Why the statues of the Jain Tirthankars are some black some green some white some red and a majority in golden colour?

Answer 1

Jain Tirthankaras used to have different body colors during their existence. The colors are known as varn. There is a chaitya vandan (verse) specially made to remember the varn of 24 Tirthankaras. According to scriptures, Padmaprabh Swami and Vasupujya Swami were of "Rato varn" which means they were red colored. Chandraprabh Swami and Suvidhinath were of "Ujjwal varn" which means they were white colored. Mallinath and Parshwanath were "Neel varn" which means they were bluish colored. Munisuvrat Swami and Nemnath were "Anjan varn" which means they were black colored. And the rest 16 Tirthankaras were "Kanchan varn" meaning they were golden colored. The present day statues are made in accordance with those colors. So if the statue is of Lord Padmaprabh, it is made sure that it is of red color. Similarly statues of all other Tirthankar are made keeping in mind that they are the same color as they were during their existence.Though there are no strict rules and there are exceptions found at many places.