________________
85
INTRODUCTION had for their worship a nude male image called Siśnadeva by the Aryans all the other descriptive terms may fit in with this theory if you take that this Śiśnadeva worship must have been the characteristic of the Rșabha cult introduced by Lord Rşabha, the first Tírtharikara, and encouraged by his son Bharata in the form of a temple-worship. The excavations of Harappa and Mohenjodaro circumstantially corroborate our theory, because among the discoveries resulting from the excavations we have nude images of a yogi considered to be idols used for worship by the people of the Indus Valley civilisation and the symbol of the bull is found in abundance in coins and seals belonging to that period. Hence it will be consistent to maintain that the religious life of the people of the Indus Valley civilisation must have been associated with the Rşabha cult which must have been prevalent throughout the land from Himalayas down to Cape Comorin and further south in Laikā After some time when the invading Aryans completely conquered the whole of Northern India, the people of the land who are called Dasyus must have withdrawn to the south, viz., to this side of the Vindhya hills. That there must have been such a withdrawal by the people of the land to the south is corroborated by the traditional account both in Jaina purapas, and Hindu purápas. According to the Jaina tradition the Northern India was completely occupied by five Ksatriya dynasties, namely, the Ikşvākuvamsa, Harivansa, Kuruvamsa. Ugravamsa and the Nathavamsa. These five Ksatriya groups completely occupied he whole of Northern India and the people of the land who are called Vidyadharas by the Jaina tradition had to be satisfied with the peninsula to the South of the Vindhyas. These Vidyadharas are represented by two important dynasties of ruling families, one of which was more powerful to which Rāvana the emperor of Laikā belonged. The other group was represented by Väli, Sugrīva and Hanumān. According to Jaina tradition, these Vidyadharas were highly cultured people, in fact more cultured than the rest and they were specially skilful in applied science, or Vidyas, on account of which they were called Vidyadharas. They had the privilege of travelling in air by some sort of aerial vehicles or vimānas which they were skilful enough to build for themselves. Since they were skilful people of very high culture, the ruling chiefs of the Ikşvaku family very often entered into matrimonial alliances with these Vidyadhara families, in fact, the Jaina tradition mentions that Lord Rşabha himself married a Vidyadhara princess by whom he had his son Bharata, the first ruler of the land and who gave his name to the land, Bhāratavarşa. These Vidyadhara rulers who were designated as Rākşasas by their political enemies, Aryans, are recognised to be highly cultured by the Aryans themselves. The Jaina tradition makes these Vidyadharas followers of Rşabha cult, strictly practising Ahimsă Dhrama and sternly opposed to Vedic Yajña. There is an interesting chapter in Jaina Rāmāyana Padmapurāpa of the Jainas, which narrates the life story of Śri Rama. The chapter refers to the elaborate
For Private & Personal Use Only
Jain Education International
www.jainelibrary.org
