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BANERJEE: RŞABHADEVA
that they might have also spiritual relief. The idea of ahimsā might not have developed fully at that time, as it was at the time of Mahāvīra, or that idea of ahimsa was perhaps on a par with the Vedic idea of ahimsa, but the doctrine of ahimsa, as it is today among the Jains, owes its origin to as far back as that.
Adinatha or Ṛṣabhadeva is highly adorned by the Jains throughout the ages. The life of Ṛṣabha or Adinatha has also been written by many Jain writers. In Vimala Suri's Paümacariyam, composed during 530 years after the demise of Mahāvīra (C XVIII. 103), the history of Rṣabha is given (III. 18).10 In Ravisena's Padma-purāṇa written in Sanskrit in 678 A.D. the glorification of the first Tirthankara is given. In Haribhadra's commentary on the Avasyaka-niryukti, the story of Rsabha is fully narrated. Dhanapala, Sobhana's brother, composed Ṛṣabhapañcāśikā in 50 stanzas. This poem is divided into two sections section one containing the first 20 verses gives allusions to events in the life of Rṣabha, while the second section is exclusively devoted to the praise of Rṣabha. In the Adi-purana of Jinasena (9th-10th cent. A.D.) the story of Ṛsabha is told. In the Satruñjaya-Māhātmya of Dhanesvara (end of 11th cent. or 1100 A.D.), the story of the first Jina Ṛsabha is given. In the first parvan of Hemacandra's (1088-1172 A.D.) Triṣaṣṭi-śalākā-puruṣacarita, the previous existence of the first Tirthankara, Ṛşabhadeva, is narrated. Abhayacandra (11th cent. A.D.) at the request of the minister Padma wrote the Padmanatha-Mahākāvya where the author intended to give the lives of all 23 Jinas. But he actually describes only the life of Rṣabha, the first Tirthankara, in 19 cantos. Vardhamana wrote his Ādinātha-carita in 1103 A.D. to describe the life of Rsabha. It has 11000 gāthās. Merutunga (1306 A.D.) in his Mahapuruşa-carita has also
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10. See Winternitz, ibid., p. 490, 494, 481, 498, 553f, 503, 506, 517, 548.
