Bahubali: 63 Insights into Jainism (Available in Hindi as Tirthankar)

By Devdutt Pattanaik

Many historians believe that Jainism and other hermit schools were simply a reaction to Vedic ritualism. But for most Jains, their religion has no origin: it has always been around.

• Jainism was rediscovered by Rishabh-dev, the first Tirthankar of this era.
• Rishabh's eldest son, Bharat, became Chakravarti, king of kings, and gave the country its name.
• Bahubali, Bharat's younger brother, renounced violence and followed the Jain path of freedom.
• Rishabh was followed by twenty-three other Tirthankars. The last of them was Mahavir, who lived around 2,500 years ago.

In Bahubali, Devdutt Pattanaik explores the stories, symbols, rituals and ideas associated with one of India's most ancient but lesser-known faiths, and shows us why the tenets of Jainism are still very relevant to all of us even today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins India
• Release date: Sep 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9789356993440

Devdutt Pattanaik

Devdutt Pattanaik writes, illustrates and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times. He has, since 1996, written over fifty books and 1,000 columns on how stories, symbols and rituals construct the subjective truth (myths) of ancient and modern cultures around the world. To know more, visit devdutt.com.

Book preview

1

Introduction: On Bahubali

At the dawn of civilization, Rishabh created sixty-four roles for women and seventy-two for men. His daughters Sundari and Brahmi spread knowledge of numbers and writing. His hundred sons were each given the responsibilities of a hundred kingdoms (one kingdom each) that he had established. Rishabh then renounced the world and decided to become a hermit to unravel the mystery of life.

Soon after Rishabh left, Bharat, his eldest son, wanted to be the emperor of the world (Chakravarti) and so asked his ninety-nine brothers to bow to him. The brothers refused. Ninety-eight gave up their kingdoms and became hermits like their father. Rishabh’s second son, Bahubali, however, continued as king, determined to stay independent. Bharat declared war on Bahubali. To prevent unnecessary bloodshed, the brothers engaged in a duel. Bahubali was stronger; he defeated his brother in swimming and wrestling, comfortably withstanding Bharat’s punches and blows. But when it was his turn to strike his elder brother, he found the idea reprehensible. But he had raised his hand and, as a warrior, could not lower it without doing something. So he plucked out his hair with the raised hand and became a hermit as well.

But now, Bahubali would have to bow down to his younger brothers who were senior monks, since they had renounced the world before him. Bahubali did not want to bow to anyone, and was thus trapped between the hierarchies of the material and the monastic world. As he wondered what to do, his sisters shouted, ‘Get off your elephant!’ Bahubali understood the metaphor. He was riding on his ego that, like an intoxicated elephant, is so consumed by itself that it hurts everyone else around. He who subdues the ego is the true victor (Jina). In Indian temple art, this idea is depicted through a lion overpowering an elephant.

Bahubali, son of Rishabh-dev, standing in meditation until creepers grow around his limbs.

Bahubali’s father, Rishabh, had become a Jina. He had found the ford (tirtha) that helps humans cross from the material world of hierarchies to the spiritual world without hierarchies. He was therefore known as the Tirthankar. Since Rishabh was the first to rediscover the timeless ford in the current era, he came to be equated with the gods; hence he is referred to as Rishabh-dev and Adi-nath, the first teacher of teachers. There would be twenty-three Tirthankar who would follow him.

The Jain path is located inside the mind, not outside. So Bahubali stood in one place, determined to find the path discovered by his father, refusing to move, battling his ego. As time passed, creepers began to grow and wind around his legs. But he stood still, refusing to budge, steadfast in his determination to break the bondage of the ego. Thus, he became the first Shraman, the hermit who strives (shram) to walk on the Jina’s path.

