains believe that they do not act in
369-450: Is considered pratyaksa . Five ways of obtaining knowledge are defined: matijñana acquired through sensory perception; srutajñana acquired through understanding of verbal and written sentences; avadhijñana , manhaparyaya jñana and kevala jñana. Jains contrast all attempts to proclaim absolute truth with Anekantavada , which can be explained through the parable of the " blind men and an elephant ". In this story, each blind man felt
410-459: Is identifiable by the locks of hair falling on his shoulders. Sometimes Suparshvanath is shown with a small snake-hood. The symbols are marked in the centre or the corner of the statue's pedestal. The Jain sects Digambara and Śvetāmbara have different depictions of idols. Digambara images are naked without any ornamentation, whereas Śvetāmbara ones are clothed and decorated with temporary ornaments. The images are often marked with Srivatsa on
451-464: Is represented either in the lotus position ( Padmasana ) or in the meditation Khadgasana ( Kayotsarga ) posture. The latter, which is similar to the military standing at attention , is a difficult posture to hold for long and is preferred by Jains because it minimizes the amount of the body in contact with the earth, and thus the risk to sentient creatures living in or on it. If seated, they are usually depicted seated with their legs crossed in front,
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#1732781116516492-413: Is roughly translated as complete understanding or supreme wisdom. Kevala jnana is believed to be an intrinsic quality of all souls. This quality is masked by karmic particles that surround the soul. Every soul has the potential to obtain omniscience by shedding off these karmic particles. Jain scriptures speak of twelve stages through which the soul achieves this goal. A soul who has attained kevala jnana
533-453: Is said to be available to all living beings regardless of religion. Tīrthaṅkaras are arihants who, after attaining kevala jñāna (pure infinite knowledge), preach the dharma . An Arihant is also called Jina (victor), one who has conquered inner enemies such as anger, attachment, pride, and greed. They dwell exclusively within the realm of their soul and are entirely free of kashayas , inner passions, and personal desires. As
574-509: Is usual in Indian sculpture, the depiction takes relatively little interest in accurate depiction of musculature and bones but is interested in modeling outer surfaces as broad swelling forms. The ears are extremely elongated, alluding to the heavy earrings the figures wore in their early lives before they took the path to enlightenment, when most were wealthy, if not royal. Sculptures with four heads are not uncommon in early sculpture, but unlike
615-522: The dharma (righteous path). The word tirthankara signifies the founder of a tirtha , a fordable passage across saṃsāra , the sea of interminable birth and death. According to Jains, tirthankaras are the supreme preachers of dharma , who have conquered saṃsāra on their own and made a path for others to follow. After understanding the true nature of the self or soul, the Tīrthaṅkara attains kevala jnana (omniscience). A Tirthankara provides
656-462: The anuvratas {minor vows} may reach up to the 5th Gunasthana. The 6th to 14th Gunasthanas can only be attained by those who have taken the Mahavratas (major vows) of Jain ascetic . Following are the stages of spiritual development: Tirthankara In Jainism , a Tirthankara ( IAST : tīrthaṅkara ; lit. ' ford -maker ' ) is a saviour and supreme preacher of
697-406: The tirthankara preaches the path to liberation in the samavasarana . According to Jain texts, devas (heavenly beings) erect the heavenly pavilion where devas , humans, and animals assemble to hear the tirthankara . A samavasarana is a three-level structure. The lowest level, made of rajat (silver), is the parking space for vehicles. The second is the svarna (gold) level. All animals reside in
738-459: The Jains, only the Kevalis —omniscient beings—can comprehend objects in all aspects and manifestations; others are only capable of partial knowledge. Consequently, no single, specific, human view can claim to represent absolute truth . According to Jain texts, there are fourteen stages ( gunasthana ) of spiritual development. The soul can gradually free itself, firstly from the worst, then from
779-403: The Purvas was lost. Bhadrabahu Svami was the last person to have the knowledge of the entire 14 Purvas. He refused to teach the last four Purvas to his chief disciple Sthulibhadra , who had used his knowledge of the Purvas to display magical powers. Bhadrabahu, foreseeing the loss of the Purvas and a decline of morality and conduct, ultimately agreed to teach Sthulabhadra the rest of the Purvas, on
