चंद्रप्रभ
Chandraprabhu · also Chandraprabha in Svetambara usage
The eighth Tirthankara. His name refers to the radiance of the moon.
The eighth Tirthankara, whose name refers to the radiance of the moon — tradition holds that his complexion had a moonlike pallor, and the crescent is his emblem.
Tradition gives his birthplace as Chandrapuri, on the Ganges a short way from Varanasi, and the name of the place and the name of the Tirthankara plainly belong to each other; which came first the record does not say.
Chandraprabhu temples are numerous across western and central India, and the white or pale marble image is characteristic — the material chosen to carry the name. He is one of the twenty who attained nirvana at Shikharji.
On the name. Both forms are in wide use; Digambara sources more often give Chandraprabhu.
This figure is known from tradition; there is no independent historical evidence. That is a statement about the record, not about the tradition.
Written for Jain Times. Corrections are welcome — see sources and licences.