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LORD MAHÂVÎRA AND HIS TEACHINGS
-Dalsukh Malvania
Antiquity of Jainism
Whatever exists in the name of Jaina literature is postMahâvîra. No doubt there are references to Parsva and other Tirthankaras but only on their authority nothing can be proved or disproved. We should take into account the other ancient and contemporaneous literature and also archaeological and other evidences.
In the Vedic literature we find names like Rsabha, Aristanemi and such others but by mere names nothing can be proved. At the most we can say that such names were common in those days. Nothing more than that can be said. Life of Rsabha narrated in the Bhagavata can probably prove this much that he was a welknown person in the Puranic tradition also or that the story of Rsabha as described by the Jainas so attracted the attention of the author of Bhagavata that he in his own way adapted it. Or, it can be said that in Rsabha Vedic and non-Vedic authors found a person whom they could accept equally. But all this does not prove that Rsabha was the first founder of Jainism in the period of time which is beyond our capacity to count. The words such as Kesin or Vatarasana in the Vedas can prove nothing more than what they primarily mean. The tenets that go by the name of Jainism cannot definitely be suggested by those simple words. There is no archaeological or such other proof lying outside the pale of the Jaina literature to prove the existence of Jainism even before 1000 B.C. The nude images found in Mohen-jo-Daro can prove nothing more than that they are nude. On the basis of those nude images some may say that in those days yoga-tradition was prevalent among the people of Mohen-jo-daro. But this is simply a conjecture. We can say nothing definitely until the seals
