Pārśvanātha

Pārśvanātha (Sanskrit: पार्श्वनाथः), or Pārśva and Pārasanātha, was the 23rd of 24 tīrthaṅkaras ("Ford-Maker" or supreme preacher of Dharma) of Jainism. Pārśvanātha is the earliest Jaina tīrthaṅkara who is acknowledged as probably a historical figure, with some teachings attributed to him that may be accurately recorded, and a possible historical nucleus within the legendary accounts of his life from traditional hagiographies. Historians consider that he may have lived between c. 8th to 6th century BCE, founding a proto-Jaina ascetic community which subsequently got revived and reformed by Mahāvīra (6th or 5th century BCE).

According to traditional Jaina narratives, he was born to King Aśvasena and Queen Vāmādevī of the Ikshvaku dynasty in the Indian city of Varanasi, 273 years before Mahāvīra, which places him between the 9th and 8th centuries BCE. Renouncing worldly life, he founded an ascetic community. He was the spiritual successor of the 22nd Tirthankar Neminatha. He is popularly seen as a supreme propagator and reviver of Jainism. Pārśvanātha is said to have attained moksha on Mount Sammeda (Madhuban, Jharkhand) popular as Parasnath hill in the Ganges basin, an important Jaina pilgrimage site. His iconography is notable for the serpent hood over his head, and his worship often includes Dharaṇendra and Padmāvatī (Jainism's serpent Devtā and Devī).

Texts of the two major Jaina sects differ on the teachings of Pārśvanath and Mahāvīra. The Digambaras believe that there was no difference between the teachings of Pārśvanātha and Mahāvīra. According to the Śvētāmbaras, Mahāvīra expanded Pārśvanātha's first four restraints with his ideas on ahimsa (lit. 'non-violence') and added the fifth monastic vow (celibacy). Pārśvanātha did not require celibacy and allowed monks to wear simple outer garments.

Pārśvanātha is the earliest Jaina tīrthaṅkara who is acknowledged as probably a historical figure. Historians consider that he may have lived between c. 8th to 6th century BCE, founding a proto-Jaina ascetic community which subsequently got revived and reformed by Mahāvīra (6th or 5th century BCE).

According to some scholars, Jainism's origin as a distinctive system can be traced to him, although possibly drawing upon earlier existing doctrines. According to Paul Dundas, Jaina texts such as section 31 of Isibhasiyam (a description of his teachings, which may be historical) provide circumstantial evidence that he lived in ancient India. Historians such as Hermann Jacobi have accepted him as a historical figure because his Caturyāma Dharma (Four Vows) are mentioned in Buddhist texts. In the Manorathapurani, a Buddhist commentary on the Anguttara Nikaya, Vappa, the Buddha's uncle, was a follower of Pārśvanātha.

There may be a "historical nucleus" within the traditional accounts of his life, although these hagiographic writings are otherwise considered later, legendary, and not historically reliable. The earliest biographical description of his life is from a chapter of the Kalpa Sūtra (traditionally ascribed to sage Bhadrabāhu during 4th-3rd century BCE, but most likely dating from 2nd-1st century BCE): it is "extremely short in extent and probably modelled on that of Mahāvīra", so as it is of a formulaic and hagiographic nature, "its value as a historical document is somewhat doubtful".

However, some other scholars are more skeptical in their considerations. According to Gough, "the historicity of Pārśva is not, however, firmly established". Gough additionally notes that the stories about Pārśva are rather reflective of the much later historical context when they were written: according to Gough, "since early Jaina biographical accounts of the tīrthaṅkaras were composed in north India around the turn of the first millennium", "there is no evidence that he lived in Varanasi", which more likely reflects the city's status as "an important commercial center of north India in the early centuries of the Common Era", i.e., "the time periods when monks composed and developed these stories."

Doubts about Pārśvanātha's historicity are also supported by the oldest Jaina texts, which present Mahāvīra with sporadic mentions of ancient ascetics and teachers without specific names (such as sections 1.4.1 and 1.6.3 of the Acaranga Sutra). The earliest layer of Jaina literature on cosmology and universal history pivots around two jinas: the Adinatha (Rishabhanatha) and Mahāvīra. Stories of Pārśvanātha and Neminatha appear in later Jaina texts, with the Kalpa Sūtra the first known text. However, these texts present the tīrthaṅkaras with unusual, non-human physical dimensions; the characters lack individuality or depth, and the brief descriptions of the tīrthaṅkaras are largely modelled on Mahāvīra. The Kalpa Sūtra is the most ancient known Jaina text with the 24 tirthankar, but it lists 20; three, including Pārśvanātha, have brief descriptions compared with Mahāvīra.