Jina – conqueror or (in Jainism) a great teacher who has attained liberation from karma.
The Jina, prophet of the Jains was a real historical personage, who lived in the sixth century B.C., a contemporary of Gautama, the Buddha. Vardhamana, as he was commonly called, is said to have been the younger son of a small chieftain in the province of Videha or Tirhut. Like Sakya- Muni the Buddha or enlightened, Vardhamana became an ascetic, and after twelve years of a wandering life he appeared as a prophet, proclaiming a modification of the doctrine of his own teacher Parsva or Parasnath. From this time he was known as Mahavira, the great hero, the same name which in its famiHar form of Mahablr is applied to the god Hanuman.
Seated Tīrthaṁkara or Jina carved in a black basalt and burnished; with hands folded in mediation (dhyānamudrā); on a circular moulded base; nose chipped. – 12th Century
Jina prophet of the Jains statue from the British Museum