820-600: The ability to obtain kevala jnana. The claim of existence of omniscience by Jains, who deny the existence of a creator god, is a unique phenomenon. The Sutrakritanga text of the Svetambara school, elaborates the concept as all-knowing and provides details of his other qualities. Another text, the Kalpa Sūtra , gives details of Mahavira's omniscience When the Venerable Ascetic Mahavira had become
861-474: The authority to define human moral values since they were "beginningless, authorless and of self-sufficient validity". In response, the Jain monk Haribhadra ( c. 8th century CE ) wrote that humans already had knowledge of everything knowable. It only had to be illuminated or uncovered. Omniscience was, according to Haribhadra, inherent to living beings. Samantabhadra was the first philosopher-monk in
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#1732781116516902-472: The basis for the Jain canons . The inner knowledge of tirthankara is believed to be perfect and identical in every respect, and their teachings contain no contradictions. The degree of elaboration varies according to society's spiritual advancement and purity during their period of leadership. The higher the level of society's spiritual advancement and purity of mind, the lower the elaboration required. While Jains document and revere tirthankaras , their grace
943-409: The chest and Tilaka on the forehead. Srivatsa is one of the ashtamangala (auspicious symbols), which sometimes resembles fleur-de-lis , an endless knot , a flower, or a diamond-shaped symbol. The bodies of tirthankara statues are exceptionally consistent throughout over 2,000 years of the historical record. The bodies are rather slight, with very wide shoulders and a narrow waist. Even more than
984-597: The comparable Hindu images, these represent four different tirthanakaras , not four aspects of the same deity. Multiple extra arms are avoided in tirthanakara images, though their attendants or guardians may have them. The first Tirthankara , Rishabhanatha is mentioned in Hindu texts like the Rigveda , Vishnupurana , and Bhagwata Purana . The Yajurveda mentions the name of three Tīrthaṅkaras: Ṛiṣhabha, Ajitnātha and Ariṣṭanemi. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa includes legends about
1025-667: The condition that he should not hand down the last four Purvas to anybody else. Hence, Sthulabhadra, in turn, taught his disciples Mahagiri and Suhastin only ten Purvas, for he was forbidden to teach the last four Purvas to anybody. Gradually, with the growth of schisms and the inability of monks to commit the scriptures to memory, the knowledge of the Purvas and of the Dristivada became extinct. Kevala Jnana Kevala jnana ( Sanskrit : केवल ज्ञान ) or Kevala gyana, also known as Kaivalya , means omniscience in Jainism and
1066-408: The entire 14 Purvas: The Indologist Hermann Jacobi is of the opinion that there is an element of truth in the existence of Purvas or ancient knowledge; however, he held a view that Dristivada contained an abstract of the Purvas, rather than the entire text of the Purvas itself. According to him, it is no coincidence that the knowledge of Purvas started fading away simultaneously with the redaction of
1107-494: The fire on the hill is an object of inference for a distant person but is perceived directly by the one who is in its proximity. The one who perceives directly the objects of knowledge that are minute, past, and distant is the Omniscient ( sarvajña ); this way the existence of the Omniscient is truly and firmly established. Akalanka ( c. 720 –760 CE) put forward the concept of suniscita-asambhavad-badhaka-pramana as
1148-679: The first tirthankara , founded the Ikshvaku dynasty , from which 21 other tirthankaras rose over time. Two tirthankaras – Munisuvrata , the 20th, and Neminatha , the 22nd – belonged to the Harivamsa dynasty. In Jain tradition, the 20 tirthankaras attained moksha on Mount Shikharji , in the present Indian state of Jharkhand . Rishabhanatha attained nirvana on Mount Ashtāpada (Mount Kailash), Vasupujya in Champapuri , Bihar , Neminatha on Mount Girnar , Gujarat , and Mahavira,
1189-416: The history of Indian philosophy who tried to use inference as a method to establish the existence of omniscience In his famous work, Aptamimamsa , Samantabhadra asserts: Objects that are minute (like atoms), past (like Lord Rama), and distant (like Mount Meru), being the objects of inference ( anumeya – and, therefore, also objects of knowledge – prameya ), must be perceivable directly by someone; like
1230-487: The knowledge of purvas were known as Srutakevali or "scripturally omniscient persons". They were one step away from attaining enlightened or Kevala Jnana . The following persons had the knowledge of Purvas after Mahavira : These three persons also attained Kevala Jnana or enlightenment and were subsequently liberated. After Jambu Svami, the following Heads of the Jaina Order who were his successors had knowledge of
