Pushpadanta

Pushpadanta, also known as Suvidhinath, was the ninth Jain Tirthankar of the present age (Avasarpini). According to Jain beliefs, he became a siddha, a liberated soul which has destroyed all of its karma.

Pushpadanta was born to King Sugreev Raja and Queen Rama Rani at Kakandi in the Ikshvaku clan. His birth date was the fifth day of the Margshrsha Krishna month of the Hindu calendar.In the tradition started by Bhagavan Rishabhdev the ninth Tirthankar re-established the four pronged religious ford was Bhagavan Suvidhinath During his earlier incarnation as emperor Mahapadma of Pushkalvati Vijay purified his soul to he extant of earning Tirthankar-nam-and-gotra-karma. He took birth in the Vijayant dimension of gods and from there he descended into the womb of queen Rama Devi, wife of king Sugriva of Kakandi town.

During the period of pregnancy queen Rama developed a strange capacity to develop processes for doing even the most difficult of tasks. Everyone got astonished at her skill. When the child was born the king accordingly named him as Suvidhi (correct procedure). During the teething period of the child the mother got a craving for playing with flowers. As such, he was also popularly known as Pushpadant (flower-tooth).

Suvidhinath had a normal princely life, but with detachment. He became an ascetic at an early age and attained omniscience only after four months rigorous spiritual practices. He got Nirvana at Sammetshikhar on the ninth day of the dark half of the month of Kartik.

Extinction of the Religious Ford

The tradition of the four pronged religious ford started by Bhagavan Rishabhdev gradually became extinct after the Nirvana of Bhagavan Suvidhinath. After his death, first the ascetic organization disintegrated and a time came when there was no ascetic left. The religious discourses two were given by common citizens or Shravaks. Slowly the influence of wealth became overpowering and people started forgetting the principals of five vows including Ahimsa and truthfulness. The discipline of spiritual principles gave way to ritualistic exchanges of wealth and total indiscipline.