Meanwhile Bharat, now master of a hundred kingdoms, wanted to proclaim his glory by carving his name atop Mount Meru that stood in the centre of the world. But on scaling the mountain peak, he discovered the names of hundreds of other Chakravartis carved on the slopes: they too had assumed that they were the first to conquer the world, and clearly they were not the last. Bharat realized that he had been enchanted by the hierarchies of the material world. He bowed to his father and brothers. He built temples in honour of Rishabh and statues in honour of Bahubali. Thus, he became the first Shravak—the householder who venerates and spreads the Jina-vani, or the words of the Jina. The Shravak ensures that no one forgets the ford that liberates all from the delusions and enchantments of material life.

The last of the twenty-four Tirthankar of this era was Mahavir. He lived around 2,500 years ago, just before the time of Gautam Buddha. His teachings were passed on orally for centuries. Some were put down in writing, but much was lost, leading to disputes and the creation of divisions in the Jain community.

Shwetambar or white-robed Jains claim that the first to attain liberation, following the Jain path, was not a man but a woman, not Bahubali but Rishabh’s mother, Maru-devi. Her liberation was simply the result of gazing upon her enlightened path-finding son as he sat in a meditative posture, while she was out riding an elephant. In Shwetambar temples, her image atop an elephant gazing upon her son takes pride of place.

Digambar or sky-clad Jains prefer to erect giant images of Bahubali, distinguished from Tirthankar images by the creepers around his limbs. The Digambar sect is more conservative, privileging the male body. They believe that no Tirthankar who followed Rishabh-dev got married or wore clothes. ‘Sky-clad’ is a euphemism for nakedness. Nakedness is different from nudity. The naked being is indifferent to other people’s gaze; nudity seeks the gaze of the audience.

Dera-vasi Jains enshrine and adorn images of the Tirthankar. They say this practice of idol worship is followed even by the gods (dev) who build temples in Nandishwar-dvip, a distant continent beyond seven seas. Sthanak-vasi Jains avoid image worship altogether. There are more divisions based on ideological and ritualistic grounds. Some worship yaksha and yakshi figures who are attendants of the Jina. Others have fewer and simpler rituals. Some follow a lineage of teachers. Others value texts over imagery.

But much is common across all Jain sects. No Jain text refers to an all-powerful creator God to whom humans must submit. All Jains agree that India’s traditional name, Bharat, is in memory of Bahubali’s illustrious elder brother who built the first Jain temple to honour the path of non-violence (ahimsa), non-dogma (anekanta-vada) and non-hoarding (aparigraha). All Jains today are bound by a common symbol accepted by all sects in 1974.

These Jain ideas were presented by Virchand Raghavji Gandhi at the World Congress of Religions in 1893 at Chicago, where Swami Vivekananda introduced the world to Hinduism. Jainism had recently been ‘discovered’ by the British at that time, which was why the census of 1880 had included the category ‘Jain’ for the first time. Currently, although they comprise less than 1 per cent of the Indian population, Jains, with a literacy rate of over 90 per cent, contribute to a quarter of India’s income tax collection, making them a very influential minority.

However, not many people know much about Jainism, and often confuse it with Hinduism and Buddhism. And so, this book shares sixty-three insights (including this one) into Jainism.

Maru-devi, mother of Rishabh-dev, who saw him in his realized state when she visited him on an elephant.

Why sixty-three? Because that’s the number of great illustrious beings (Maha/Shalaka-purush) who come into existence in each era of human civilization, as per Jain lore. The first two were Rishabh, a teacher of teachers, and Bharat, a king of kings. Every era witnesses twenty-four such teachers, twelve such kings and nine heroes (Vasu-dev) who defend nine pacifists (Bala-dev) and fight nine tyrants (Prativasu-dev). Ram is a Bala-dev and Krishna is a Vasu-dev in the Jain version of the Ramayan and the Mahabharat.

