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or it means killer of the enemies, if the word be Arihanta. This word occurs in Shiva Purana. There was no such Raja as Arhat. Rishabha himself was Arhat or Arihanta. He was praiseworthy and killer of the enemies, the Karmans. If Arhat preached Jainism in Kaliyuga, why is Rishabha called a Jin Deva in Vachaspatya and Adi-Jin Deva in Shabdartha Chintamani. I am told in some Upanishads Rishabha is called Arhat. There was no such Raja as Arhat. Rishabha himself was Arhat. It is owing to mutual jealousy that the author of the Bhagavata makes Arhat copy the Charitra of Rishabha and start Jainism in Kaliyuga. Perhaps he did not like to give Jainism an earlier antiquity. But even if according to him the Charitra of Rishabha was copied, it was that Charitra upon which Jainism was built. In this sense too Rishabha sowed the seeds of Jainism.
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We have also the authority of Nilakantha, the celebrated commentator of the Mahabharata to support the above view. In Mahabharata, Shanti Parva, Moksha Dharma, Adhyaya 263, Nilakantha says in his commentary on Shloka 20 that the Arhatas or the Jains were taken in by the good Acharana of Rishabha
gerû aï “'æqurētai asrdtfaararajë ggr urŝar दयो मोहिताः पाखण्ड मार्ग मनुगताः” । इत्युक्तम्.
Gentlemen, this Adhyaya is worth reading. In this you will find a dialogue between Tula Dhara and Jajali, the former advocating the cause of Ahimsa and
