Rishabha Jain Mandir -Ayodhya
    
Rishabha was born to King Nabhi Raja and Queen Marudevi at Ayodhya in the Ikshvaku clan. According to Jain beliefs, Rishabh existed before civilization developed. He taught people agriculture, tending of animals, cooking, and more. He had one hundred and one sons.

His eldest son - Bharat - was a chakravarti king - the conqueror of the known world. In the later part of his life he retired to become a monk and attained moksha. Since he became a siddha, he is occasionally worshipped. According to the Jain beliefs, India was named Bhārata-varsha or Bhārata after him.

His second son was Bahubali, whose statue stands at Shravanabelagola, Karnataka as well as at Karkala. Marudevi mother of adinath was the first person[citation needed] to achieve moksha - even before Rishabh himself. Rishabh's grandson Marichi's soul later became Mahavira[citation needed]. He attained 'kevalgnan' or infinite knowledge at Palitana and attained liberation (moksha) at Ashtapad mountain in Himalayas.

Historicity of Risabha

Modern scholars are of opinion that Rsabha was a historical person based on many archeological and literary evidences. P. C. Roychoudary puts the date of Rsabha at the end of Stone Age and beginning of Agriculture age. 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 Terracotta seals and other evidences unearthed at the ancient cities of Harrapa and>Mohenjo Daro provide a link between Rsabha and Indus Valley Civilisation.

In his Indus Valley Civilisation and Hindu Culture, the eminent scholar P.R. Deshmukh says that the first Jain Tirthankara belonged to Indus Valley Civilisation. Prof. Ram Prasad Chanda, who supervised Indus Valley Civilisation excavations, states in his article Mohen-jo-Daro: Sindh 5000 Years Ago in Modern Review (August, 1932) that, “Not only the seated deities on some of the Indus seals are in Yoga posture and bear witness to the prevalence of Yoga in the Indus Valley Civilisation in that remote age, the standing deities on the seals also show Kayotsarga (a standing or sitting posture of meditation) position. The Kayotsarga posture is peculiarly Jain. It is a posture not of sitting but of standing. In the Adi Purana Book XV III, the Kayotsarga posture is described in connection with the penance of Rsabha, also known as Vrsabha.

 

 
 
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