These sixty-three essays represent my subjective understanding of Jain beliefs, based on twenty-five years of study of Indian and Western myths. Myths are inherited cultural truths expressed as stories, symbols and rituals. The chapters discuss Jain ideas, history, customs, architecture, art and stories. They also compare and contrast Jainism with Buddhism, Hinduism and monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This book is an introduction, to be seen as exploratory for all. So, read this book in the spirit of curiosity, not combat, as advised by Jain sages.

Within infinite myths lies an eternal truth

Who sees it all?

Varuna has but a thousand eyes

Indra, a hundred

You and I, only two!

Jain Ideas

2

On the Cosmos

The tirtha means a ford, the shallow part of a river that allows one to cross from one bank to the other. A ford is not the same as a bridge: bridges are artificial. A ford occurs naturally, awaiting discovery. Hence it’s the perfect metaphor for Jain wisdom that enables one to cross from the world of material aggression to the world of spiritual contentment. This ford has always existed, awaiting discovery by humans. This is why the path of Jainism is considered eternal (sanatan). Those who rediscover this path are the Tirthankar. In the Jain scheme of things, in every era there are sixty-three great beings, twenty-four of whom are the Tirthankar.

The Jain world has no beginning (anadi) and no end (ananta). Time for Jains moves like a serpent (sarpa), constantly ascending (utasarpini) towards periods of fortune (sushama), and descending (avasarpini) towards misfortune (dushama). The duration (ara) of good times and bad times are not the same; good times are generally longer than bad times.

Each half cycle has six ara:

Sushama-sushama (very good, longest)

Sushama (better, longer)

Sushama-dushama (good, long)

Dushama-sushama (bad, short)

Dushama (worse, shorter)

Dushama-dushama (worst, shortest)

A artistic depiction of a Jain pilgrim complex, reminding us that nothing exists in isolation, every size is relative and every concept is contextual.

Nothing is permanent, be it good times or bad times. There are infinite numbers of such cycles, each with two halves, the descending and the ascending. In each half, there are sixty-three great beings. The first Tirthankar, Rishabh, appeared at the end of the third ara. The twenty-fourth Tirthankar, Mahavir, appeared at the end of the fourth ara. Between them there appeared the other sixty-one great beings. We are now in the fifth ara, and the worst is yet to come. After that the good times will resume.

The Tirthankar lives in a special world, the Siddha-lok, where there is no hunger; hence, they experience neither the pleasure of eating nor the pain of being eaten. This dimension is beyond paradise (Swarg), the upper world of surplus, where all hunger is indulged. At the bottom is Narak, the lower world of scarcity, where all hunger is amplified. In between Swarg and Narak is the middle world of humans, or Bhu-lok.

At the centre of Bhu-lok is Mount Meru, around which six continents (dvip) extend like the petals of a flower. The Chakravarti rules all six continents and thinks he rules the world. But beyond the salty seas we are all familiar with are six more rings of land, separated from each other by six rings of ocean. In the farthest circular continent, the Nandishwar, the gods have established thirteen Jain temples in all four directions, so fifty-two in all.

This grand understanding of time and space encourages the Jain to strive towards the three jewels of Jainism (ratna-trayi)—perspective (darshan), knowledge (gyan) and to action (charitra) that is ‘samyak’.

Sama means return to the starting point as in a wheel: what goes around, comes around.

Unfortunately, under colonial influence, samyak was translated as right, or good, making it seem like dogma. This definition does not factor in the concept of rebirth, the ability to see cause and consequences over multiple lifetimes. All things that appear good now may turn out to be wrong in the future, or from another’s point of view. All things that appear wrong now may turn out to be right in the future, or from another’s point of view. Nothing appears the same across time, space and points of view.

The word samyak is derived from ‘sama’—a musical term that denotes returning to the first note. Samyak thus indicates return, circularity, inclusion, comprehensiveness, containing even other people’s points of view. The opposite of samyak is mithya—limited, linear, exclusive, not including the other’s point of view. Samyak considers both the predator and the prey, the victim and the villain, the past and the present; mithya focuses on one or the other. So the ratna-trayi need to be translated as ‘inclusive’ rather than ‘right’ sight/knowledge/being.

