Tirthankar Mahavir and His Sarvodaya Tirth

Author(s): Hukamchand Bharilla, K C Lalwani
Publisher: Kundkund Kahan Digambar Jain Trust

Page 12

TIRTHANKARA MAHAVIRA AND HIS SARVODAYA TIRTHA
the 22nd Neminatha and the 21st Naminatha have been recognised by history as towering personalities
The kāyotsarga posture of Yogisvara Risabha found in the ruins of Mahenjo-daro has compelled the historians to think as far back as the first Tirthankara Risabhadeva On this, the wellknown historian and poet Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' writes as follows:
“In the excavations at Mahenjo-daro, there is ample evidence about the existence of yoga and the tradition of yoga and vairāgya (detachment) is as much linked with the name of Risabhadeva of the Jaina path as Sakti is with Siva in the Hindu tradition. For this reason, it is not unreasonable for some Jaina scholars to suggest that even though Risabhadeva has been noticed in the Vedas, he is pre-Veda "2
The antiquity of the Jaina religious tradition and the Tirthankaras has been clearly noticed at several places in the earliest works of the Vedic tradition, the Vedas and the Purānas In this context, the following quotation from Dr. Radhakrishnan is worthy of note:
“There is evidence to show that so far back as the first Century B.C. there were people who were worshipping Risabhadeva, the first Tirthankara. There is no doubt that Jainism prevailed even before Vardhamana or Parsvanatha. The Yajurveda mentions the names of three Tırthankaras_Risabha, Ajitanatha and Aristanemi. The Bhāgavat Purāna endorses the view that Risabha was the founder of Jainism "3
Prof. Virupaksa Wadiyar, while presenting the cause of the mention of the Jaina Tirthankaras in the Vedas, writes:
"The naturalist Marici was a close relation of Risabhadeva ..... The hymns written by him are to be found in the Vedas, the Purānas and other texts, and at places therein, he has mentioned the Tirthankaras. There is no reason then not to admit the existence of Jainism during the Vedic period.4
2 Al-Kal, March, 1962, p 8 3 Indian Philosophy, VoII, p 287 4 Mahavira Jayanti Smārika (Souvenir), 1964, p. 42