Munisuvrata: The Tortoise Emblem of the Twentieth Tirthankara
AURYN Editorial
Munisuvrata is the twentieth of the twenty-four Jain Tirthankaras, the "ford-makers" who showed the way across the cycle of rebirth. Because the Jinas are all carved in the same meditative stillness, his images are recognised by the small tortoise on the pedestal; our guide to the Tirthankara emblems sets out all twenty-four.
The tortoise
Munisuvrata's emblem in both Jain traditions is the tortoise. Jain tradition associates him with Rajagriha, the ancient city now called Rajgir in Bihar. The tortoise, drawing its limbs into its shell, is a familiar Indian image of the self-restraint that withdraws the senses from the world, a reading that sits comfortably with Jain teaching, though the emblem's primary role is simply to identify the Jina.
