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58
Rishibhashit : A Study
mandal, Vayureta, and Vayuveg Rishis. But first of all they appear to be Pauranic (pre-historic) not historical, and secondly there is no apparant similarity with Vayu Rishi. Besides this, another Rishi named Vayubhaksha has been mentioned; he was present in the assembly of Yudhishthar232 and also met Krishna on the way. Vayubhakshi ascetics have also been mentioned in Aupapatik.
As regards the preachings of Vayu Rishi are concerned, he chiefly propagates the Karma principle. He says that as one sows so he reaps, good deeds bring good results and bad deeds bad. No act goes in vain. How the fruitition of Karma takes place after death has been asserted by stating that it is the roots that are watered but fruits grow on branches, which means that fruit is displaced by time and space from the act of watering. Similarly, the effect of the deeds takes place at a different place at different time. Besides this simple propagation of Karma principle, no other original thought is found in this chapter.
31. PARSHWA
The thirty first chapter of Rishibhashit233 contains the philosophical thoughts of Arhat Parshwa. Although the traditional belief of Jains is that this Arhat Parshwa was a Pratyek Buddha contemporary and not Teerthankar Parshwa himself. But all scholars unanimously aco he is Parshwa himself. The Propagation of Chaturyam (four dimensional religion) in his preachings is a conclusive evidence of this theory234. Although the Buddhist and Vedic sources do not provide any information about Parshwa, the propagation of Chaturyam sanyam by Nirgranth Jnata putra in Buddhist tradition is in fact the Chaturyam of Parshava.
Similarly, Buddhist literature contains information about Buddha's uncle, Vappashakya, being a follower of Nirgrantha tradition. Vappa also must have been from the tradition of Parshwa, because Mahavir's tradition was only at the developing stage during that period. The historicity of Parshwa is established by various evidences and many Eastern and Western scholars have accepted this. In this context I have dealt in my book Arhat Parshwa and His Tradition'235; readers may consult it for further details.
In Jain canonical literature details about Parshwa and his tradition are available in Acharanga236, Sutrakritang237, Samvayang238, Bhagwati239, Aupapatic240, Rajprashniya241, Niryavalika242, Kalpa-sutra243, Avashyakchurni 244 etc. Besides this, many story books contain story of Parshwa's life partly and fully. Uttaradhyayan, Sutrakritang and Bhagwati have
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