According to the Jain measurement
of cosmic time one cycle of time has two divisions.
These two divisions, ascending time-cycle
there is a gradual improvement in physical
and mental conditions, including physical
strength, health, happiness and simplicity,
of beings as well as climatic and life supporting
conditions. During the descending time-cycle
there is a gradual deterioration in these
conditions.
The Age of the Twins
During the first three Aras of the
current descending cycle man was completely dependent
on nature for all his needs. The wish-fulfilling
trees provided all that he needed. Man was simple,
peaceful and contented in attitude. The environment
was absolutely unpolluted. Water was tasteful, cold,
and sweet. Even the sand was sweet as sugar. The
air was healthy and exhilarating. The grains and
fruits were nutritious and filing. A simple meal
of little quantity of fruit and water lasted for
days. Filled stomach and satisfied desires acted
as antidote to irritation and reduced disputes and
other sinful activities. The whole animal kingdom
lived in harmony with the nature.
With the passage of time gradual changes occurred
and around the end of the third Ara the yield from
the Kalpa-vrikshas reduced. The alround deterioration
in conditions spelled the beginning of quarrels
and disputes. To guard against these disputes and
to live in peace and harmony, man formed groups
and the Kulkar system was evolved. A number of people
collected to form a ‘Kula’ (family) and the head
of the group was called ‘Kulkar’. It was the duty
of the ‘Kulkar’ to remove discord and establish
order. Nabhiraja was the seventh and the last in
the line of Kulkars. His wife was Marudeva. This
epoch of Kulkar system was known as the epoch of
twins (Yugalia). A human couple used to give birth
to a twin- one male and one female. This twin would
become husband and wife on reaching adulthood. The
twins used to lead a happy and contented life and
died a natural death together.
To consume what was available was the way of life.
As such this period was also known as Bhog-Bhumi-Kaal
or the era of free consumption. Upto the time of
Kulkar Nabhiraja man lived in this land of abundance.
Birth of Rishabhdev
It was during the last part of the
third Ara of the current descending cycle of time
that the great and pious soul that was to become
Rishabhdev descended into the womb of Marudeva on
the fourth day of the dark half of the month of
Ashadh during the night.
In the ancient Jain scriptures it is mentioned that
during many previous births, the soul that was to
be Rishabhdev had done prolonged spiritual practices.
As a result of high degree of purity of thoughts
and attitude as well as penance, meditation, charity
and benevolent deeds it had earned highly pious
Karmas.
In his incarnation as Dhanna, the caravan leader,
he had offered alms and services to ascetics and
others. As doctor Jivanand he had taken ample care
of ailing masses as well as ascetics. As king Vajranabh
he had supported poor and desolate masses. After
many years of public services to ascetics and others.
As doctor Jivanand he had taken ample care of ailing
masses as well as ascetics. As king Vajranabh he
had supported poor and desolate masses. After many
years of public service Vajranabh renounced the
world and became an ascetic. As a result of unprecedented
spiritual practices, including religious studies,
penance, tolerance, and meditation, he earned Tirthankar-nam-and-gotra-karma.
These pious deeds of earlier births resulted in
his taking birth as Rishabhdev.
When this pious soul was conceived, mother Marudeva
dreamt of fourteen auspicious things. The first
thing she saw in her dream was that a beautiful
and large white bull was entering her mouth. The
other things she saw in her dream are as follows:
2. A giant elephant having four tusks,
3. A lion,
4. Goddess Laxmi seated on a lotus,
5. A garland of flowers,
6. The full moon resplendent in the sky,
7. The scintillating sun,
8. A fluttering flag,
9. A golden urn,
10. A pond full of lotus flowers,
11. A sea of milk,
12. A space vehicle of gods,
13. A heap of gems,
14. Smokeless fire,
Nabhiraja was an experienced and scholarly person.
When he heard about these dreams from Maudeva, he
said, "Devi! You will give birth to a highly endowed
soul who will show the path of peace and happiness
to this world"
BIRTH CELEBRATIONS
On the eighth
day of the dark half of the month of Chaitra,
around midnight, healthy Marudeva gave birth to
twins. This pious birth influenced the surroundings.
