Lord Ram and Jain Tirthankaras Relation, it contains information about the 24 Jain Tirthankaras of Ikshvaku dynasty and Shri Ram of Ayodhya.
Lord Ram was born on the Navami of Shukla Paksha of Chaitra month, while the 24th and last Tirthankara of Jainism, Mahavir Swami, was born on the Trayodashi of Shukla Paksha of Chaitra month. There is a difference of thousands of years between the birth of these two, but still there is a wonderful connection between the two.
The Tirthankara tradition in Jainism started with the first Tirthankara Lord Adinath i.e. Rishabhdev, who was the son of King Nabhi of Ayodhya. Apart from him, four more Tirthankaras like Ajitnath (second), Abhinandannath (fourth), Sumatinath (fifth) and Anantnath (fourteenth) were born in Ayodhya.
So, we can say that Ayodhya has a lot of religious significance in Hindu and Jain religions. Lord Adinath was born on the Navami of Krishna Paksha of Chaitra month.
He founded the Ikshvaku dynasty in which all the Jain Tirthankaras were born and after several generations, Lord Shri Ram was also born in this dynasty. In this way, the roots of Lord Shri Ram and the Tirthankaras of Jainism have come from the same tree.
The name of the Ikshvaku dynasty comes from Ikshu i.e. sugarcane because the residents of Ayodhya, settled on the banks of the Saryu River, knew how to cultivate sugarcane and extract its juice, perhaps for this reason Lord Rishabhdev broke his 400-day fast with sugarcane on the day of Akshaya Tritiya.
It is also mentioned in Valmiki Ramayana that when the army of Lord Ram's younger brother Bharat went to Maharishi Bhardwaj's ashram, their horses were fed sugarcane. The kings of the Ikshvaku clan are also called Suryavanshi.
Author
Ramesh Sharma {M Pharm, MSc (Computer Science), PGDCA, MA (History), CHMS}
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