The future caubīsī
The twenty-four of the rising half-cycle to come — each already alive in Mahāvīra's world, by the tradition's own naming.
The office is already filling. For every seat of the coming caubīsī the tradition names a soul from Mahāvīra's own generation — a king, a merchant, a laywoman, an ascetic — listed below, seat by seat. The famous first: Padmanābha will be the soul of King Śreṇika of Magadha, Mahāvīra's contemporary and questioner.
What such a naming means: it is the soul that crosses from birth to birth — not the body, not its station, not its gender. Devakī, Sulasā, Rohiṇī and Revatī are women in this life and will be Tīrthaṅkaras in that one; a king and a cowherd carry nothing across but their karma.
These identifications come from later literature rather than the early canon, and they vary between texts; the caution is the tradition's own. Like the past twenty-four, the future ones are named and not measured, and are drawn accordingly.
Measurements and counts
| Named | 24 |
|---|---|
| Measured | none |
| 1 · Padmanābha | King Śreṇika (Bimbisāra) |
| 2 · Sūradeva | Supārśva, Mahāvīra's uncle |
| 3 · Supārśva | King Udāyin, son of Kūṇika |
| 4 · Svayamprabha | the ascetic Poṭṭila |
| 5 · Sarvānubhūti | śrāvaka Dṛḍhāyudha |
| 6 · Devaśruta | Kārttika the merchant |
| 7 · Udaya | śrāvaka Śaṅkha |
| 8 · Peḍhāla | śrāvaka Ānanda |
| 9 · Poṭṭila | śrāvaka Sunanda |
| 10 · Śatakīrti | śrāvaka Śataka |
| 11 · Suvrata | Devakī, Kṛṣṇa's mother |
| 12 · Amama | Kṛṣṇa |
| 13 · Niṣkaṣāya | Satyaki |
| 14 · Niṣpulāka | Balarāma |
| 15 · Nirmama | śrāvikā Sulasā |
| 16 · Citragupta | Rohiṇī |
| 17 · Samādhi | Revatī |
| 18 · Saṃvara | śrāvaka Śatālaka |
| 19 · Yaśodhara | the sage Dvaipāyana |
| 20 · Vijaya | Karṇa |
| 21 · Malla | Nārada |
| 22 · Deva | śrāvaka Ambaḍa |
| 23 · Anantavīrya | śrāvaka Amara |
| 24 · Bhadrakṛt | Svāti |