1271-537: The last tirthankara , at Pawapuri , near modern Patna . Twenty-one of the tirthankaras are said to have attained moksha in the kayotsarga (standing meditation posture), while Rishabhanatha, Neminatha, and Mahavira are said to have done so in the Padmasana ( lotus position ). In chronological order, the names, emblems and colours of the 24 tirthankaras of this age are: The next 24 tirthankaras , who will be born in utsarpinī age, are: A tīrthaṅkara
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1312-452: The less bad and finally from all kinds of karma, and manifests the innate qualities of knowledge, belief, and conduct in a more and more perfect form. The first four gunasthana are related to belief or rationality in perception. If and when the soul acquires rationality in perception, it moves on to the 4th gunasthana . Stages 5 to 14 relate to conduct. The purity in conduct determines the gunasthana from 5th stage onwards. Those who have taken
1353-456: The new canon. He is of the opinion that the Drstivada containing a disputation of the views of heretical traditions may no longer have served a purpose, once the rival traditions became extinct. On the other hand, Acarya Hemachandra's Parishishtaparva , also known as Sthaviravali (stories on the lives of elders or Jain patriarchs), contains detailed information as to how the knowledge of
1394-435: The normal sense of the word, that they sit motionless in padmasana , and that their bodies emit Divyadhvani, a sacred sound which is interpreted by their followers as the fundamental truth. According to both traditions, the last kevalin was a disciple of one of the eleven chief disciples of the last tirthankara , Mahāvīra ; his name is recorded as Jambuswami . It is also believed that no one after Jambuswami will have
1435-539: The present cycle (Hunda Avsarpini) was Rishabhanatha , who is credited with formulating and organising humans to live in a society harmoniously. The 24th and last tirthankara of the present half-cycle was Mahavira (599 BC–527 BC). History records the existence of Mahavira and his predecessor, Parshvanatha , the 23rd tirthankara . A tirthankara organises the sangha , a fourfold order of male and female monastics , srāvakas (male followers) and śrāvikā s (female followers). The tirthankara's teachings form
1476-615: The sea of interminable births and deaths. Tirthankaras are variously called "Teaching Gods", "Ford-Makers", "Crossing Makers", and "Makers of the River-Crossing. Jain texts propound that a special type of karma , the tīrthaṅkara nama-karma , raises a soul to the supreme status of a Tīrthaṅkara . The Tattvartha Sutra , a major Jain text, lists 16 observances that lead to the bandha (bondage) of this karma : Five auspicious events called Pañca kalyāṇaka mark every tirthankara 's life: After attaining kevalajñāna ,
1517-400: The svarna level, while the highest level, made of precious gems, is reserved for various important figures, such as kings and their families, the devas and the ascetics. Humans and animals hear a tirthankara 's speech in their language. It is believed that during this speech, there is no unhappiness for miles around the site. Jainism postulates that time has no beginning or end. It moves like
1558-468: The things which were to exist for eternal time, those which were to come into existence for a transient time and their time of extinction, five kinds of knowledge, truth, soul, karma, mantra, benefits of austerities, the lifestyle of ascetics and householders, birth, death and a detailed description of the whole universe. It also contained various knowledge on attainment of exceptional abilities including attainment of various magical powers. The persons having
1599-406: The toes of one foot resting upon the knee of the other leg, and the right hand lying over the left in the lap. Tirthankara images have no distinctive facial features, clothing, or (mostly) hairstyles, and are differentiated based on the symbol or emblem ( Lanchhana ) belonging to each tirthanakara except Parshvanatha . Statues of Parshvanatha have a snake crown. The first Tirthankara, Rishabha ,
1640-434: The wheel of a cart. The wheel of time is divided into two halves, Utsarpiṇī (ascending half cycle) and Avasarpiṇī (descending half cycle). 24 tirthankaras are born in each half of this cycle. In Jain tradition, the tirthankaras were royal in their final lives, and Jain texts record details of those lives. Their clan and families are also among those recorded in legendary stories. According to Jain canons, Rishabhanatha ,
1681-529: The whole world; he the Arhat (Arihant), for whom there is no secret, knew and saw all conditions of all living beings in the world.: Immediately after the death of Mahavira, his disciple Indrabhuti Gautama became a kevalin . As per the tradition, the teachings of the tirthankara were memorized and preserved over many centuries. In the second Upanga Agama , the Rājapraśnīya , there is a dialogue between Kesi,