Rishabhayan: The Story of the First King
About this ebook
The story of Tirthankara Rishabha has passed down generations of Jains. Acharya Mahapragya, the tenth Acharya of the Jain Swetambar Terapanth, presents it to us in a composition of 2,000 verses. Tracing the evolution of human civilization as it grew from a society based on need to one attached to material possessions, the epic depicts the search for truth and the role of renunciation and sacrifice in it. As the first king, Rishabha does his primary duty of ensuring the well-being of his subjects. But then one spring morning, a small thought on the withering away of flowers triggers deep reflection in him: Is there more to life than reigning over a kingdom? To discover the meaning of life, he renounces his kingdom and wanders up to the Himalayas, thus introducing the idea of monkhood. With enlightenment comes the realization that all living beings have a soul that is indestructible and permanent and that true happiness lies in freedom from all attachment. Thus evolve the pillars of Jainism based on self-introspection and non-violence. Capturing the subtle dilemmas of the human soul caught in the mesh of existence, this translation by eminent translator Sudhamahi Regunathan offers the classic in a contemporary idiom, something to read aloud and savour for both the general reader and the scholar alike.
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About the author
ACHARYA MAHAPRAGYA was one of the most celebrated Jain thinkers of the world and the tenth Acharya of the Jain Shwetambar Terapanth sect. Born in 1920 in a village in Rajasthan, he became a monk at the age of ten. He got his education under the guidance of Acharya Shree Tulsi, who launched the Anuvrat Movement in 1949 to rid the world of violence and hatred and free religion from sectarianism. Acharya Mahapragya was a prolifi c writer and has been called a 'modern Vivekananda'. He traversed more than 1,00,000 km on foot and visited 10,000 villages to spread the message of non-violence. To this purpose, he embarked on an Ahimsa Yatra in 2001. He was honoured with the Communal Harmony Award in 2004 for his contribution in this fi eld. He died on 9 May 2010 at the age of eighty-nine in Sardarshahar, Rajasthan. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM was the President of India from 2002 to 2007 and is the recipient of the nation's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. Born in 1931 in Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu, Dr Kalam studied aeronautical engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology. He played a key role in the development of India's first satellite launch vehicle, the SLV-3, and in the building and operationalization of India's strategic missile systems. As an elder statesman, he remains in the public eye for his role in offering counsel, reaching out to people and building bridges across religious and social divides. Dr Kalam's focus stays on transforming India into a developed nation by 2020 and to this end he has met and enthused more than three million youths.
