![]() Early Life of Lord Parshvanatha After a carefree youth spent in the royal grand palace of his father, he was touched at the age of 30 by the unsteadiness of all that was worldly. Thus, he renounced the world and became an ascetic. He practiced austerities for eighty three days and on the eighty fourth day he obtained omniscience. He obtained the redeeming knowledge in a short time and dedicated himself immediately to the propagation of the truth found by him. When he had attained the age of 100, he climbed the Sameta Sikhara in Bihar (which is now called Parasnath hills after him), where he went into Nirvana after refusing to take any food or water for a month. Tenets of Lord Parshvanatha ![]() Iconography of Lord Parshvanatha Lord Parshvanath is always symbolized with the hood of a snake shading his head. The Yaksha Dharanendra and the Yakshi Padmavati are often shown adjoining him. There was a popular story representing this. Parshvanatha is symbolized in 'Padmasana' (lotus) posture in Jain canonical literature. He is represented in 'padmasana' posture with both palms and feet, with auspicious lotus marks on them, placed upward. He is portrayed as having blue-black complexion, which is the colour of the cosmos. The seven-hooded serpent Shesha with an umbrella-like unfurling its hoods over the deity, represented elements of the earth and the ocean and has hence a similar body colour. Parshvanatha is depicted as wearing a gem studded crown and other ornaments. He has a golden throne as a seat and a rich covering above. According to the Kalpasutra, Parshvanatha had won over thousands for his doctrine. 1,64,000 men and 3,27,000 women joined him as lay disciples by acknowledging that his principles were true, and followed these as far as it was possible for the people leading a mundane life. But 16,000 men and 38,000 women tried to practise his ascetic ethics with all its consequences and formed the monk- and the nun-orders (Last Updated on : 27-06-2012) |
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