Antiquity of Jainism

Author(s): Mahaveer Saran Jain
Publisher: Mahaveer Saran Jain

Page 14

The Pre-Aryan aspects of the Jain tradition can be traced to Indus Valley civilization, which flourished six to eight thousand years ago. Nude standing images found in the Indus Valley ruins bear a striking resemblance to the oldest Jain sculpture. There may be a link in the bull seals of Indus and the bull lancchana of Rishabhanatha. It is significant as various scholars have suggested that the nude standing images in the Indus Valley in a typical Jain ascetic Yogic pose Kayotsarga bear a striking resemblance to the oldest Jaina sculptures, and further that there is a link between the Indus bull-seals and the bull insignia (lancchana) of Rishabha. . In the Adi Purana Book XV III, Kayotsarga posture is described in connection with the penance of Rishabha or Vrashabha,"
In his Indus Civilization and Hindu Culture, the eminent scholar, P. R. Deshmukh says:" The first Jain Tirthankar belonged to Indus civilization. The Indus Valley deities were nude. The Jains sustained that culture and worshipped nude Tirthankaras”.