(spokes) in each half, and the cycles keep repeating perpetually. Twenty-four Tirthankaras appear in every half, the first Tirthankara founding Jainism each time. In the present time cycle, Rishabhanatha is credited as being the first tīrthaṅkara, born at the end of the third half (known as sukhamā-dukhamā erā). Rishabhanatha is said to be the founder of Jainism of the present Avsarpini (a time cycle) by the different Jain sub-traditions. Jain chronology places Rishabhanatha in historical terms, as someone who lived millions of years ago. He is believed to have been born 10224 years ago and lived for a span of 8,400,000 purva (592.704 × 1018 years). His height is described in the Jain texts to be 500 bows (1312 ells), or about 4920 feet/1500 meters. Such descriptions of non-human heights and age are also found for the next 21 Tirthankaras in Jain texts and according to Kristi Wiley – a scholar at University of California Berkeley known for her publications on Jainism. Most Indologists and scholars consider all the first 22 of 24 Tirthankaras to be prehistorical, or historical and a part of Jain mythology. However, among Jain writers and some Indian scholars, some of the first 22 Tirthankaras are considered to reflect historical figures, with a few conceding that the inflated biographical statistics are mythical. According to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a professor of comparative religions and philosophy at Oxford who later became the second President of India, there is evidence to show that Rishabhdeva was being worshipped by the first century BCE. The Yajurveda mentions the names of three Tirthankaras – Rishabha, Ajitanatha and Arishtanemi, states Radhakrishnan, and "the Bhāgavata Purāṇa endorses the view that Rishabha was the founder of Jainism". Birth Rishabhanatha was born to Nabhi and Marudevi, the king and queen of Ayodhya, on the ninth day of the dark half of the month of Chaitra-caitra krişna navamĩ. His association to Ayodhya makes it a sacred town for Jains, as it is in Hinduism for the birth of the Rama. In Jain tradition, the birth of a tirthankara is marked by 16 auspicious dreams of his mother. These are believed to have been seen by Marudevi on the second day of Ashadha (a month of the Jain calendar) Krishna (dark fortnight). The dreams signified tirthankara's birth according to the supposed explanation by the king to his queen. Marriage and children Rishabhanatha is believed to have two wives, Sunanda