Rishabha - Iconography

Iconography

Rishabha is usually depicted in lotus position or kayotsarga, a standing position. He is distinguished from other Tirthankara by his long locks of hair which falls on his shoulders. An image of bull is also used in his sculptures. In paintings, incidents of his life like Indra marking his forehead, Rishabha's marriage are depicted. Some paintings show the art of pottery where he is presenting a bowl to his followers. He is also depicted painting a house, weaving textile or being visited by his mother Marudevi.

Contemporary historians are of the opinion that there exists some link between the first Jain Tirthankar Rishabha and the Indus valley civilization. Based on archeological and literary evidence. P. C. Roychoudary puts the date of Rishabha at the end of the Stone Age and the beginning of the Agriculture age.

Ram Prasad Chanda, who supervised Indus Valley Civilisation excavations, states 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 Rishabha”

Christopher Key Chappel also notes some other possible links with Jainism. Seal 420, unearthed at Mohenjodaro portrays a person with three or possibly four faces. Jain iconography frequently depicts its Tirthankaras with four faces, symbolizing their presence in all four directions. In addition, Depictions of a bull appear repeatedly in the artifacts of the Indus Valley. Richard Lannoy, Thomas McEvilley and Padmanabh Jaini have all suggested that the abundant use of the bull image in the Indus Valley civilization indicates a link with Rishabha, whose companion animal is the bull.

Dr. Herman Jacobi, a noted indologist, writes that:

There is nothing to prove that Parshva was the founder of Jainism. Jain tradition is unanimous in making Rishabha, the first Tirthankara, as its founder and there may be something historical in the tradition which makes him the first Tirthankara