dena, which publishes a bimonthly magazine and Theosoph-
ical classics, including the works of Katherine Tingley.
SEE ALSO Blavatsky, H. P.; Judge, William Q; Point Loma
Theosophical Community; Theosophical Society.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ashcraft, W. Michael. The Dawn of the New Cycle: Point Loma
Theosophists and American Culture. Knoxville, Tenn., 2002.
Kirkley, Evelyn. “Equality of the Sexes, But.. .: Women in Point
Loma Theosophy, 1899–1942.” Nova Religio 1, no. 2
(1998): 272–288.
Tingley, Katherine. The Gods Await. Point Loma, Calif., 1926;
rev. ed., Pasadena, Calif., 1992.
Tingley, Katherine. The Voice of the Soul. Point Loma, Calif.,
1928.
W. MICHAEL ASHCRAFT (2005)
T ̄IRTHAM:KARAS. According to the Jains, one of the
oldest religious communities in India, the T ̄ırtham:karas
(called titthagaras in the Jain canon) are the prophets who
periodically teach the world the truth of the imperishable
Jain tradition; the term is almost equivalent to jina (“victor”)
or arhant (“saint”). The term t ̄ırtha(m:)-kara refers literally
to one who “builds the ford” that leads across the ocean of
rebirths and suffering, and thus builds or renews the Jain
fourfold community of monks and nuns, laymen and lay-
women.
Twenty-four T ̄ırtham:karas are said to appear at given
periods in selected regions. As they are capable of ultimate
spiritual perfection they are thus regarded as having more
than a human status. Together with the cakravartins (univer-
sal sovereigns) and other such heroes, they form the class of
the venerated sixty-three personages of the Jain “universal
history.” They are called maha ̄purus:as (“great men”) by the
Digambaras and ́sala ̄ka ̄purus:as (“men with the staff”) by the
S ́veta ̄mbaras.
MEMBERS OF THE LINEAGE. T ̄ırtham:karas are born only in
the “middle world” (Madhyade ́sa), and there only in the very
few karmabhu ̄mis (regions where one reaps the fruit of one’s
actions) of the central continent (Jambu ̄ dv ̄ıpa): in the south-
ern land of Bha ̄rata (i.e., India), in the northern land of
Aira ̄vata, and in half of the central land of Videha. Except
in Videha, where conditions differ, they are said to live exclu-
sively during the third and fourth of the six stages of the
avasarpin: ̄ıs and utsarpin: ̄ıs, that is, the descending and as-
cending halves of the endless temporal cycle, thus at times
of mixed happiness and misery.
In Bha ̄rata, the teacher of the present era is Vardhama ̄na
Maha ̄v ̄ıra, the twenty-fourth and last of the series of
T ̄ırtham:karas in our avasarpin: ̄ı half cycle. According to tra-
dition, he was born seventy-five years and eight and one-half
months before the end of the fourth period, in which he lived
for seventy-two years. Three years after his nirva ̄n:a, allegedly
in 523 BCE, the present period began, characterized by
misery.
The first T ̄ırtham:kara was R:s:abha, who is said to have
been born toward the end of the third period and to have
died three and one-half years before its completion. His life
span extended over millions of so-called Pu ̄ rva years. In the
fourth period, after R:s:abha and before Maha ̄v ̄ıra, the law
was preached by twenty-two T ̄ırtham:karas: Ajita, Sambhava,
Abhinandana, Sumati, Padmaprabha, Supa ̄r ́sva, Candra-
prabha, Suvidhi (Pus:padanta), S ́ ̄ıtala, S ́reya ̄m:sa, Va ̄supu ̄ jya,
Vimala, Ananta, Dharma, S ́a ̄nti, Kunthu, Ara, Malli, Muni-
suvrata, Nami, (Aris:t:a)nemi, and Pa ̄r ́sva.
Tradition also gives the lists of their contemporaries in
Aira ̄vata, as well as of past and future T ̄ırtham:karas of
Bha ̄rata. In Videha, the prevailing conditions of happiness
mixed with misery are always akin to those of this, the third
period in an avasarpin: ̄ı half cycle, so that a T ̄ırtham:kara can
be preaching there at any time.
THE CAREER OF A T ̄IRTHAM:KARA. No soul will become the
soul of a T ̄ırtham:kara unless it has gone through a consider-
able number of rebirths and has finally practiced exceptional
virtues resulting in a special karman. The soul is urged by
gods to “fall” from its divine mansion and be reborn to prac-
tise and propagate the true law. T ̄ırtham:karas are usually
considered to become incarnate only through male figures;
the S ́veta ̄mbaras nevertheless consider the nineteenth, Malli,
to be a female, although the Digambaras deny this point.
The career of a T ̄ırtham:kara conforms to a well-
structured pattern, and traditional descriptions of the
T ̄ırtham:karas provide very few or no distinctive individual
characteristics. The biography of a T ̄ırtham:kara is stereo-
typed, listing in an almost formulaic sequence the following
information: (1) some details of his former existence, (2) the
five kalya ̄n:as, or religiously significant moments of his life
(i.e., conception, birth, renunciation, attainment of omni-
science, nirva ̄n:a), (3) the names of his parents, (4) the num-
ber of his followers, (5) the duration of his life, (6) the color
of his body (most are golden, but the twentieth and twenty-
second are black, the eighth and ninth are white, the sixth
and twelfth are red, the twenty-third and another [the nine-
teenth, according to the S ́veta ̄mbaras, the seventh, according
to the Digambaras] are blue-green), (7) his height, (8) his
guardian divinities, and (9) the length of time elapsed since
his predecessor’s nirva ̄n:a. All are born to princely families,
and, with two exceptions, are related to the Iks:va ̄ku dynasty.
The conception of a T ̄ırtham:kara is announced to his moth-
er by a standardized succession of auspicious dreams (four-
teen according to the S ́veta ̄mbaras, sixteen according to the
Digambaras).
ICONOGRAPHY. Like their biographies, the images of the
T ̄ırtham:karas are all fundamentally similar. The figures are
represented in meditation, either seated cross-legged or
standing in a ka ̄yotsarga pose (representing a particular type
of Jain austerity), with arms stretched slightly apart from the
body. Although the canon for the T ̄ırtham:kara images ap-T ̄IRTHAM:KARAS 9207