The sky became filled with a soothing glow, the
wind became fragrant and the whole atmosphere
became impregnated with unprecedented joy that
was hard to describe.
From all around came the fifty six goddesses of
directions. They circumambulated the Tirthankar’s
mother and bowed before her. They also sang in
praise of the child that was to become Tirthankar
and then proceeded to perform post-birth cleaning
rituals.
At that instant the king of gods of the Saudharm
dimension, Saudharmendra Shakra, also came to
know that the first Tirthankar has taken birth.
He arrived with his large retinue of gods and,
bowed before the mother,
"O great mother! I, Saudharmendra Shakra, bow
before you and offer my salutations."
After the salutations the mother was put to sleep.
Saudharmendra created five look alike bodies of
himself. With one body he carefully lifted the
baby in his hands. With the second body he took
an umbrella in his hands and stationed the body
behind the baby. With the third and fourth bodies
he took whisks and stationed these bodies on both
sides of the baby. With the fifth body he lifted
his divine weapon, Vajra, and stationed himself
ahead of the baby as a body guard. In this formation
the king of gods airlifted the baby to Meru mountain.
There, all gods, including their 64 kings with
their consorts, ceremoniously performed the post-birth
anointing rituals. This ceremony, popularly known
as Janma-kalyanak, of a Tirthankar, is unparalleled
in this world.
Giving the name
Next morning Nabhiraja organized the birth celebrations.
He invited his friends and relatives to a feast
and announced, "As there is a sign of a bull on
the thigh of the new born, and Marudeva first
of all saw a bull in her great dreams, we name
this child as ‘Rishabh Kumar’." His twin will
be known as "Sumangala".
The Beginning of the Ikshvaku
Clan
When Rishabh Kumar was one year
old, Saudharmendra came to Kulkar Nabhi for formalizing
the family name. He carried a sugar-cane in his
hand Baby Rishabh was sitting in his fathers lap.
When he saw the sugar-cane he eagerly extended his
tiny hands to grab it. Saudharmendra gave the sugar-cane
to the baby and seeing his affinity for sugar-cane
(Ikshu) he formally named the family as Ikshvaku.
Marriage
Rishabh Kumar was married to a
girl named Sunanda whose twin died in an accident.
This was the beginning of the marriage system. He
was also married to his twin Sumangala in a ceremony
that was arranged by the gods. Prince Rishabh led
a happy married life. In due course Sumangala gave
birth to Bharat, Brahmi and ninety eight other sons.
Sunanda gave birth to Bahubali and Sundari.
Evolution of Crafts and Trades
Prince Rishabh was a highly endowed,
farsighted and industrious individual. He had a
profound insight into the human psychology. Looking
at the needs the times and society he evolved numerous
arts, crafts and trades and taught them to people
with right aptitude and physical and mental capacities.
To some he taught farming and to others the trade
of agricultural produce. He invented the alphabets,
language, and the numbers along with the tools for
writing. For self defense he evolved martial arts
and taught these to individuals with strong physique.
He also established systems of social security and
penal codes. Pottery, architecture, music, dance,
and many other arts and crafts that enriched the
human society in the fields of knowledge, arts,
entertainment, administration, etc. are said to
be his contributions.
Then one day, on the request of the people’s representatives.
Nabhiraja nominated Rishabh to become the first
king of this age. He arranged for an elaborate coronation
ceremony and handed over the reigns of the state
to Rishabh Kumar. The ceremony was attended by all
members of the family, large number of twins, and
gods. The gods created a golden throne and anointed
Rishabh with the water collected from various pilgrimage
centres. They attired him in divine dress and ornaments
and formally put the crown on his head. The twins
humbly poured water on his feet from the cups made
of lotus leaves. Rishabh became the first king of
this era. The king of gods ordered Kuber, the god
of wealth, to construct a suitable city. This beautiful
city was named Vinita; later on it became popularly
known as Ayodhya.
