Which Tirthankara's symbol is a swastika?

The story behind the answer

Suparshvanatha’s symbol is the swastika, an emblem used to identify the seventh Tirthankara of Jainism.

Suparshvanatha was born in Varanasi to King Pratishtha and Queen Prithvi, according to Jain tradition. He is associated with the Ikshvaku dynasty and is said to have attained liberation at Shikharji. Jain iconography places his emblem beneath the image, allowing worshippers to distinguish his statue from those of other Tirthankaras.

The swastika has an important Jain meaning that predates and differs entirely from its 20th-century Nazi appropriation. In Jain symbolism, its four arms represent the four possible realms of rebirth in samsara: heavenly beings, humans, animals or plants, and hell beings. The symbol therefore points both to the cycle of existence and to the need to achieve liberation.

A common mix-up is Parshvanatha, the 23rd Tirthankara, whose emblem is a serpent. Suparshvanatha is also shown with a five-headed serpent hood, while Parshvanatha is commonly depicted with a larger, multi-headed hood and coils behind the body.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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