The Five Kalyanakas
| Kalyanaka | Tithi | Nakshatra |
|---|---|---|
| Chyavana (conception) | Chaitra Krishna 4 | Vishakha |
| Janma (birth) | Paush Krishna 10 | Vishakha |
| Diksha (renunciation) | Paush Krishna 13 | Vishakha |
| Kevala Jnana (omniscience) | Chaitra Krishna 4 | Vishakha |
| Nirvana (liberation) | Shravana Shukla 8 | Vishakha |
Months are given in the purnimanta convention, the one Hemachandra uses. For a Krishna-paksha date the Gujarati amanta name is one month earlier; Shukla dates are the same in both.
All five of his kalyanakas fall in Vishakha. The first four sharing one nakshatra is true of every Tirthankara without exception; about ten then shift for the nirvana, and he is not among them. See the kalyanaka calendar.
The Snake in the Log
Parshvanatha is the Tirthankara most scholars accept as historically real, dated to roughly the 8th century BCE, two and a half centuries before Mahavira. Early Buddhist texts describe his followers, and Mahavira’s own parents are recorded as belonging to his lineage.
His defining story is about seeing what others do not. Passing an ascetic named Kamatha performing a fire penance, the young prince told him a serpent was burning alive inside the log he was about to place on the fire. The ascetic scoffed; the log was split, and the dying snake was found. Parshva had the Navkar Mantra recited to it as it died.
That serpent was reborn as Dharanendra, lord of the nagas, and its consort as Padmavati. Years later, when Parshva stood in meditation and the vengeful Kamatha (reborn as the demon Meghamali) sent a storm to drown him, Dharanendra spread his hoods above him as an umbrella. This is the scene in every Parshvanatha image: the serpent canopy over the meditating Jina.
The lesson is unusually direct. Ahimsa extended to a being nobody else could even see returned, lifetimes later, as protection. It is also why Dharanendra and Padmavati are his yaksha and yakshi, and why Padmavati is among the most widely venerated figures in Jain practice.
All five of his kalyanakas fall in Vishakha. He lived a hundred years and attained nirvana at Sammeta Shikhar. The Kalpasutra gives his diksha as Paush Krishna 11 where Hemachandra gives the 13th; we show both.
[← Neminatha](/tirthankara/neminatha/) · [All 24](/tirthankara-astrology/) · [Mahavira →](/tirthankara/mahavira/)
His Birth Star, and Yours
Parshvanatha was born under Vishakha, in Tula. If that is your janma nakshatra too, the tradition offers a devotional kinship: his kalyanaka days, his story, his image. Kinship, not destiny.
Our free kundali tool computes your janma nakshatra and tells you directly which Tirthankaras share it. The complete cross-verified table is at the birth stars of the 24 Tirthankaras.
Sources. Kalyanaka dates and nakshatras from Hemachandra's Trishashti-Shalaka-Purusha-Charitra (Johnson translation), read chapter by chapter, with the Kalpasutra cross-checked where it covers this Tirthankara. Biographical and iconographic details follow the standard references. Where the sects differ, both readings are shown; where a source does not state a value, we say so rather than infer it. Corrections are seva: tell us.