tirthankaras/tk-01-rishabhanatha.jpg · 1200×1600The only Tirthankara whose story is a story about civilisation. He is born at the turning of the age, when the wish-fulfilling trees of the time of plenty begin to fail and people, for the first time, face scarcity without knowing what to do. Rishabha teaches them agriculture, fire, pottery, weaving, defence, trade, writing and arithmetic — the seventy-two arts for men and sixty-four for women. Tradition holds that he taught script to his daughter Brahmi and numbers to his daughter Sundari; the Brahmi script is named after her. He is the first king of this era, and the first to leave kingship.
His renunciation comes during a performance. A celestial dancer, Nilanjana, is dancing before him when her lifespan ends and she vanishes mid-step. The gods replace her so smoothly that no one notices — except Rishabha. He divides the kingdom among his hundred sons and walks out.
Then a famous difficulty: nobody knows how to feed a monk. People offer him elephants, jewels, daughters and kingdoms — everything except food given in the proper way. He wanders for about a year without eating. At Hastinapur, Shreyansa Kumara remembers a past life, understands what is needed, and pours sugarcane juice into the Tirthankara's cupped hands. That day is Akshaya Tritiya, and the year-long Varshitap fast that many Jains keep today is still broken with sugarcane juice.
Two of his sons carry the rest of the story. Bharata becomes the first universal emperor — India is called Bharat after him. Bahubali refuses to submit. To spare their armies, the brothers settle it by duel, and Bahubali wins every round. His fist is raised for the final blow when he stops, sees what he is about to do for a piece of land, and uses that raised hand to pull out his hair instead. He stands in meditation for a year until creepers climb his legs, yet omniscience does not come, because one thought remains: that he is standing on his brother's land. His sisters tell him to step down from the elephant of pride. He takes one step — and it comes. The 57-foot statue at Shravanabelagola, carved in 981 CE, shows that moment.
His mother Marudevi, who had grieved for him for years, finally rides out on an elephant to see him in his assembly — and attains omniscience and liberation on the spot, before her son.
