________________
good fortune of being parents of a Tīrthankara is earned through highly meritorious karmas. Thus there is no reason for any discomfort to the mother. After nine months a son was born on Caitra Krşņā ninth in the morning. All the realms were filled with bliss. Humans and gods organized a variety of celebrations in Ayodhya. As mother Marudevi had seen a bull (Vșşabha) in her dreams the child was named Vșşabhadeva (Rşabhadeva). Later, bull even became his symbol. A sign of bull is the identification of the image of Rşabhadeva.
When he was of marriageable age his parents married him to Yaśaşvati, the daughter of Kaccha and Sunandā, the daughter of Sukaccha. Yaśaşvatī gave birth to twins Bharata and Brāhmī. In due course she gave birth to more male twins forty-nine times, making it to be ninety-eight sons. Sunandā gave birth only to a son Bāhubalī and a daughter Sundarī. Thus Rşabhadeva had a total of one hundred sons and two daughters.
INVENTION OF ARITHMETIC AND SCRIPT
One day Rşabhadeva was sitting on his throne when his two daughters came. Brāhmi sat on his left lap and Sundari on the right. Bhagavāna said to them, “If education is added to your beauty, age, and virtues you will attain glory in life.” With these words he uttered
Siddham namah' (obeisance to the Siddhas), held Brāhmi's hand and made her write alphabet from left to right on a golden plate. This skill was called writing or knowledge of script. After that he held Sundarīs hand and made her write numbers from right to left. This was called skill of numbers or arithmetic.
ThusRşabhadeva was the first inventor of script and arithmetic of this cycle of time. The script that Brāhmi learned and made popular was named Brähms after her name. Even today the Brāhmi script is accepted as the oldest script in the world. The similarities found in almost all the scripts of Asia are because of the fact that they all have their origin in Brāhmi.
TEACHING OF VARIOUS ARTS
Rșabhadeva imparted knowledge of various arts to his sons. He taught economics and dance to Bharata, his eldest son. Vịşabhasena
169
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
