In Jainism, those who have conquered their passions are called Jins. Those Jins who have founded religious orders are called Tirthankaras. The concept of Tirthankara is, in some ways, the opposite of the concept of avatar in Hinduism. An avatar comes from the other world to this world, whereas a Tirthankara goes from this world to the other.
Jains represent the passage of time as a continual series of upward and downward motions of a wheel. The era during the upward motion is called utsarpini and that during the downward motion is called avasarpini. Each era consists of six spokes or ages. The first three spokes of an avasarpini represent the golden age, after which a gradual degeneration starts. In the sixth and final spoke, Jainism dies out. This starts the upward motion in which the six spokes occur in reverse order. During each motion of the wheel, 24 Tirthankaras appear.
The life stories of the Tirthankaras follow a common pattern. They are always born as kshatriya (warrior class). When grown up, they are awakened by gods and renounce the world. After following great austerities as wandering ascetics, they attain enlightenment. They preach for the rest of their life and later die in meditation. They are freed from the cycle of rebirth and attain moksha (liberation), in which their
soul moves to the top of the universe and resides there in a state of eternal bliss. The Tirthankaras differ from each other in their physical characteristics and life spans. Tirthankaras near the beginning of an avasarpini have a massive size and extremely long life span,while those towards the end are nearer to humans in both size and life span.
The first Tirthankara, Rishabhdeva, was born near the third spoke of the current avasarpini. Up to that point, there was no need for Tirthankaras as everybody was following good conduct naturally. Rishabhdeva started the practice of dana (giving), where a householder gave alms to an ascetic. There are mythological stories about the first 22 Tirthankaras, but there is no historic information about them.
The 23rd Tirthankara, Parsvanath, was born in Banaras as the son of King Ashvasena. He renounced the world and became an ascetic at the age of 30. After meditating for 84 days, he achieved enlightenment and spent the rest of his life preaching. When he was 100 years old, he climbed a hill which is now called Parasnath Hill and achieved moksha by refusing to take any food or water for a month.The 24th Tirthankara, Mahavira, was born as Rishabhdeva’s grandson Marichi. He then had a succession of rebirths, completing his penultimate birth as one of the gods in heaven (who cannot attain enlightenment) before being born as a Tirthankara.