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unanimous in making Rishabha the first Tirthankara as its founder and there may be something historical in the tradition which makes him the first Tirthankara, There is evidence to show that so far back as the first century B. C. there were people who were worshipping Rishabhadeva. It has been recorded that King Kharvela of Kalinga in his second invasion of Magadha in 161 B. C. brought back treasures from Magadha and in these treasures there was the statue of the first Jaina Tirthankara (Rishabhadeva) which had been carried away from Kalinga three centuries earlier by King Nanda I. This means that in the 5th Century B. C. Rashabhadeva was worshipped and his statue was highly valued by his followers. From this it is argued that if Mahavira or parshvanatha were the founders of Jainism then their statues would have been worshipped by their followers in the 5th Century B.C.i.e, immediately after their time. But as we get in ancient inscriptions authentic histori-cal referencs to the statues of Rishabhadeva it can be asserted that he must have been the founder of Jainism.
Other archaeological evidences belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization of the Bronze Age in India also lend support to the hoary antiquity of the Jaina tradition and suggest the prevalence of the practice of worship of Rishabhadeva, the first Tirthankara, along with the worship of other deities. The recent excavations at Mohenjo Daro and Harappa have revealed the real existence of very well developed Pre-Vedic and non-Aryan Civilization known as the Indus Valley Civilization. As a result, history of India can now be traced back to the Indus Valley period (i. e. about 3500 to 3000 B. C.) and not upto the Vedic period (i. e. about 1500 to 1000 B. C.) only as was being done formerly. In fact the recent researches have shown that there is an organic relationship between the Indus Valley Culture and the present day Indian Culture. It is very pertinent to note that many relics from the Indus Valley excavations suggest the prevalence of Jaina religion in that most ancient period.
(i) It is observed that in the Indus Valley Civilization there is a great preponderance of pottery figures of female deities over those of male deities and that the figures of male deities are shown naked. In this regard Dr, Earnest Mackay, the renowned Archaeologist intimately connected with the Indus Valley excavations, mentions that "For some reason which it is difficult to understand, figures of male deities in pottery are distinctly rare. They are entirely nude, in contrast with the female figures, which invariably wear a little clothing; necklaces and bangles, may be worn, but this is by no means always the case.” This fact clearly reveals the traces of Jaina religion among the Indus Valley people as the worship of nude male deities is a very well established practice in Jaina religion.
(ii) Further, the figures engraved on the seals found in the exavations also suggest the same thing. For example, we find that the figures of six male deities in
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