Ṛṣabhanātha

Born at the end of the third ara, when the kalpa trees were failing and no one yet knew how to live without them. He taught agriculture, fire, writing, arithmetic, pottery, weaving and kingship — then gave all of it up, and taught renunciation too. His son Bharata became the first cakravartī and gave Bharat Kṣetra its name.

He stood 500 dhanuṣ and lived 84 lakh pūrva — a pūrva being 84 lakh times 84 lakh years, so even his lifespan needs the tradition's own arithmetic. Every figure after him is smaller and shorter-lived; the whole Descent is downhill from here.

He reached mokṣa on Aṣṭāpada, alone among the twenty-four — twenty went to Sammeta Śikhara, and Vāsupūjya, Nemi and Mahāvīra each ended elsewhere.