Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s7.t8.3

v1.c7.s7.t8.3

Certain Jain theories can be traced back to Upanishadic era or even earlier. Most Jainists tend to hold that Jainism has multiple founding masters or siddhas, who laid down the most basic seminal theories of the religion. According to relevant records, there were 24 “Tīrthaṅkaras” in Jainism, including Rṣabhadeva (1^st Jain Tīrthaṅkara), Ajitanātha (2^nd Jain Tīrthaṅkara), Pārśvanāth (23^rd Jain Tīrthaṅkara) and Nirgrantha-jñātaputra (24^th Jain Tīrthaṅkara). In fact, most “Tīrthaṅkaras” are just fictional characters, with only the 23^rd and 24^th ones being actual historical figures.