Parshvanatha is the earliest Jain Tirthankara who is acknowledged as possibly a historical figure, with some teachings attributed to him that may be reliably recorded.

Parshvanatha is said to have attained moksha on Mount Sammeda (Madhuban, Jharkhand) popular as Parasnath hill in the Ganges basin, an important Jain pilgrimage site.

Through diligent practice of 'bheg-gyan', which entails right belief and active awareness of one's true nature as a pure soul, unencumbered by the body and its passions, an individual can shed the perception-obscuring mohniya karma.

This enables the soul to experience its true essence, known as samyak darshan or self-realization, opening the pathway to liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth.

[11][12][13] According to Paul Dundas, Jain texts such as section 31 of Isibhasiyam provide circumstantial evidence that he lived in ancient India.

[4] However, Long points out "some scholars have suggested that Pārśvanātha and Mahāvīra were actually closer in time than the tradition claims",[6] referring to studies by Dhaky—who has identified certain Jain texts containing wording which implies that not so many years had elapsed between the two, leading Dhaky to suggest "Pārśva could not have started his ascetic career before the beginning of the sixth century BC" and "may have passed away only a few decades before Vardhamāna [i.e., Mahāvīra] had started his preaching career".

[7] Doubts about Parshvanatha's historicity are also supported by the oldest Jain texts, which present Mahavira with sporadic mentions of ancient ascetics and teachers without specific names (such as sections 1.4.1 and 1.6.3 of the Acaranga Sutra).

[21] The earliest layer of Jain literature on cosmology and universal history pivots around two jinas: the Adinatha (Rishabhanatha) and Mahavira.

[22] The Kalpa Sūtra is the most ancient known Jain text with the 24 tirthankar, but it lists 20; three, including Parshvanatha, have brief descriptions compared with Mahavira.

[28] He was born on the tenth day of the dark half of the Hindu month of Pausha to King Ashwasena and Queen Vamadevi of Varanasi.

[41][42] Heinrich Zimmer translated a Jain text that sixteen-year-old Parshvanatha refused to marry when his father told him to do so; he began meditating instead because the "soul is its only friend".

[43] At age 30, on the 11th day of the moon's waxing in the month of Pausha (December–January), Parshvanatha renounced the world to become a monk after seeing the image of Neminatha.

Parshvanatha's practices included careful movement, measured speech, guarded desires, mental restraint and physical activity, essential in Jain tradition to renounce the ego.

According to Vividha Tirtha Kalpa, Kamath in an attempt to obstruct Parshvanatha from achieving Kevala Jnana caused continuous rain.

Parshvanatha was immersed in water up to his neck and to protect him the serpent god Dharanendra held a canopy of thousand hoods over his head and the goddess Padmavati coiled herself around his body.

[53] After preaching for 70 years, Parshvanath attained moksha at Shikharji on Parasnath hill[note 3][56][57] at the age of 100 on Shravana Shukla Saptami according to Lunar Calendar.

[62][note 4] His rebirths include:[64] King Aravinda, after the death of his minister's son, renounced his throne and led an ascetic life.

[64][75][76] According to Śvētāmbara tradition, he had eight ganadharas (chief monks): Śubhadatta, Āryaghoṣa, Vasiṣṭha, Brahmacāri, Soma, Śrīdhara, Vīrabhadra and Yaśas.

[42] Parshvanatha's nirgrantha (without bonds) monastic tradition was influential in ancient India, with Mahavira's parents part of it as lay householders who supported the ascetics.

[83][84][85][86] The monastic lineage of Upkeśa Gaccha is particularly important as it narrates the history of Jainism before Mahavira and describes the creation of three of the most prominent castes of Jain followers.

[88] According to the Śvētāmbaras, Mahavira expanded the scope of Parshvanatha's first four restraints with his ideas on ahimsa (non-violence) and added the fifth monastic vow (celibacy) to the practice of asceticism.

[97] The Uttardhyayana Sutra[98][99] (a Śvētāmbara text) describes Keśin Dālbhya as a follower of Parshvanatha and Indrabhuti Gautama as a disciple of Mahavira and discusses which doctrine is true: the fourfold restraint or the five great vows.

[100] According to Wendy Doniger, Parshvanatha allowed monks to wear clothes; Mahavira recommended nude asceticism, a practice which has been a significant difference between the Digambara and Śvētāmbara traditions.

This has led scholars such as Hermann Jacobi to say that when Mahavira and the Buddha met, the Buddhists knew only about the four restraints of the Parshvanatha tradition.

[90] Further scholarship suggests a more complex situation, because some of the earliest Jain literature (such as section 1.8.1 of the Ācārāṅga Sūtra) connects Mahavira with three restraints: non-violence, non-lying, and non-possession.

[105] Paul Dundas writes that medieval Jain literature, such as that by the 9th-century Silanka, suggests that the practices of "not using another's property without their explicit permission" and celibacy were interpreted as part of non-possession.

[113] Parshvanath bhavaantar is a kirtan (devotion song), compiled by Gangadas in 1690 AD, which narrates life of previous nine births.

[127][128] According to Umakant Premanand Shah, Hindu gods (such as Ganesha) as yaksha and Indra as serving Parshvanatha, assigned them to a subordinate position.

[132] Parshvanatha is depicted in dhyāna mudrā with ankle crossed in lotus position seated on a pedestal with a seven-hooded sesha hood above his head and shrivatsa on the chest.

[25][42][133] The Kahaum pillar, erected in 460 CE during the reign of Skandagupta, Gupta Empire,[134][135] bears an inscription that is adoration to Arihant and features a carving of Parshvanatha.