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Rishabha Deva as the founder of Jainism. Had Jainism been established by Mahavira, or Parasvanath, they would be sure to know it, and, instead of confirming the Jaina tradition about the origin of their religion, would have flatly contradicted it as untrue. As Stevenson says in his "Kalpa Sutra and Nava Tattva," the Hindus and Jainas agree so rarely with each other that we cannot afford to refuse credence to their agreement when it is actually reached on any point.
I think this much is quite sufficient to show that Jainism really originated in this cycle of time with Rishabha Deva, and that there is absolutely no reason to discredit the tradition about the other Tirthamkaras. Of course, it is not possible to adduce strict historical proof of things that took place beyond two thousand and eight hundred years ago, but there are really no adequate grounds for disbelieving the Jaina tradition in this regard, especially as it is confirmed by the Hindu account concerning the existence of the very first Tirthamkara. It will be noticed that it has never been the Hindu case that the Jainas are Hindu dissenters. This wonderful discovery was reserved to be made by the learned of the twentieth century! If any one will go through what I have said on the subject in my "Jaina Law," he will soon be convinced of the error involved in the view. I have no time to go into an intricate question like this in this short note, but I will sum up the entire argument in a single sentence: on the hypothesis of the allegorical exegesis of the Vedas, Jainism becomes the source of Hinduism; but if we reject that undoubtedly correct supposition, then there is absolutely nothing in common left between Jainism and Hinduism, so that the one cannot have sprung from the other by any possibility!
The other point is whether Jainism encourages suicide. If the modern investigator would only read what is written, in bold letters and clear language, in one of the Jaina Sastras on the subject, he would find ample food for reflection there. This is how the passage (rendered in English) runs :---
TWO MISCONCEPTIONS
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Bhaktapratyakhyana marana is not proper for him who has many years of saintly life before him, who has no fear of starvation from a great famine, who is not afflicted by an incurable disease, and who is not faced by any sudden cause of death.
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