Spiritual Awakening and other Essays

Author(s): Kamalchand Sogani
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 44

by some such terms as Vātarasanā, Muni, Yati, Šramaņa, Kesi, Vrātya, Arhan and Siśnadeva". "There can hardly be any doubt that the Muni was to the Rgvedic culture an alien figure." "In the Rgveda, Arhan has been used for a śramana leader." "The mention of Siśnadevas (naked gods) in the Rgveda is also noteworthy?." All this speaks of Jainism as a pre-Vedic religion and Ķşabhanātha as its founder.
According to tradition, Ķşabhanātha founded the social order and family system, taught to mankind the cultivation of land, different arts and crafts, writing etc., improving the lot of his people. That is why the Indian tradition preserves the memory of Ķşabha and has been called in the Brāhmanical texts as an incarnation of god Visņu and Bharata, a Mahāyogi. Owing to the importance of Rşabha in the history of Indian culture, he is called Prajāpáti, Mahādeva, Pasupatinātha, Brahmā etc. It will not be out of place to point out that ancient Indian Script Brāhmī has been styled 'Brāhmi Script' after the name of his daughter, Brāhmī.
Bhārata after Rşabhanātha's son Bharata: "All the main Purāņas like the Vişnu, Agni, Markandeya, Brahmānda, Skanda, Linga Purāņa, etc. unanimously record that India came to be styled as Bhārata after Bharata Cakravartī, a supreme ruler and a great victor, the son and successor of the mighty and enlightened paramount monarch and the first Jaina Tīrthankara. Adinātha or Rşabhanātha of the solar dynasty"}, although certain scholars erroneously accosicate India's name as Bhārata after Bharata, the son of Sakuntalā and Duşyanta.
It may be noted here that attempts are being made to change tradition into history in the modern sense of the word. The historicity of Pārsva (887 B.C.) the 23rd Tīrthankara has been established. The predecessor of Pārsva is Aristanemi (Neminātha) the first cousin of Lord Krşņał0. The twenty first
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