The 'TIRTHANKARAS'

Jainism now acknowledges 24 gods or, better called tirthankaras
in the Namokar mahamantra, (1st post of October) we bow to the siddhas in the second line
Well, all the tirthankaras are siddha , though there are many more
Anyways, we had divided time into 2 parts- 'avasarpani' and 'utsarpani'
Every such part has 24 tirthankaras, i.e. there are 24 tirthankaras in every passage from 1st aara to the 6th or from the 6th to the 1st. These are the pure souls who were able to burn all their 'karmas' through samta, tap, jap, etc. And they now rest in 'moksha'.
So here are the 24 tirthankaras which were in this avasarpani kaal:

Note: at present the shasan of 24th tirthankar 'mahaavir' prabhu is going on, i.e. he was the last one.

So, we Jains worship them.

Tirthankaras are Jain gods. They when lived, lived ideally. They kept samta. They gave away worldly happiness (left the 'moh') and concentrated in their souls. They gave "gyaan" to all the common people about things not known to anyone. They had 'keval gyaan' i.e. they knew everything ('antaryami'). More will be elaborated upon the types of 'gyaan'. They were an epitome of kindness, benevolence, mercy. They never used to fight or even get angry, always looked to the other person's happiness, controlled their ambitions, lived a 'saadhu life'. They never took to live like a housefold. So they had to ask for food goin from home to home. Also they used to migrate from one place to another. They are the ideal persons in Jainism. Their 'vaani' used to have a deep effect on all people, and they always used to enourage others to take 'deeksha'.

Here's some interesting stuff. As you know, utsarpani kaal will follow the ongoing the avasarpani kaal. And we all know the great hindu god "Krishna". According to Jainism, he was a 'vasudeva' (more will be told afterwards), and his soul is in hell right now; our tirthankaras have predicted (they know everything, so, it's got to be true) that he will ve a 'tirthankara' in the next utsarpani kaal. Lucky soul, its getting moksha, the next time it comes to earth.

One piece of secret, My real name is the same as our third tirthankara, i.e. I am Sambhav Jain