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History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathurā
The story of Rsabha also occurs in the Bhāgavata Purāna425 and the Vişnu Purāņa.426 In the Bhāgavata Purāņa427 and the Vişnu Purāņa428 he is mentioned as an incarnation of Vişnu or Nārāyaṇa.429 Rşabha's story as given in these works is identical with his story as given in the Jaina sacred literature.430 These Purāņas mention Rşabha as a great ascetic or tapasvī.431 The description of ascetic Rsabha embodied in these Purāṇas is closely identical with the ascetic discipline prescribed for a tapasvī or ascetic in the Jaina literature.432
The Bhagavata Purana and the Visnu Purāna make a mention of Rşabha who used to wander naked and desisted from religious rites.433 This description compares favourably with the Jaina account of the first tīrthamkara Rsabha.434 In fact, the recorded traditions about Rsabha are so varied, and his images, particularly those belonging to the Kuşāņa period, are so abundant that it seems difficult to deny his historical existence.435 Even Hermann Jacobi, who clearly doubted the historicity of the first twenty-two tīrthařkaras,436 opined that there may be something historical in the Jaina tradition which makes Rsabha the first tirthamkara.437
The Brāhmanical texts, although some of them belong to a later period,
425. Bhāgavata Purāņa, 5, 3-6; HJM, p. 39; JI, p. 50; CUHI, I, p. 185. 426. Vişņu Puräņa, tr. H.H. Wilson, vol. I, 1980, pp. 245-7; HJM, p. 39; CUHI, I, p. 185. 427. Bhāgavata Purāna, 5, 3-6; JI, p. 50; CUHI, I, p. 185. 428. CUHI, I, p. 185. 429. Ibid., p. 185. 430. Ibid.; HJM, p. 58. 431. Bhāgavata Purāna, 5, 3-6; Visnu Purāņa, op, cit., pp. 245-6; CUHI, I, p. 185. 432. CUHI, I, p. 185. 433. See Visnu Purana, op. cit., p. 246 and fn; ACHI, p. 100. 434. CUHI, I, p. 185. 435. JI, p. 37. 436. ERE, VII, p. 466. 437. Jacobi cited in JOLR, p. 40.
