Tirthankara called so in Jainism?

Let me try and explain this, with the help of a visual demo.

Notice the Afghan soldier, walking through the shallow waters, trying to cross the Kabul river?

A specific part of a larger water body, which is shallow enough to allow people to walk-across, in Sanskrit, is called a ‘Tirtha’.

That’s why, in earlier days, the places where one could cross a river or lake by foot, were called a Tirtha.

Now hold on to this thought for a moment and read on.

All ancient Indian beliefs concur that life is an unending cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

The followers of Jainism take this belief further and reckon that human life is tethered to a continuous cycle of rebirths and reincarnations — bonded to crisscross the endless ocean of suffering, known as the Samsara.

According to the Jain belief, there have been a select few, who did manage to decode and hack this painful and complex system of crisscrossing the Samsara and gained eternal freedom, which is known as the Nirvana.

Simply stating, these enlightened beings, thanks to their sheer perseverance and intellect, basically found a Tirtha, or a shallow part of the otherwise deep and limitless Samsara, to cross-over to the other side.

So, these founders of Tirtha across the Samsara — came to be known as Tirthankaras.

According to Jain scriptures, there have been 24 such Tirthankaras in the current age — the first one is known as Rishabhnatha ji and the 24th and the final is known as Mahaveera ji.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for reading.

Credits: Naman