Shalakapurusha

According to the Jain cosmology, the śalākāpuruṣa "illustrious or worthy persons" are 63 illustrious beings who appear during each half-time cycle. They are also known as the triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣa (63 illustrious persons). The Jain universal or legendary history is a compilation of the deeds of these illustrious persons. Their life stories are said to be most inspiring.

The śalākāpuruṣa comprise 24 Tirthankaras (Teaching Gods), twelve Chakravartin (universal monarchs, emperors of six continents), nine Balabhadras (gentle heroes), nine Narayanas (warrior heroes) and nine Prati-narayanas (anti-heroes). According to Jain cosmology, time is without beginning and eternal. The Kālacakra, the cosmic wheel of time, rotates ceaselessly. The wheel of time is divided into two half-rotations, Utsarpiṇī or ascending time cycle and Avasarpiṇī, the descending time cycle, occurring continuously after each other. Utsarpiṇī is a period of progressive prosperity and happiness where the time spans and ages are at an increasing scale while the Avasarpiṇī is a period of increasing sorrow and immorality with decline in time spans of the epochs. During each such time cycle, these 63 illustrious persons appear and establish the religion and order in society. According to Jain cosmology, since time is eternal, infinite kalacakras have elapsed and will occur in future and hence infinite sets of these 63 illustrious persons have appeared, and will appear, to establish order and religion in their respective eras.

The word salakapurusa is often translated as illustrious persons or worthy persons or mighty persons. It is derived from the Sanskrit compound of words salaka and purusa. "Purusa" means person, but "salaka" is of ambiguous etymology in this context. The primary meaning of the word salaka (Sanskrit: Śalākā, Pali: salākā, Prakrit: salāgā, salāyā) is "stick". In the Buddhist context it meant a ticket consisting of wooden sticks meant for voting or to distribute food; but in Jain context it was used to mean a stick and also a measurement and when combined with "purusa" to denote great heroes. According to 11th century Jain author, monk Acharya Hemachandra, these persons are called salaka as they have been specially marked among men. This emphasised that the names of the salakapurusas were underlined or specially significant due to their deeds. John Cort also quotes another author, S. D. Parekh, who emphasises the root meaning of voting sticks and concludes that a salakapurusa is a great person, as his greatness has been accepted by general public. Certain Śvētāmbara texts use the word Baladeva, Vāsudeva and Prativasudeva to refer Balabhadra, Narayana and Pratinarayana respectively. A 1975 treatise, detailing Mahavira's life and doctrine seems to imply the voting-etymology of the word, i.e. they are called salakapurusa, because they are men-that-count.

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