Chandraprabha Ji

Chandraprabha, the lord of the moon, is the eighth tirthankara of the present age. His emblem is the crescent moon, from which his name comes, and he is one of the few tirthankaras shown with a white body colour rather than golden.

Chandranatha and Chandra Prabhu are both in common use.

Lanchana, the emblem: the crescent moon, at the pedestal. Body colour: white, which distinguishes him immediately from most other tirthankaras. Shown in padmasana or kayotsarga, with the Shrivatsa mark on the chest and downcast eyes, conventions common to all tirthankara images. Yaksha and yakshi, by sect: Shyama and Jvalamalini in Digambara tradition; Vijaya and Bhrikuti in Shvetambara tradition.

His mother, Queen Lakshmana Devi, is said to have seen the sixteen auspicious dreams nine months before his birth, as the mother of every tirthankara does. As a prince he is described as indifferent to pleasure and to royal grandeur, and he renounced the throne soon after ascending it. He attained omniscience after three months of meditation under a naga tree, and liberation on Mount Shikharji, where the shrine of Prabhu Koot marks it.

Father: Mahasena, whose name is also given as Senaraja. Mother: Lakshmana Devi. Birthplace: Chandrapuri, identified with the Varanasi area, of the Ikshvaku dynasty.

Chandraprabha is enshrined very widely. Principal places on this platform: the Saavira Kambada Basadi, the Thousand Pillar Basadi at Moodabidri, where he is the presiding deity; Sonagiri, whose principal rock-cut image of him is dated to the fifth or sixth century and is the earliest attested element of that site; and the Chandraprabhu temple in Jaisalmer Fort. Also Chandrapuri near Varanasi, his birthplace, and the Tijara temple in Rajasthan.

The names of the yaksha, yakshi and chief disciples differ by sect. Sources state that the differences between the traditions here are primarily in naming rather than in substance, and that both venerate him equally.