Preaching the Path of Renunciation
For many years Rishabhdev continued to rule his
people and open new frontiers of knowledge. During
the reign of his father the population was organized
into random groups only. Rishabhdev reorganized
them according to their virtues, activities and
professions, and broadly divided the society into
three groups. Trading community was known as Vaishya,
martial community was known as Kshtriya and all
other people indulging in a variety of services
were known as Shudra. Till his times the Brahman
group was not formed.
After a long span of time (6.3 million Purva)
he started loosing interest in mundane things
and activities, and drifting toward detachment.
He felt that he should transfer all his responsibilities
to his sons and proceed towards liberation through
spiritual practices. He also desired to reach
the state of omniscience and consequently show
the path of disciplined life and spiritual practices.
His concept was that indulgence in mundane things
does give happiness. It gives only an illusion
of happiness. True happiness is derived out of
freedom from mundane indulgences.
Following the stream of his thoughts Rishabhdev
divided the area of his rule between his one hundred
sons. Bharat was given the state of Ayodhya and
Bahubali that of Takshashila. Getting free of
the responsibilities of the state, Rishabhdev
decided to take Diksha (the formal initiation
into the ascetic way). At that time the gods from
the edge of the universe (the Lokantikdev) arrived
and requested, "O savior of the human race! Your
desire to show the path of renunciation to the
mankind is admirable, kindly proceed soon to the
task of propagating Dharma."
After one year of meritorious charity, Rishabhdev
sat in the palanquin named Sudarshan and arrived
in the Siddharth-vana garden. it was the eighth
day of the dark half of the month of chaitra when,
under an Ashok tree, Rishabhdev abandoned all
his apparels and ornaments. He started pulling
out his long strands of hair. After four fistfuls,
when he was pulling out the fifth fistful of hair
Indra said, "Sire! This strand of hair on the
crown of your head and hanging down over you shoulders
looks attractive. Kindly leave it as it is." Rishabhdev
agreed. Due to this bunch of hair he got he popular
name-Keshariya ji (one with hair). The king of
gods collected the hair pulled out by Rishabhdev
in a divine cloth and immersed them in the divine
ocean of milk.
Following the example of Rishabhdev many of his
subordinate rulers as well as common people got
inspired to embrace the ascetic way of life. It
is mentioned in scriptures that with Rishabhdev
four thousand others also took Diksha.
The First Charity
After becoming an ascetic, Rishabhdev
took the vow of total silence and started wandering
accompanied by other ascetics. When, after his penance,
he went out to beg for food, he did not get anything
to eat. The common people of that age were ignorant
about the practice of giving food as alms. They
did not even appreciate the need to do so. Whenever
Rishabhdev approached them, they offered him respect
and valuable gifts as they would to a king. Rishabhdev
would then proceed ahead without accepting anything.
As time passed the accompanying ascetics conferred
among themselves and decided to eat fruits and vegetables
naturally available. They slowly drifted away from
Rishabhdev and the true ascetic way of life. After
one entire year of wandering from place to place
and doing harsh spiritual practices without touching
any food or water Rishabhdev decided to beg food
once again. He came to Hastinapur town.
Bahubali’s son, Somprabh, was the king of Hastinapur.
His son Shreyans Kumar saw a dream during night
that Suvarnagiri, the golden mountain had turned
black and he had brought it back its golden color
by washing it with pitchers full of milk. He narrated
his dream to his father and friends, but no one
could interpret its significance.
Shreyans Kumar was sitting in the balcony of his
palace and brooding over
the dream he saw last night. All of a sudden he
heard the noise caused
by happy masses who had seen Rishabhdev entering
the town. Thousands of
citizens of Hastinapur rushed toward Rishabhdev
with gifts. Rishabhdev
did not even look at these things and continued
his graceful walk in the
direction of the palace.
When Shreyans saw approaching Rishabhdev, he rushed
to welcome his great grandfather. After bowing down
at the great ascetics feet when Shreyans looked
at Rishabhdev’s face he could not shift his gaze.
