TIRTHANKAR

Many historians believe that Jainism and other hermit schools were simply a reaction to Vedic ritualism. But for most Jains their religion has no origin: it has always been around.Jainism was rediscovered by Rishabh-dev the first Tirthankar of this era.Rishabh's eldest son Bharat became Chakravarti king of kings and gave the country its name.Bahubali Bharat's younger brother renounced violence and followed the Jain path of freedom.Rishabh was followed by twenty-three other Tirthankars. The last of them was Mahavir who lived around 2500 years ago.In Bahubali Devdutt Pattanaik explores the stories symbols rituals and ideas associated with one of India's most ancient but lesser-known faiths and shows us why the tenets of Jainism are still very relevant to all of us even today.