Jinamanjari 1996 04 No 13

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 82

of the view that the term vatarasana was used in the sense of Jain monk. Further, he contends that like the word sramana, vatarasana term was also used for the ascetic tradition, which, without any doubt, was pre-Vedic. In his article, R.P. Chanda gives a detailed description of the seal:9
Not only the seated deities engraved on some of the Indus seals are in yoga posture and bear witness to the prevalence of yoga in the Indus Valley in the remote age, the standing deities on the seals also show kayotsarga posture of yoga (p. 159), ... (which ) is peculiarly Jain. It is a posture, not of sitting, but of standing. In the Adipurana, Book XVIII, kayotsarga posture is described in connection with the penances of Rishbha or Vrishabh (Rsabha), the first Jina of the Jinas (p. 158). [In comparison) to a standing image of Jina Rishabha in kayotsarga posture on a stele showing four such images assignable to the second century A.D. (Curzon Museum of Archaeology, Mathura), ... both the early Egyptian statues and the archaic Greek Kouroi, though show nearly the same pose, they lack the feeling of abandon that characterizes the standing figures on the Indus seals and images of Jinas in the kayotsarga posture. The name Rishabah means bull, and the bull is the emblem of Jina Rishabha (Curzon Museum of Archaeology, Mathura).
In R.P. Chanda's description of the Indus seal Rsabha image may be considered as belonging to earlier times. The engravings of meditative Rsabha, trisula, kalpavrksa twig, the bull, Bharata and his council of ministers - are important evidences, which find support in the Jain literature. 10 Historian Radhakumud Mukherjee also supports this view.!! A similar image of Rsabha is also found in Mathura Museum. 12 P.C.
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