He went into a state of meditative thoughts and
suddenly he acquired Jati-smaran Jnan, the knowledge
that opens up memories of the past births. In his
past birth Shreyans was the charioteer of king Vajranabh
(the past incarnation of Rishabhdev). This knowledge
also made him aware of the duties of laity toward
Shramans. He realized that Bhagavan Rishabhdev had
been wandering around without food or water due
to the prevailing ignorance of the people regarding
ascetic norms.
With due reverence he requested Rishabhdev, "Prabhu!
I am honored by your presence. I have just received
108 pitchers full of fresh sugar-cane juice that
are pure and suitable for you in all respects. Kindly
accept the juice and break your fast." Rishabhdev
extended his cupped palms and Shreyans poured the
sugar-cane juice from a pitcher. Rishabhdev broke
his fast and the skies reverberated with the sound
of divine drums and divine applaud, "Hail the alms
giving!" The gods also showered gems, flowers and
perfumes.
This was the beginning of the tradition of religious
charity and alms giving. In memory of this incident,
the third day of the bright half of the month of
Vaishakh is celebrated as Akshay Tritiya festival.
The Jains specifically celebrate it as the breakfast
day after the penance of Varshi Tap (one meal and
fast on alternate days for one year).
Omniscience
and Nirvana
For one thousand years Bhagavan Rishabhdev
continued his harsh spiritual practices completely
ignoring his body and other mundane activities.
On the eleventh day of the dark half of the month
of Phalgun he was meditating under a banyan tree
in the Shakatmukh garden outside Purimtal town,
close to Ayodhya. Around forenoon he transcended
to the purest higher state of meditation. The intensity
of his practice caused the shedding of the knowledge
and perception obscuring Karmas as well as the illusory
Karmas. As a result, he attained omniscience, the
purest and enlightened state of soul. Rishabhdev
became a Jina.
When Rishabhdev attained omniscience the whole world
was filled with a soothing glow for a moment. Numerous
gods descended from heavens to pay their respects
to the Tirthankar. They also created the Samavasaran,
the divine pavilion. King Bharat also proceeded
toward the divine assembly riding an elephant and
taking along his grandmother Marudeva. Apprehensive
about the hardships of the ascetic life of her son,
Marudeva was relieved when she beheld the scintillating
face of Rishabhdev sitting in the divine assembly
surrounded by happy and dazzling gods. The vision
of her son perched on the spiritual pinnacle triggered
the flow of spontaneous joy in the heart of Marudeva.
This mundane joy slowly turned into the ultimate
bliss and she acquired omniscience. Coincidentally,
at the same moment she completed her age and became
liberated soul (Siddha). Bhagawan Rishabhdev made
the announcement Marudeva had become a Siddha.
In his first discourse Rishabhdev detailed the trilogy
of right conduct. Knowing about the significance
of life as a human being and importance of a dutiful
life, thousands of people including Rishabhsen,
the eldest son of Emperor Bharat, and five thousands
of people including Rishabhsen, the eldest son of
Emperor Bharat, and five thousand other members
of royal family embraced the acetic way of life.
Thousand of other persons accepted the Shravak Dharm
(the religious way for laity). As he founded the
four pronged religious ford at the beginning of
the present era, Bhagavan Rishabhdev became popularly
known as Adinath, the first Tirthankar.
The first disciple of Bhagavan Rishabhdev was Rishabhsen.
He became the first chief disciple. He was also
known as Pundarik.
Liberation
For a long time Bhagavan Rishabhdev continued to
propagate his religion having the five great vows
as its central theme. When he realized that all
his remaining Karmas are approaching their end he
proceeded to the Ashtapad mountain. On the thirteenth
day of the dark half of the month of Magh, a little
before noon time, Rishabhdev, along with ten thousand
other ascetics, was observing a six day fast without
water. He was sitting in the meditation in the Paryanka
pose. When the moon entered the Abhijit lunar mansion
he got nirvana and got liberated from all sorrows.
The king of gods, Saudharmendra, Emperor Bharat,
numerous gods and men gathered and celebrated the
auspicious event of Bhagavan Rishabhdev’s Nirvana.
