Article: Jain Universal History

14 magical jewels
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The Cakravartin is a ‘universal emperor’, who rules over large parts of the world, typically the six parts of Bhārata-varṣa. In Jain cosmology this is the entire civilised world. They live at different times in every half-cycle of time and their early lives share similarities with those of the Jinas. Cakravartins have various supernatural possessions or associates and have a variety of destinies.

The 12 Cakravartins of the present time period are:

1. Bharata
2. Sagara
3. Maghavan
4. Sanatkumāra
5. Śānti
6. Kunthu
7. Ara
8. Subhūma or Subhauma
9. Mahāpadma or Padma
10. Hariṣeṇa
11. Jayasena
12. Brahmadatta.

Three of these men become Cakravartins – ‘universal emperors’ – before they become Jinas. These are the:

• 16th Jina, Śāntinātha or Lord Śānti
• 17th Jina, Kunthunātha or Lord Kunthu
• 18th Jina, Aranātha or Lord Ara.

In previous existences the Cakravartins gathered a large amount of religious merit, and cultivated a nidāna – an intense desire to become a cakravartin, which is held on to in various incarnations of the soul. Their early lives proceed in a similar way to that of the Jinas, in that they are all born into royal families and their destiny is prophesied by a number of dreams of their pregnant mothers. They grow up to become powerful rulers, subjugating surrounding kingdoms – digvijaya. Eventually, the magic discus – cakra – Sudarśana appears in their armouries and they are then anointed cakravartin, which literally means ‘he who revolves the discus’. They marry many wives and have many sons.

Cakravartins possess:

• 14 ratnas – ‘jewels’ – which are supernatural beings assisting them in their conquest
• 9 nidhis – ‘treasures’ – which contain objects or sciences to facilitate their destiny.

At the end of their lives, some Cakravartins renounce the world and attain omniscience and final liberation. Others become a god in one of the heavens, while still others are reborn in one of the hells.

Nemi and Kr̥ṣṇa
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A Baladeva, Vāsudeva and Prati-vāsudeva always live simultaneously. There are nine sets of them in every half-cycle of time. Bound in a triangle of enmity over many births, these men are popular mythical characters and feature in some of the best-known texts of the Jain Purāṇas. They have close affinities with some figures in Hinduism.

The Baladevas are righteous Jains, who go to heaven or attain liberation at the end of their lives. The Vāsudevas are their younger half-brothers. They kill their arch-enemies, the Prati-vāsudevas, which literally means the ‘anti-Vāsudevas’.

The hostility between the Vāsudeva and Prati-vāsudeva is explained through their encounters in many previous existences. In their lives as mahā-puruṣas the magic discus – cakra – Sudarśana first appears in the armoury of the Prati-vāsudeva, as with the Cakravartin. During the ultimate battle with the Vāsudeva, the Prati-vāsudeva hurls the discus at him. Instead of killing the Vāsudeva, the discus flies into the hands of the Vāsudeva, who throws it at the Prati-vāsudeva and kills him. The Vāsudeva is then hailed as an ardha-cakravartin – ‘half universal emperor’ – and reigns over half of Bhārata-varṣa.

The Jain categories of Baladevas and Vāsudevas, by their very names, are clearly based on the characters who are better known from the Hindu traditions as avatāra – avatars – of the deity Viṣṇu. These are:

• Balarāma, also known as Baladeva
• Kṛṣṇa, also called Vāsudeva, the son of Vasudeva.

The Jains consider these two brothers, Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa, to be the ninth and final Baladeva and Vāsudeva of this time period. They are both popular characters in Jain and Hindu myth. Their enemy, the Prati-vāsudeva, was Jarāsandha, whom Kṛṣṇa eventually vanquishes. The eight preceding Baladevas, Vāsudevas and Prati-vāsudevas are variously named in different sources, shown in this table.

