Bhagwan Parshwanath and Dharendra (Dharnendra Dev) are deeply connected in Jain tradition.

Bhagwan Parshwanath

• 23rd Tirthankar of the current time-cycle.
• Born as Prince Parshva Kumar in Varanasi to King Ashwasen and Queen Vama.
• He preached the path of non‑violence, truth, non‑stealing, celibacy and non‑possession.
• His symbol (लाञ्छन) is the snake, and he is usually shown in meditation with a multi‑hooded serpent over his head.

Who is Dharendra / Dharnendra Dev?

• Dharendra is the Nagraj (serpent deity) and a powerful Shasan Dev (protector deity) associated with Parshwanath Bhagwan.
• In a previous birth, Dharendra was the snake trapped in the wood that was put into the fire by the tapasvi Kamath.
• Young Parshva Kumar saw this with his दिव्य दृष्टि (divine vision), stopped the ritual, and saved the snake.
• Due to this उपकार (great kindness), the soul of that snake later took birth as Dharendra Dev, with deep gratitude and devotion towards Parshwanath.

Famous incident: protection in the storm

• After accepting दीक्षा, Parshwanath Bhagwan was doing कठोर तप (austerity) in meditation.
• His jealous elder brother from a past life, Kamath, was reborn as the demon Meghmali.
• Out of enmity, Meghmali created a terrible storm: heavy rain, wind, thunder and flood to disturb Parshwanath’s meditation.
• At that time, Dharendra Dev rose from the nether world, took the form of a huge serpent with many hoods, and spread his hoods like an umbrella over Parshwanath Bhagwan to protect him from the rain.
• Padmavati Devi, his Shasan Devi, also served and protected Bhagwan.
• Parshwanath Bhagwan remained completely calm and non‑reactive, in deep samadhi.
• This is why idols of Parshwanath almost always show a multi‑hooded serpent canopy above his head – it is Dharendra Dev.

Spiritual message of Dharendra–Parshwanath

• Compassion (like Parshva saving the snake) creates powerful पुण्य that may protect us even after many births.
• True sadhana means that even in the biggest storm, the soul stays in equanimity (समता), just like Parshwanath Bhagwan.
• Dev‑Shakti (like Dharendra, Padmavati) can help, but liberation (मोक्ष) comes only from one’s own right faith, right knowledge and right conduct.

You can read a simple life story of Bhagwan Parshwanath here