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Jainism in a Global Perspective
alms-giving on earth. In the Jaina mythology, the period when Rṣabhadeva lived is viewed as a kind of golden age when many new things and phenomena emerged, and Rṣabhadeva is considered as a kind of discoverer who invented civilization. Thus the discovery of script, of agriculture and other techniques is ascribed to him. Similarly, our episode is meant to indicate that alms-giving was also at that time an unknown phenomenon which needed special conditions to come to existence.
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In the Canonical or early post-Canonical texts written in Prakrit and dating back to the first century of our era, there is nothing more than what I have just summarized, namely a significant episode in Rṣabhadeva's religious career. As can be expected, the report of such an episode would not be limited to an early period. As a rule, Jaina authors often retell the same stories. But this does not mean that the stories remain identical. A careful reading shows that various kinds of innovations have discreetly crept in. Thus, as we follow the later authors who take up the same topic, we regularly discover a new element which is always located at the end of the accounts: "Rṣabhadeva having told Śreyansa that this was an undecaying gift (akṣayattiyā)". This reference is found in as Apabhramsa work from the 9th century. It is, to my knowledge, the earliest passage connecting Rṣabhadeva's fast-breaking with a particular date. At the same time such a sentence gives the impression that the connection is true from time immemorial. It would be irrelevant here to list all the available data. Suffice it to say that various subsequent authors between the 10th and the 14th centuries, both from Śvetambara and Digambara affiliation, take up this association, and sometimes supply additional information, Thus, they state that Akṣayatṛtīya is the "third day of the bright half of the month Vaisakha". Apart form mentioning the mere date, some of them also clearly indicate that it became a special day in religious life, since they call it a Parva. Moreover, when they add that it is widespread everywhere and still in force in their time, they also enhance its value by laying emphasis on its permanence. In this way we see how a tradition was created and enforced, to the extent that, taking it for granted, one writer clearly says that Rṣbhadeva's first fast breaking took place on Akṣayatṛtiyā, and that another one lays stress on the sequence of events, writing that on the second day of the bright half of Vaiśākha Śreyānsakumāra had the dreams and that on the third, Rṣabhadeva received the proper alms. Thus For Private & Personal Use Only
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