The first nirvāṇa
Ṛṣabha climbed Aṣṭāpada “like stairs to the palace of nirvāṇa”, sat with ten thousand monks in the fast that ends in death, and on the thirteenth of the dark half of Māgha left the world with all of them.
"Together with ten thousand munis the Lord undertook pādapopagama with a seven days' fast" — the posture held like a felled tree, unmoving, until the end. "In the forenoon of the thirteenth day of the dark half of Māgha, the constellation Abhīci being in conjunction with the moon", he reached mokṣa; and "the ten thousand munis who had undertaken fasting, mounted on the kṣapakaśreṇi, all had kevala manifested" and went with him.
It is the first liberation of this half-turn of the wheel, and the reason Aṣṭāpada is a tīrtha. Bharata grieved, was consoled by Śakra, and built.
Measurements and counts
| Where | Aṣṭāpada |
|---|---|
| With | 10,000 munis |
| The fast | 7 days, pādapopagama |
| When | Māgha, dark 13th, forenoon, Abhīci |
| Who else was freed | all 10,000 |