India GOMallinatha: the Tirthankara the two Jain traditions disagree on
मल्लिनाथ
The nineteenth teacher (a woman, Malli, for the Shvetambaras, a man for the Digambaras): the one tirthankara the two branches dispute.
Mallinatha is the nineteenth of the twenty-four Tirthankaras, the Jain teachers who “make the ford” across the cycle of rebirth. For the Shvetambara Jains she was a woman, Princess Malli of Mithila; for the Digambaras, a man. No other Tirthankara divides the two traditions this way, and the question behind it, whether a woman can reach liberation, is one of the most basic divisions between them.
Story
The Shvetambara scripture tells that Princess Malli of Mithila was so beautiful that six kings laid siege to her father's city for her hand; she had a golden statue of herself made, hollow, fed it a little rice each day, then opened it before the kings. The stench cured them of desire, and all six followed her into renunciation. For the Digambaras the same teacher was a prince, since in their doctrine a woman must be reborn as a man to be liberated. Either way the image on the pedestal is the same, and only the water-pot beneath it tells you who it is.
Places linked to them
Chaturmukha Basadi, Karkala · UdupiWho Mallinatha was, by tradition
Mallinatha belongs to sacred history rather than to dated history. Jain tradition makes her the child of King Kumbha and Queen Prajnavati of Mithila, of the Ikshvaku line, gives her a lifespan of 56,000 years, most of it spent in omniscience, and places her liberation on Shikharji, the sacred hill in today's Jharkhand where twenty of the twenty-four Tirthankaras are said to have reached nirvana. Her colour in images is blue, and her emblem is the kalasha, the water pot.
Why the traditions disagree
Shvetambara texts explain her birth as a woman by a previous life. As King Mahabala, she had taken vows with friends, and secretly fasted more than they did, wanting to outdo them. That small deceit, the story says, brought rebirth as a woman, yet the merit of the austerities still made her a Tirthankara. Shvetambaras use the story as proof that a woman can reach the highest goal; the golden-statue episode told above, in which Malli turns the six kings away from desire, comes from the same tradition.
The Digambaras, who hold that complete renunciation includes giving up clothing and that a woman cannot do so, teach that a woman must first be reborn as a man to be liberated. So for them Mallinatha was a prince. In temples the difference is mostly invisible: Tirthankara images are idealised and alike, and the water pot on the pedestal is what tells you whose image it is.
Where to see Mallinatha: Karkala
The Chaturmukha Basadi at Karkala, in Udupi district of coastal Karnataka, is a granite temple with four identical doorways, one to each direction. Behind each stand life-size images of three Tirthankaras: Aranatha, Mallinatha and Munisuvrata. It was built in 1586 by Immadi Bhairarasa Vodeya of the Karkala chiefs, who named it the Tribhuvanatilaka Jina Chaityalaya, the ornament of the three worlds. It stands about a kilometre from the hill with the great monolith of Bahubali, and the two are usually seen in one morning. Entry is free; take off your footwear.
Mallinatha is also honoured elsewhere in India, among other places at Mannargudi in Tamil Nadu, and appears in every set of the twenty-four, with Parshvanatha and Mahavira after her.
❓ FAQ
Who is Mallinath in Jainism?
The nineteenth Tirthankara of the present age, born by tradition in Mithila. Shvetambaras revere her as a woman, Malli; Digambaras as a man.
Who is the only female Tirthankara?
Mallinatha, in the Shvetambara tradition. The Digambaras do not accept that any Tirthankara was a woman.
What is the symbol of Mallinatha?
The kalasha, a water pot, carved on the pedestal of the image. Her colour is blue.
Where did Mallinatha attain nirvana?
By tradition on Shikharji (Sammed Shikhar) in Jharkhand, the hill where most of the Tirthankaras are said to have been liberated.