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RŞABHADEVA
Satya RANJAN BANERJEE
Ādinātha or Rşabhadeva occupies a unique position in the annals of Jaina Hagiology. He was the first Tīrthankara and possessed perfect knowledge (kevalajñāna). According to the tradition there were no less than 84,000 Prakirņakas of each one of the pupils of Rşabha. The name Rşabha is found in the Rgveda (III. 13, 14, IX. 71). There it is said that Rşabha is the son of Viśvāmitra (Rşabha Vaiśvāmitra-Viśvāmitraputrah Rşabhah rşih). In another context of the Rgveda (X. 166) he is called Vairāja or Sākvara (Rşabha vairājo vā Ķşabhaḥ Sākvaraḥ). We do not know anything more than this about Vedic Rşabha. Sāyaṇa in the 14th cent. A.D. could not supply us any more information about Rşabha. However, at a later time in the Lankāvatāra-sūtra (Ch. X), the name Rşabha is mentioned along with Vyāsa, Kanāda, Kapila and others.
Rşabhadeva' or Rşabhanātha, also called Ādinātha, was the son of king Nabhi and queen Marudevi of the Ikşāku race. He is variously called as Vrşabhanātha, Adīśvara, Yugādijina, Yugadisā, Nabhaya and Kausalika. He is also called Marudeva as the son of Marudeví. As he is the first in Jaina Hagiology, he is probably called Ādinātha or Ādīśvara; as he has the bull (urşabha) as his ciņha or cognizance, he is called Vrşabha. Rşabhanātha is a variant of Rşabhadeva. Other names are mostly honorific. He is mostly adorned by the names of Ādinātha and Rşabhadeva in later literature and Jain temples. He
1. James Burgess, The Temples of Satruñjaya, Jain Bhawan,
Calcutta, 1977, p. 5.
