Balabhadra

In Jainism, the Balabhadra or Baladeva are a set of nine non-violent heroes existent in every half cycle of time in Jain cosmology. Said to be among the sixty-three śalākāpuruṣa born in this world every Dukhama-sukhamā ara, they parallel the nine narayana (heroes who commit violent actions to achieve their goals) and nine pratinarayana (villains) concurrently born in said ara.^[1] Their life stories are said to be most inspiring,^[2] and the Jain puranas portray the Balabhadras as leading an ideal Jain life.^[3]

Nine Balabhadras

According to the Digambaras, the nine Balabhadras of the present half cycle of time (avasarpini) are:^[4]

Acala	Bhadra	Balarama
Nandimitra	Nandisena	Rāma
Sudarśana	Suprabha	Vijaya

References

↑ Joseph 1997, p. 178.
↑ Jain, Vijay K. (2015), Acarya Samantabhadra's Svayambhustotra: Adoration of The Twenty-four Tirthankara, Vikalp Printers, p. 199, ISBN 9788190363976, Non-Copyright
↑ Jain, Jagdish Chandra; Bhattacharyya, Narendra Nath (1 January 1994). Jainism and Prakrit in Ancient and Medieval India. Manohar. p. 146. ISBN 9788173040511.
↑ Doniger 1999, p. 550.

General references

Doniger, Wendy, ed. (1999), Encyclopedia of World Religions, Merriam-Webster, ISBN 0-87779-044-2
Joseph, P. M. (1997), Jainism in South India, International School of Dravidian Linguistics, ISBN 9788185692234

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[FOOTNOTEJoseph1997178-1] Joseph 1997, p. 178.

[2] Jain, Vijay K. (2015), Acarya Samantabhadra's Svayambhustotra: Adoration of The Twenty-four Tirthankara, Vikalp Printers, p. 199, ISBN 9788190363976, Non-Copyright

[3] Jain, Jagdish Chandra; Bhattacharyya, Narendra Nath (1 January 1994). Jainism and Prakrit in Ancient and Medieval India. Manohar. p. 146. ISBN 9788173040511.

[FOOTNOTEDoniger1999550-4] Doniger 1999, p. 550.

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