Bhagavan Rishabha (First Jain Tirthankara)

[Rakesh Jain]

Bhagavan Rishabha was the first Jain hence he is often called Adi-natha, the first lord. He is also called Rushabh, Rushabhdev, Adinath or Adishwar. He is mentioned in most of the Hindu Puranas, Markandeya, Kurma, Vayu, Garuda, Brahmanda, Varaha, Linga, Vishnu, Skandha etc. Rishabha has been mentioned in the Hindu text of the Bhagavatha-Purana as an avatar of Vishnu. According to the Bh?gavata, he was born to show the people of this world the path of salvation.
   
Name ............................   Rishabha Prabhu (Adinathji)
Father's Name ............  .Nabhiraja   
Mother's Name ...........   Marudevi
Birth Place ... ...............  Ayodhya 
Birth Thithi ... ...............  Chaitra krishna. 8
Diksha Thithi ... ..........  .Chaitra krishna. 8
Kevalgyan Thithi.. .....  .falgun krishna. 8
Naksharta .. ................  .Uttrashadha
Diksha Sathi ... ......... .  .4000
Shadhak Jeevan ... . ..  1,00,000 purva
Age Lived ... ................   84,00,000 purva
Lakshan Sign ... .......    .Vrushabha     
Neervan Place ... ......   .Asthapad
Neervan Sathi ... .......  . 10000
Neervan Thithi ... .......   .Magh Krishna 14
Colour       .....................  Golden    

 The Hindus, gave the same parentage (father Nabhiraja and mother Marudevi) of Rishabhdev as the Jains do and they even agree that after the name of Rishabhdev's eldest son Bharat this country is Known as Bharatavarsa. In the Rgveda there are clear references to Rishabhdev, the first Tirthankara.
  Bhagwan Rishabhdev also called Adinath the first Tirthankara born in the royal family of Ikshvaku clan in  Ayodhya as the son of King Nabhiraja and Queen Maru Devi.  He was married to Sumangla and Sunanda. Sumangla gave birth to Bharat, who later became a Chakravarti king . Sunanda gave birth to a child who came to be known as Bahubali.
  Adinath had one hundred sons and two daughters, who were named Brahmi and Sundari. It is believed that all civilization developed from the teachings of Adinath. He was the first king to establish the institutions of marriage, agriculture, the arts, and weaponry. He ruled for thousands of years and after he divided his kingdom among his sons and departed to take up an ascetic way of life.
  When Adinath renounced his kingdom, thousands of people followed him into the ascetic life. Whenever they went for alms, people offered them gold, jewels, ornaments, etc. But no one offered them food. Thus, many of his followers could not tolerate the starvation. They began asking for food, and then they left to form their own groups. This was the beginning of many sects. (According to the Jain faith, Tirthankaras remained silent until they achieved perfection.)
  Adinath also went without food for an entire year. Then he went to his grandson Shreyans  kingdom (Hastinapur). His grandson offered him sugarcane juice, which he accepted. Hastinapur is still considered a holy place, and even today Jains make pilgrimages to this site to break ritual fasts (with sugarcane juice). After becoming enlightened (Perfect), He broke his silence and preached for many years, telling how to escape the cycle of birth and death and achieve eternal bliss. Bhagavan Adinath achieved Nirvana on the mountain of Kailash in the Himalayas when he was in complete Samadhi. The symbol of Adinath is a Bull (Rishabh) so he is known as Rishabh Dev.
  The modern historians like Ramprasad Chandra, Dr. Vilas Sangave , Dr. Heinrich Zimmer, John Marshall, Thomas McEvilley and Mircea Eliade are of opinion that there exists some link between Rshabha and Indus valley civilization. Terracotta seals and other evidences unearthed at the ancient cities of Harrapa and Mohenjo Daro provide a link between Rsabha and Indus Valley Civilisation. The eminent scholar P.R. Deshmukh says that the first Jain Tirthankara belonged to Indus Valley Civilisation.