A tīrthaṅkara builds a ford across the river of saṃsāra for others to cross. Jains count twenty-four in the present cosmic age, from Ṛṣabha to Pārśva and Mahāvīra. Each attained kevala jñāna, taught the path and founded the fourfold community of monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen. Their images are objects of veneration, not of petition.
Tīrthaṅkara
A “ford-maker”: one of the twenty-four Jain teachers who crossed the stream of rebirth and showed the way.
Also: Tirthankara, Jina, ford-maker