Book Title: Path of Arhat
Author(s): T U Mehta
Publisher: Sohanlal Smarak Parshwanath Shodhpitha Varanasi

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 37
________________ 12 ] The Path of Arhat: A Religious Democracy 'One who has taken birth to teach the path of Kaivalya (Pure Knowledge )'. 'Maha-muni' ( a great saint ), 'one who possessed devotion, knowledge and non-attachment'. The above references exalting Rṣabhadeva in Vedas and Puranas of Hindus make us to believe that he belonged to the Aryan stock and adopted Śramana practices for spiritual progress. However, it is an uphill task to ascertain his date. Traditional Jaina sources contend that he lived millions of years before in pre-historic times. His father Nabhi Rajā is considered, even by Hindu scriptures as the last of Manus ('Manu' was not the name of any particular person but it was the name given to a designation of one who led the society). If this means that Rṣabhadeva ruled Ayodhya (Vinita ) after the advent of Aryans in India, the period of his reign can hardly be fixed 5000 years ago from today. Since he belonged to Ikṣvāku dynasty of Rulers of Ayodhya to which many illustrious rulers including Dasaratha and his son Rama, the venerated hero of Ramayana belonged, it is reasonable to conclude that this great master, the first Tirthankara of the Jainas, must have flourished 5 to 6 thousand years ago, and became the principal exponent of Śramaņa tradition. In addition to Ṛşabhadeva we have historical references of 22nd Tirthankara Neminatha, a cousin of Śrikṛṣṇa, Śrī Pārsvanatha, 23rd Tirthankara and Śrī Mahavira, the 24th and the last Tirthankara only. Śri Neminatha The 22nd Tirthankara was born in the illustrious 'Yadu' family of Srikṛspa of Mahabharata. His father Samudravijaya was the elder brother of Vasudeva, the father of Srikṛṣpa thus being Śrīkṛṣṇa's nearest cousin. He was also known as Ariṣṭanemi and is referred to as such in Rgveda (2. 33. 10) and again in its 6th Adhyaya ( Chapter). Yadavas were a brave, virile and prosperous race of Ksatriyas of Northern India. Jarasandha, the ruler of Magadha, was a very powerful monarch, feeling envious of the Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262