Many of these also resemble the names of characters from myths associated with the Hindu deity Viṣṇu or one of his avatars, particularly Kṛṣṇa. The Jain Vāsudevas are modelled after the popular description of Kṛṣṇa. With a black-blue complexion, he wears yellow robes and is for ever young and without any facial hair. In addition, in Jain texts he is referred to by popular epithets from the Vaiṣṇava tradition, such as Viṣṇu, Janārdana, Govinda, Nārāyaṇa, Keśava and Mādhava.

Figure of Bāhubali
Image by Vikas m © public domain

Other, more extensive lists of Jain 'great men' include further categories of śalākā-puruṣas.

Among these are the 9 Nāradas, named after the divine intriguing musician Nārada, who is well known from the Hindu epics and Purāṇas. The Jain nāradas, who live in succession, are malicious troublemakers who go to hell for their machinations.

The 11 Rudras – ‘dreadful ones’ – are ascetics, living successively, in the monastic order of one of the Jinas. They eventually abandon the path of asceticism and therefore also go to hell.

The Kulakaras – ‘patriarchs’ – vary in number from 7 to 14 or 16. They are born consecutively in the suṣamā-duṣamā period, when people become frightened by the changing conditions in their surroundings. The Kulakaras teach them how to adjust to these conditions and thus provide them with a sense of security. The last of the Kulakaras of this time period was Nābhi, the father of the first Jina, Ṛṣabhanātha or Lord Ṛṣabha.

A popular secondary category of śalākā-puruṣas are the 24 Kāma-devas – ‘love-gods’. Like the pan-Indian god of love, Kāma, they are very handsome and have many wives. The most famous among them is one of the sons of the first Jina, named Bāhubali. Other Kāma-devas are Kṛṣṇa’s father Vasudeva and his son Pradyumna, and characters better known from the Sanskrit epics, such as Hanumān and King Nala, the beloved of Damayantī.

Mahāvīra and his mother Triśalā
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According to tradition, the subject matter of Jain Universal History was narrated in the Pūrvas, a part of the Jain canon which has been lost since the fourth century BCE. Other parts of the Śvetāmbara canon, which is not accepted by the Digambaras in its entirety, contain some information about the lives of the śalākā-puruṣas, especially some Jinas.

The literary genre associated exclusively with Jain Universal History is that of the Jain Purāṇa. This forms a ‘counter tradition’ to the rising popularity of Hindu Puranic religion. Śvetāmbaras often call these compositions caritra – ‘deeds’. The oldest available purāṇa or caritra is the Paümacariya by Vimala-sūri, written in Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit. It focuses on the lives of the eighth:

• Baladeva – Rāma
• Vāsudeva – Lakṣmaṇa
• Prati-vāsudeva – Rāvaṇa.

In effect, it is a Jain version of the popular Rāmāyaṇa tale. Aside from the story of the Rāmāyaṇa, the Paümacariya also includes the biographies of the first two Jinas, and the first, second and ninth Cakravartins.

The most popular characters from Jain Universal History, as far as literary adaptations are concerned, appear to be those included in compositions generally called Nemi-caritras or Harivaṃśa-purāṇas. These all focus on the lives of the ninth Baladeva, Vāsudeva and Prati-vāsudeva, who are called Balarāma, Kṛṣṇa and Jarāsandha. They also deal with the life of the 22nd Jina, Neminātha or Lord Nemi, who is Kṛṣṇa’s young cousin.

The first complete literary composition of Jain Universal History, often referred to as a mahā-purāṇa – ‘great purāṇa’ – was composed by Śīlāṅka in 868 to 869. This is his Caüppaṇṇa-mahāpurisa-cariya – Deeds of the 54 Great Men. Śīlāṅka does not count the nine Prati-vāsudevas among the śalākā-puruṣas, hence the lower number of 54 instead of 63. Historically, more influential is the Mahā-purāṇa by Jinasena and Guṇabhadra written in the ninth century and the Tri-ṣaṣṭi-śalākā-puruṣa-caritra by Hemacandra, dating from the 12th century.

Finally, one of the books in the Śvetāmbara canon, the Kalpa-sūtra, provides the earliest life stories of the most prominent Jinas, namely:

• Mahāvīra
• Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva
• Nemi
• Ṛṣabhanātha or Lord Ṛṣabha.