f the doctrine, he is the
Tirthakara "the finder of the ford", through the ocean of the
_Sa[.m]sara_. In these epithets, applied to the founder of their
doctrine, the Jainas agree almost entirely with the Buddhists, as the
likeness of his character to that of Buddha would lead us to expect. They
prefer, however, to use the names Jina and Arhat, while the Buddhists
prefer to speak of Buddha as Tathagata or Sugata. The title Tirthakara is
peculiar to the Jainas. Among the Buddhists it is a designation for false
teachers. [Footnote: The titles Siddha, Buddha and Mukta are certainly
borrowed by both sects from the terminology of the Brahma[n.]s, which they
used, even in olden times, to describe those saved during their lifetimes
and used in the ['S]aivite doctrine to describe a consecrated one who is
on the way to redemption. An Arhat, among the Brahma[n.]s, is a man
distinguished for his knowledge and pious life (comp. for example
Apastamba, _Dharmasutra._ I, 13, 13; II, 10, I.) and this idea is so
near that of the Buddhists and the Jainas that it may well be looked upon
as the foundation of the latter. The meaning of Tirthakara "prophet,
founder of religion", is derived from the Brahmanic use of _tirtha_
in the sense of "doctrine". Comp. also H. Jacobi's Article on the Title of
Buddha and Jina, _Sac. Books of the East_. Vol. XXII, pp. xix, xx.]

The Jaina says further, however, that there was more than one Jina. Four
and twenty have, at long intervals, appeared and have again and again
restored to their original purity the doctrines darkened by evil
influences. They all spring from noble, warlike tribes. Only in such, not
among the low Brahma[n.]s, can a Jina see the light of the world. The
first Jina [R.][.)i]shabha,--more than 100 billion oceans of years
ago,--periods of unimaginable length, [Footnote: A Sagara or Sagaropama of
years is == 100,000,000,000,000 Palya or Palyopama. A Palya is a period in
which a well, of one or, according to some, a hundred _yojana_, i.e.
of one or a hundred geographical square miles, stuffed full of fine hairs,
can be emptied, if one hair is pulled out every hundred years: Wilson,
_Select. Works_, Vol. I, p. 309; Colebrooke, _Essays_, Vol. II,
p. 194. ed. Cowell.]--was born as the son of a king of Ayodhya and lived
eight million four hundred thousand years. The intervals between his
successors and the durations of their lives became shorter and shorter.
Between the twenty third, Par['s]va