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evidence of a yogic posture and since Yoga as a system of self-realisation is foreign to the earlier Vedic texts, are we to conclude that the Vedic people learnt about meditation and its technique from the Indus Valley people4."
On the basis of the Rsabhanātha cult it may be said that Jainism represents the continuation of Śramanic culture which is as old as the Vedas so far as the literary evidence goes, though the archaeological evidence takes Śramanism far back to Harappan civilization, which is predominantly a yoga-based non-Vedic culture. According to Dr. G.C. Pandes "the anti-ritualistic tendency, within the Vedic fold, is itself due to the impact of an asceticism which antedates the Vedas. It is recognised that "some of the relics, recovered from the excavations at Mohen-jodaro and Harappā, are related to Sramana or Jaina tradition. "The nude images in Kāyotsraga, i.e., the standing posture lost in meditation, closely resemble the Jaina images of the Kuśāna period. Kāyotsarga is generally supposed to belong to the Jaina tradition. There are some idols even in Padmāsana pose." "Even after the destruction of the Indus civilization, the straggling culture of the Sramaņas, most probably going back to pre-Vedic times, continued even during the Vedic period as is indicated by some such terms as Vātarasanā, Muni, Yati, Šramana, Kesi, Vrātya, Arhan and Siśnadeva". "There can hardly be any doubt that the Muni was to the Rgvedic culture an alien figure". "In the Rgveda', Arhan has been used for a sramaņa leader." "The mention of Siśnadevas (naked gods) in the Rgveda is also noteworthy?." All this speaks of Jainism as a pre-Vedic religion and Rșabhanātha as its founder.
According to tradition, Rsabhanātha founded the social order and family system, taught to mankind the cultivation of land, different arts and crafts, writing etc., improving the lot of his people. That is why the Indian tradition preserves the memory of Rşabha and has been called in the Brāhmanical texts as an incarnation of god Vişnu and Bharata, a Mahāyogī. Owing to the importance of Rsabha in the history of Indian culture, he is called Prajāpati, Mahādeva, Pasupatinātha, Brahmā etc. It will not be out of place to point out that the ancient Indian Script Brāhmī has been styled 'Brāhmi Script' after the name of his daughter, Brāhmī.
Bhārata after Rşabhanātha's son Bharata : "All the main Purāņas like the Visnu, Agni, Markandeya, Brahmānda, Skanda, Linga Purāņa, etc.
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