Tirthankaras

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who has achieved enlightenment and helps guide others on the path to spiritual liberation in Jainism
2. An individual revered in Jain belief as one of the omniscient beings who has found the ultimate truth and teaches it to others
3. A spiritual teacher in Jain tradition who has overcome all karmic bonds and shows the way to liberation from the cycle of rebirth

Etymology: "Tirthankaras" is the plural of "tirthankara," a term from Jainism for a person who has reached enlightenment and shows others the way to spiritual liberation. The singular form is borrowed from Sanskrit, the classical language of much of South Asian religious and philosophical writing, and it appears in Jain texts in the Sanskrit and Prakrit languages. Literally, the Sanskrit elements suggest a "ford-maker," since "tirtha" means a crossing place or ford, a sense connected to the idea of passing across a river, and "kara" means one who makes or does. The image is of someone who builds a crossing that lets others get from the troubled shore of worldly life to the far bank of liberation. Jain tradition holds that there are twenty-four such figures in each age of the cosmic cycle.

Synonyms: spiritual teachers, Jain prophets, saviors, enlightened beings, Jain Tirthankaras