Those at the bottom of Mount Meru have a different perspective from those at the top, and even those at the top cannot see what the Tirthankar can from Siddha-lok. There are infinite views and infinite ways of expressing each view. There is, therefore, no point arguing and claiming that we know everything. This realization encourages non-violence (ahimsa). As we rise spiritually and discover the endless waves of time and infinite ripples of space, we become more sensitive and have more empathy. We can always see more, but never all. Only the Tirthankar sees it all—the infinite views that exist (anekanta-vada) in the past, present and future, and the limited view of all beings (syad-vada) stuck in space and time. He is the Kevalin, the omniscient one, who sees everything and everyone, all motivations and drives, all actions and reactions, but sits in splendid isolation (kaivalya) with no desire to assert his identity or any point of view. Everyone has to walk their own path till they discover the timeless Jain ford.

3

On Measurement

The Jains came up with the idea of the existence of microscopic organisms (nigoda) through logic before these were discovered through a microscope. The lifespan of these single-sense (ek-indirya) organisms is so small that several lifetimes constitute a blink of the human eye, a single heartbeat or a single breath. Thus time was reduced to infinitesimal units. Time was also expanded to infinity by the Jains. A Purvang consists of 8.4 million years. A Purva comprises 8.4 million Purvang. The first Tirthankar, Rishabh, lived for 8.4 million Purva. He lived 10,224 years ago.

The twenty-fourth and final Tirthankar, Mahavir, lived 2,500 years ago for a hundred human years. Their falling lifespan indicates that we are living in avasarpini (downward phase of the world) as we move from fortune to misfortune (sushama–dushama).

The upward phase of the world is known as utasarpini. Together, the two phases constitute a kalpa. A kalpa lasts for one Sagaropam. A Sagaropam equals ten crore Palyopam, which is calculated as follows: Take a strand of hair from a newborn Yugalik (a special child that is born without sexual union) and divide it into extremely tiny pieces of equal length. Dig a hole that is eight yojans (1 yojan is approximately 8 miles) deep and wide, and fill that pit with the pieces of hair. The pit should be filled to the brim to the extent that even if an army passes over it, it should not give way. Pull out one piece of hair every 100 years. Once the pit is empty, it would complete one Palyopam.

To show how different beings have different levels of strength, Jain scriptures proclaimed: twelve warriors have the power of a single bull, ten bulls have the power of a single horse, twelve horses have the power of a single buffalo, fifteen buffaloes have the power of a single elephant, five hundred elephants have the power of a single lion, 2,000 lions have the power of a single sharabha (an eight-legged carnivore), a million sharabhas have strength of a single Bala-dev, two Bala-devs have the strength of a single Vasu-dev, two Vasu-devs have the strength of a single Chakravarti, 100,000 Chakravartis have the strength of a single Nagaraj, 10 million Nagarajs have the power of a single Indra, and the power of innumerable Indras is nothing compared to that of a Tirthankar. 

In all these proclamations, the notions of big and small are not absolute; everything exists in proportion to something else. There is always something bigger and smaller than us. From measurement comes delusion (maya). The calculation of such big, unusable numbers indicates a yearning for the concept of infinity or ananta. We are limited beings who live in a limitless world and we must always be aware that there is always someone below us and someone above us. We exist in a continuum, which extends from nothing-ness to everything-ness, zero to infinity. These mathematical ideas, much loved by merchants, were shaped by the philosophy of hermits and sages.

An artistic depiction of a Jain pilgrim complex, reminding us that nothing exists in isolation, every size is relative, every concept is contextual.

In a world of infinity, our value is zero. To realize nothingness (shunya) is a Buddhist obsession. To merge with infinity (ananta/purna) is a Hindu obsession. Jains are obsessed