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26
Rishibhashit : A Study
disciple of Arishtanemi, but he was actually a contemporary of Mahavir and Buddha. On the basis of the preachings in Rishibhashit and description in Avashyak-churni we can only infer that Pushpshalputra was a thinker giving primary importance to humility.
During the period of Mahavir and Buddha there was a tradition preaching humility. In my opinion Pushpshalaputra must have been a prominent Acharya of that tradition. In his preachings in Rishibhashit the direction are mainly about abandoning evil deeds like violence, libido, possessiveness, falsehood and anger, conceit etc. He says that the being who is free of evil attitudes like anger, conceit etc. and follows the conduct specified in canons gains knowledge about soul. As such in his preaching importance appears to have been given to riddance from evil and humility in conduct.
Besides Jain tradition, in Buddhist tradition also we find mention of Pushpsthavir (Fussather). In Atthakatha of Thergatha91 and Apadan his preachings have been given in details. in his preachings, available in Pali litarature, mostly the evil attitudes of the future monks and nuns have been detailed. As such he appears to be giving more stress on following the canonical conduct. The same can also be seen in Rishibhashit in simple terms. Still we can not conclusively say that Pushpshalputra of Rishibhashit is same as Pushpsthavir of Pali literature.
One indication from Buddhist literature is that he was a Pandar monk. Information about Pandar monks comes from Jain as well as Buddhist sources. It is possible that Pushpshalputra might have been from the tradition of Pandar monks and that tradition might have been the tradition preaching humility.
His preaching in Rishibhashit commences with "Palms joined he put his forehead on the ground and abandoned all activities including eating." A strong possibility is that he was a monk belonging to some tradition other than the Nirgranth. In the end he must have fasted unto death. But in absence of detailed information it is not possible to infer much.
from
Vedic
We have not been able to get information about him sources.
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