Rishabhanatha

According to Jain cosmology, the universe does not have a temporal beginning or end. Its "Universal History"[11] divides the cycle of time into two halves (avasarpiṇī and utsarpiṇī) with six aras (spokes) in each half, and the cycles keep repeating perpetually. Twenty-four Tirthankaras appear in every half, the first Tirthankara founding Jainism each time. In the present time cycle, Rishabhanatha is credited as being the first tīrthaṅkara, born at the end of the third half (known as suṣama-duṣamā ārā).[12][13][14]

According to Jain texts, Rishabhanatha lived millions of years ago.[7][4] He was born in a king's family in the age when there was happiness all around with no one needing to do any work because of Kalpavriksha (miraculous wish-fulfilling trees).[12][15][11] Gradually as the cycle progressed, the efficacy of these trees decreased,[11] people rushed to their king for help.[12][16] Rishabhanatha is then said to have taught the men six main professions. These were: (1) Asi (swordsmanship for protection), (2) Masi (writing skills), (3) Krishi (agriculture), (4) Vidya (knowledge), (5) Vanijya (trade and commerce) and (6) Shilp (crafts).[17][18] In other words, he is credited with introducing karma-bhumi (the age of action) by founding arts and professions to enable householders to sustain themselves.[11][19][20] He is, in the Jain belief, the one who organized a social system that created the varna based on professions.[11][21]

Rishabhanatha is credited in Jainism to have invented and taught fire, cooking and all skills needed for human beings to live. In total, Rishabhanatha is said to have taught seventy-two sciences to men and sixty-four to women.[4] According to Paul Dundas, Rishabhanatha in Jain mythology is thus not merely a spiritual teacher but one who founded knowledge in its various forms and a form of culture hero for the current cosmological cycle.[11]

The institution of marriage is stated to have come into existence after he married to set an example for other humans to follow.[12][19] His life is also credited by Jains with starting the institution of charity (daana) from layperson to mendicants, when he received sugarcane juice in his hand from King Shreyansha (his great grandson), to break his fast. This is accepted in the Jain tradition as what started the tradition of alms giving in its various forms, and one that has continued since ancient times in India.[11]

Rishabhanatha is said to be the founder of Jainism of present Avsarpini (a time cycle) by the different Jain sub-traditions.[12][6] Jain chronology places Rishabhanatha in historical terms, as someone who lived millions of years ago.[7][22] He is stated to have lived for 8,400,000 purva years.[1][2] His height is described in the Jain texts to be 500 arc lengths (800 ells), or about 1,200 feet/366 meters.[1] Such descriptions of non-human heights and age are also found for the next 21 Tirthankaras in Jain texts and according to Kristi Wiley – a scholar at University of California Berkeley known for her publications in Jainism, most Indologists and scholars consider all the first 22 of 24 Tirthankaras to be prehistorical,[23] or historical and a part of Jain mythology.[1][24] However, among Jain writers and some Indian scholars, some of the first 22 Tirthankaras are considered to reflect historical figures, with a few conceding that the inflated biographical statistics are mythical.[25]

According to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a professor of comparative religions and philosophy at Oxford who later became the second President of India, there is evidence to show that Rishabhdeva was being worshipped by the first century BCE. The Yajurveda [note 1] mentions the name of three Tirthankaras – Rishabha, Ajitanatha and Arishtanemi, states Radhakrishnan, and "the Bhāgavata Purāṇa endorses the view that Rishabha was the founder of Jainism".[26]

Rishabhanatha is known by many names among Jains including Adinatha, Adishwara, Yugadeva and Nabheya.[8] Ādi purāṇa, a major Jain text records the life accounts of Rishabhanatha as well as ten previous incarnations.[27]

Birth

Janma kalyāṇaka from the Kalpa Sutra, c. 14th–15th Century CE

Rishabhanatha was born to King Nabhi and Queen Marudevi in Ayodhya, on the ninth day of the dark half of the month of Chaitra-caitra krişna navamĩ.[12][28][29] This is the second auspicious event and is known as Janma Kalyanaka.[30] The association of Rishabhanatha to Ayodhya makes it a sacred town for Jains, as it is in Hinduism for the birth of the Rama.[4]

In Jain tradition, the birth of a Tirthankara is marked by auspicious signs such as certain dreams. Garbha Kalyanaka is the first auspicious event out of five auspicious events (Panch Kalyanaka). It means enlivening of the embryo through the descent of the life (soul) in the mortal body.[31] On the second day of Ashadha (a month of the Jain calendar) Krishna (dark fortnight), Queen Marudevi is said to have seen fourteen auspicious dreams. King Nabhi explained these dreams to her as a sign of Tirthankara's birth. Rishabhanatha, according to Jain texts, was born after these dreams.[32]

Renunciation

Statuary representing meditation by Rishabhanatha in Kayotsarga posture. (Photo:Ajmer Jain temple)

One day, god Indra of the first heaven arranged a dance by celestial dancers in the assembly hall of Rishabhanatha.[38] One of the dancers was Nilanjana.[28][39] While in the midst of a series of vigorous dance movements, she died.[40] The sudden death of Nilanjana reminded Rishabhanatha of the world's transitory nature, triggering him to renounce his kingdom along with his family and material wealth.[38][40] He gave his kingdom to his hundred sons, of whom Bharata got the city of Vinita (Ayodhya) and Bahubali got the city of Podanapur (Taxila).[39] He became an ascetic on the ninth day of the month of Chaitra Krishna (Hindu calendar). According to Jain mythologies, he practiced severe austerities for 1,000 years, then gained enlightenment, became a Jina.[4]

Omniscience

Rishabhanatha's moving over lotus after attaining omniscience

Rishabhanatha spent a thousand years performing austerities and then attained Kevala Jnana (omniscience) on the 11th day of Falgun Krishna (Hindu calendar) under a banyan tree.[44] The Devas (heavenly beings) created a divine preaching hall known as samavasarana. This is the fourth of Panch Kalyanaka and is known as Kevala Jnāna Kalyanaka. Rishabhanatha attracted a large community of followers that included Sramanas, male and female mendicants, sages and disciples.[2] His sangha (religious order) consisted of 84,000 sadhus (male monks) and 3,00,000 sadhvis (female monks) as per the mentions in Kalpa Sutra.[45]

Nirvana Kalyanaka, death

Mount Kailash or Ashtapad, the Nirvana place of Rishabhdeva.

