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INTRODUCTION
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them by showing the way of life He taught them how they could obtain food by tilling the soil, that they should take upto agriculture for the production of food, which they could obtain in plenty by their own toil in spite of the fact that the Kalpakavrikshas disappeared. He taught some other people to carry his agriculture produce to different peoples and supply to those that were in need He again set apart a number of ablebodied men for the purpose of defence Thus the first social organisation owes its existence to Lord Vrishabha who divided the society according to its functions into three groups, agriculturists, traders, and soldiers After ruling over his kingdom for several years, he abdicated his throne in favour of his son, Loid Bharata and went into the forests to perform tapas. After the practice of tapas for several years he attained KavalaJnana or Omniscience. then he went about from place to place preaching his Ahimsa dharma to the people of the land, so that they may also have spiritual relief Thus Lord Rishabha is known among the Jainas as Adijina, Adı Bhagavan and so on This first Thirthankara's life is repeated verbatim also in nonJaina puranas for example Bhagavatapurana (V. skanda) The same story is repeated in Vishnupurana and Vayupurana also All these Hindu puranas maintain that Lord Rishabha preached the doctrine of Ahimsa after performing yoga for several years He went about from place to place completely discarding all ornaments and clothes, and hence he was misunderstood by the people to have gone mad The repetition of this life history of Lord Risbabha in non-Jaina puianas can only be explained by the fact that at one time when the story was a common property to both Jainas and non-Jainas the hero must have been considered as worthy of worship by all.
According to Jaina tradition when Lord Rishbha attained his Nirvana in Mount Kailas, his son and the ruling emperor of the land, Lord Bharata built a temple in the place of Nirvana and installed an image of Lord Rishabha for the purpose of worship for himself as well as for the general public. This worship of Lord Rishabha's idol must have been prevalent throughout India from far-off ancient period of the Indian history. That it was so pre
