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४४२ / जैनपरम्परा और यापनीयसंघ/ खण्ड १
अ०५ / विस्तृत सन्दर्भ for Neminātha, the contemporary of Krşņa, the Lord of the BhagavadGītā. Recent excavations at Hastināpura near Meerut, the cradle of the activities of the Pandavas, has given a date as 1100-800 B.C. of occupation. We have yet to account for 21 Tīrthankaras that preceded Neminātha in a hierarchical order. If we push back the dates proportionately to each Tīrthankara, we are led to find that the first Tīrthankara Adinātha also called Vrsabha Deva stands on the threshold of the last quarter of the 3rd millennium B.C. The statuette under description has been assigned by critics a date between 2400-2000 B.C. That the first Tirthankara, the founder of Jainism, Adinātha, also bore the name Vrsabha is significant, for the Riks of the Rig Veda are fond of repeating that it was Vrşabha that performed the function of proclaiming great truths including the advent of a Great God
त्रिधा बद्धो वृषभो रोरवीति महोदेवो मानाविवेश॥ That Adinātha alias Vrṣabha Deva founded a new order of faith in a sheer spirit of protest against Vedic sacrifices and injury to animals is the first fundamental event that took place in the career of Jainism. Subsequent events and followers of Ādinātha—the Tīrthankaras and Siddhas put his faith on a firm wheel—the wheel of Ahiṁsā—and set it moving which, as it moved into time and space, gained strength like electric coils and surcharged the atmosphere with the reverberation “Ahiṁsā paramodharmaḥ."
That Vrsabha Deva should have been naked is a point too wellknown to be disputed as absolute nudity being an indispensable factor of holiness was the pivotal doctrine of the Jaina creed. If the Rig Veda seeks the help of Indra, one of the Vedic Gods, for protection of Vedic sacrifices from Siśna Devas or the naked Gods, it is obvious that the Rig Veda is only chronicling a fact of history, namely, that the origin of Jainism such as Vrşabha Deva contemplated and ushered in was with the purpose of putting an end to animal sacrifices that were associated with the Vedic Yajñas. To win the confidence of one and all and to convince humanity of the loftiness of his mission, the First Tirthankara threw away all clothing, thus exposing himself and his followers to the lime-light of self-sacrifice which began with physical sacrifice ( Kāyotsarga). That the other Tīrthankaras perpetuated this doctrine is the delightful story that Indian art in the service of Jainism presents to humanity. The statuette under description is, therefore, a splendid representative specimen of this thought of Jainism at perhaps its very inception.
(HARAPPA AND JAINISM : T. N. RAMACHANDRAN, Published by Kundakunda Bharati Prakashan, New Delhi 1987 A.D.)
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