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Sramana, Vol. 55, No. 1-6
January-June 2004
Jaina Śramaņa Tradition from Ādinātha to Pārsvanātha
Colonel D.S. Baya 'Śreyas *
"Ādimain prthvinātham ca, Ādimam nisparigraham Ādiman Tirthanāthani ca, śri Rsabhasavāminam stumahll"!
In the present context this verse is not being recited merely as a benediction but has much wider connotations. It hails Bhagavān Rşbhadeva as the first ruler of the lands, the first ascetic to take the monastic vows and the first Prophet Propounder of the faith that started the Śramaņa tradition and the Tirharikara the giver of the four-fold socic
order known as tirtha. Indian Philosophical Traditions -
From the very dawn of human civilisation the philosophical traditions on the Indian sub-continent have evolved on two parallel lines - the Vedic and the Sramanic.
The exponents of Vedic tradition believe in their tradition to have been handed down to them by a superhuman entity (apauruṣeya), which they variously describe as the supremesoul or Parabramha. Parabramha is either abstract or manifest. The manifest Parabramha manifests itself in the form of divine trinity or the incarnation triad in the forms of Brahmä, Vişņu and Maheśa. Among them, too, the story of twenty-four incarnations or Avatāra of Vişnu symbolically relate to the story of evolution of life from the marine life (Matsyaavatāra) to a variety of higher life-forms like amphibians (Kūrma-avatāra), tough terrestrial animals (Varāha-avatāra), Pseudohumans (Narasimhaavatāra), midgets (Vāmana-avatara), axe-wielding primitives (Paraşurāma), bow and arrow wielding humans (Rāma-avatāra), more evolved and thoughtful humans who were said to have mastered Yoga (Krsna-avatāra) and the most evolved enlightened, merciful and *E - 26, Bhupalpura, Udaipur - 313 001 (Rajasthan).
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