Who are 24 Tirthankars?

 

Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of 24 tirthankars. They are the supreme preachers of Jain dharma or religion. Jain tirthankars appeared in the northern region of India during different time and taught religion to the countrymen for their well-being. All tirthankars teach same philosophy and ethics without contradiction. In chronological order, names, signs (identification mark) and the name of the tree under which they got keval jnan or omniscience  are given below for 24 tirthankars.     

Serial     Name                            Emblem         Chaitya Tree      

1^st           Rishavnath                   bull                 vata                     

2^nd          Ajitanath                      elephant          shala

3^rd          Sambhavanath            horse                 prayala

4^th          Abhinandan                 monkey            priyangu

5^th          Sumatinath                  goos                 shala

6^th          Padmaprabha              lotus                 chhatra

7^th         Suparsvanath              swastika               shirisa

8^th         Chandraprabha           moon                  naga

9^th          Puspadanta                crocodile             shala

10^th        Sheetalanath              srivatsa               priyangu

11^th        Sreyanshnath             rhino                     tanduka

12^th        Vasupujya                  buffalo                 patala

13^th        Vimalnath                   boar                     jambu

14^th        Anantanath                 hawk                    ashok

15^th        Dharmanath                thunder                dadhiparna

16^th        Shantinath                   deer                      nandi

17^th        Kunthunath                 goat                       vata

18^th        Aranath                        fish                       amba

19^th        Mallinath                     pitcher                  asoka

20^th        Munisuvrata                tortoise                  champaka

21th        Naminath                     blue water lily       bakula

22^nd        Arishtanemi                 shankha                  vetasa

23^rd        Parsvanath                    snake                     dhataki

24^th        Mahavir                         lion                         teka

All the tirthankars were khsatriya princes, many of them were king, some of them even promoted to be chakravartis before they became monks. After being initiated to monkhood, all of them spent some time, from a few weeks to several years as monks, wandering bare footed and visiting neighboring places to gather knowledge from the surroundings. During this period, they led an austere life. They came back to the place from where they started, meditated and attained omniscience or keval jnan. The last days of their lives were spent in Sammed Sikhar (Parsvanath Hills in Jharkhand) where they ended their mortal lives through fasting and attained nirvana. This happened in cases of 20 tirthankars. Only four tirthankars attained nirvana elsewhere. They are: Rishavdev at Mt. Kailash, Vasupujyaswami at Champapuri, Neminath or Aristanemi at Girnar and Mahavir at Pavapuri.