Parshvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara, is generally accepted by historians as an actual figure of around the eighth century BCE, roughly 250 years before Mahavira — which makes Jainism demonstrably older than its most famous teacher. Mahavira's own parents are described in the texts as followers of Parshva's order. His iconography is a canopy of serpent hoods, and the difference between his four vows and Mahavira's five is recorded as a real historical reform.