Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.418

v3.c43.t1.418

Fortunately, I had my Jain Guru with me, who gave me more correct notions of these groups than the local cicerone. All these figures are representations of the [724] deified pontiffs of the Jains,³ and the group of five are the most celebrated of the twenty-four, and distinctively called the Panch-Tirathi, namely, Rishabhadeva, the first; Santinath, the sixteenth; Neminath, the twenty-second; Parsvanath, the twenty-third; and Mahavira, the twenty-fourth. Each has his sacred mount, or place of pilgrimage (*tirath*), and each is recognized by his symbol, namely, the bull, black antelope, conch-shell, hooded serpent, and tiger; and it is quite sufficient to find one of these symbols upon the plinth to ascertain the particular pontiff to which it belongs. There was also, in a sitting posture, Chandraprabha, known by his sign, the crescent.⁴ All the figures are from ten to eleven feet high. That in a recumbent position, my friend said was one of the pontiffs, about to "shuffle off this mortal coil," preparatory to apotheosis. "When such an event took place, the throne of Indra shook, and he sent a deputation to convey the deceased through the Kshira Samudra (sea of curds), to the great temple of deification, whither the whole heavenly host advanced to conduct him."