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CHAPTER EIGHT
Iconography of 24 Tīrtharkaras
1. FIRST TIRTHANKARA: RŞABHANATHA
The first Jaina Tirthankara R$abhanātha (or Visobranātha) is variously invoked as Adinātha, Adiśvara. Yugădideva, Nābheya (son of Nābhi), and so on. He was the son of Nābhi and Marudevi ruling from the city of Ayodhya. Näbhiraja was the last of the Kulakaras according to the Svetämbaras. whereas Rşabha, the son of Nábhi (also a Kulakara) was the last Kulakara according to the Digambaras. Rsabhanatha is further addressed as Prathama-rāja (First King), Prathama-bhikṣuka (First Anchoret) and the Prathama or Adi-nätha (First Lord or Tirthankara).1
Golden in complexion, Rşabha descended upon this earth from the Sarvärthasiddhi vimāna (heaven) of Jaina cosmography and was born in the Uttarășădha nakșatra, according to both the sects. The Āyasvaka Niryukti offers two explanations of his name: He was so called because he had the mark of a bull (vrşabha) on his thigh (urū). Or, because the bull was the first amongst the (fourteen-Sve., or sixteen-Dig.) dreams seen by his mother (at the time of his descent from heaven), he was called Vrşabha. 2
Digambara writers generally say that the name of every Tirthaokara was given by Indra at the end of the birth-bath ceremony. In his Adipurāņa, Jinasena offers various explanations. Being the best and the greatest of all in the universe he was called Vrsabha, or because he showered the nectar of Dharma or because his mother had seen a bull amongst the (sixteen) auspicious dreams and so on.3 The bull also became his cognizance according to both the sects.
According to the Adipurāņa of Jinasena, Yaśasvati and Sunandā were the two queens of Rşabha, according to the Harivamśa they were Sunanda and Nanda, while according to Svetambara writers they were Sunanda and Sumangalā. Bahubali, a son and Sundari, a daughter, were born to his wife Sunanda while the other queen gave birth to Bharata and a daughter named Brāhmi. In all one hundred sons were born.
Rsabhadeva first taught people how to kindle fire as also various arts, including the seventy-two arts for females and the sixty-four arts for males. He taught dramaturgy to his son Bharata, as also the various methods of warfare and instructed his two daughters Brāhmi and Sundari in writing (scripts) and arithmetic respectively. Rşabha invented town-planning and divided his people into three classes of Ksatriyas, Vaisyas and Sūdras, on the basis of their professions. Indra built the city of Vinita for Rşabhadeva.
Having enjoyed kingship for an extraordinary number of years, Rşabha renounced the world at the request of Laukāntika gods. Ravisena and other Digambara authors say that after seeing the dance of Nilāñjanā Rşabha's mind turned away from worldly pleasures. It is said Indra had sent the dancer for this very purpose and when, in the midst of dance, Nilāñjanā suddenly disappeared, Rşabha thought of the evanescence of all worldly objects.
Two fragments of a frieze from Mathura, assignable to Sunga age, now preserved in the museum at Lucknow (nos. J.354 +609) seem to represent the scene of the dance of Nilāñjana and Rşabha meditating after turning a monk (Fig. 18). Under a pavilion, a female is dancing in front of a royal personage. The standing figures on the right appear to be Laukāntika gods while the naked figure (half preserved and
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