Rishabhanatha is said to have preached Jainism far and wide.[46] At his death, he attained Nirvana[47] (also called Moksha), all four of his ghati karma were destroyed, his soul was liberated from the endless cycle of rebirths, to stay eternally at siddhaloka. His death is believed in Jainism to have occurred on Ashtapada (also known as Mount Kailash)[48] on the fourteenth day of Magha Krishna (Hindu Calendar) at the age of 84 lakh purva years, with three years and eight and a half months remaining of the third ara.[40]

According to medieval era Jain text, Rishabha (Adinatha) performed asceticism for millions of years, then returned to Ashtapada where he fasted to his death (moksha) and then god Indra came, with his fellow gods from the heavens, to cremate his body with sandalwood, camphor, butter and other fire offerings.[49]

The Rishabhanatha iconography is identified by the bull stamped or carved below his feet. On the center of his chest is a shrivatsa.

• The Ādi purāṇa, a 9th-century Sanskrit poem,[27] and a 10th-century Kannada language commentary on it by the poet Adikavi Pampa (fl. 941 CE), written in Champu style, a mix of prose and verse and spread over sixteen cantos, deals with the ten lives of Rishabhanatha and his two sons.[50][51] The life of Rishabhanatha is also detailed in Mahapurana of Jinasena, Trisasti-salaka-purusa-caritra by the scholar Hemachandra, Kalpa Sutra a Jain text containing the biographies of the Jain Tirthankaras, and Jambudvipa-prajnapti.[52][53]
• Bhaktamara Stotra by Acharya Manatunga is one of the most prominent prayers mentioning Rishabhanatha.[54]
• There is mention of Rishabha in Hindu texts, such as in the Rigveda, Vishnu Purana and Bhagavata Purana (in 5th canto).[55][56] In the ancient Hindu texts, the term means "bull" and not the Rishabhanatha. In later texts, such as the Bhagavatapurana, he is described as an avatar of Vishnu, a great sage, known for his learning and austerities.[52][57]
• Rishabhanatha is also mentioned in Buddhist literature. It speaks of several tirthankara and includes Rishabhanatha along with: Padmaprabha, Chandraprabha, Pushpadanta, Vimalanatha, Dharmanatha, and Neminatha. A Buddhist scripture named Dharmottarapradipa mentions Rishabhanatha as an Apta (Tirthankara).[34]

Rishabhanatha is usually depicted in the lotus position or kayotsarga, a standing posture of meditation. The distinguishing features of Rishabhanatha are his long locks of hair which fall on his shoulders, and an image of a bull in sculptures of him.[58] Paintings of him usually depict legendary events of his life. Some of these include his marriage, and Indra performing a ritual known as abhisheka (consecration). He is sometimes shown presenting a bowl to his followers and teaching them the art of pottery, painting a house, or weaving textiles. The visit of his mother Marudevi is also shown extensively in painting.[59] He is also associated with his Bull emblem, the Nyagrodha tree, Gomukha (bull-faced) Yaksha, and Chakreshvari Yakshi.[60]

Rishabhanatha is one of the five most devotionally revered Tirthankaras, along with Mahavira, Parshvanatha, Neminatha and Shantinatha.[10] Various Jain temple complexes across India feature him, and these are important pilgrimage sites in Jainism. Mount Shatrunjaya, for example, is a hilly part of southern Gujarat, which is believed to have been a place where 23 out of 24 Tirthankaras preached, along with Rishabha.[67] Numerous monks are believed to have attained their liberation from cycles of rebirth there, and a large temple within the complex is dedicated to Rishabha commemorating his enlightenment in Ayodhya. The central Rishabha icon of this complex is called Adinatha or simply Dada (grandfather). This icon is the most revered of all the murtipujaka icons, believed by some in the Jain tradition to have miracle making powers, according to John Cort.[67] In Jain texts, Kunti and the five Pandava brothers of the Hindu Epic Mahabharata came to the hill top to pay respects, and consecrated an icon of Rishabha at Shatrunjaya.[68]

Important Rishabha temple complexes include:

• Palitana temples
• Kulpakji
• Kundalpur
• Bibrod Tirth
• Paporaji
• Hanumantal Bada Jain Mandir

• 
  Ranakpur Jain temple, Ranakpur, Rajasthan
• 
  Adinatha temple, Khajuraho, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
• 
  Dilwara Temples, Mount Abu, Rajasthan
• 
  Sanghiji Jain temple, Sanganer, Rajasthan
• 
  Nasiyan Ji Jain temple, Ajmer
• 
  Nareli Jain Temple, Ajmer
• 
  Adishwar Temple, Palitana
• 
  Rishabhdeo
• 
  Panchakuta Basadi
• 
  Maladevi temple

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• List of Jain Tirthankaras
• God in Jainism
• History of Jainism
• Siddha