• In Jain tradition, the dharma (path/teaching) is described as ancient and eternal, with a long line of 24 Tirthankaras beginning in very early times. The first Tirthankara is Rishabhanatha (also called Adinath) and the 24th is Mahavira.
• Most historians place Mahavira, the last Tirthankara, around the 6th century BCE (roughly 500s BCE). If you count from Mahavira, Jainism as a formally organized tradition is about 2,500 to 2,600 years old.
• If you go by the broader Jain tradition that counts from the first Tirthankara (Rishabhanatha) and earlier, the chronology is even older in Jain scriptures—traditional dates extend much further back, though modern scholarship often dates the origins of organized Jain practice to around the 6th century BCE or later.
• There is a difference in emphasis between Digambara and Śvetāmbara sources on exact dates and names, but both agree that Jain Dharma is very ancient and has been preserved through keen ethics, non-violence, and renunciation.

If you’d like, I can give you a succinct timeline with absolute dates (e.g., 599–527 BCE for Mahavira) and note where traditional Jain lists differ.