Puranic encyclopaedia
by Vettam Mani | 1975 | 609,556 words | ISBN-10: 0842608222
This page describes the Story of Rishabha included the Puranic encyclopaedia by Vettam Mani that was translated into English in 1975. The Puranas have for centuries profoundly influenced Indian life and Culture and are defined by their characteristic features (panca-lakshana, literally, ‘the five characteristics of a Purana’).
Story of Ṛṣabha
A muni (sage) who was the grandson of King Agnīdhra.
General information.
Ṛṣabha was the son of King Nābhi by his wife Merudevī. One hundred sons were born to Ṛṣabha by his wife Jayantī. After entrusting his kingdom to Bharata, the eldest of his sons, Ṛṣabha went to the forest and did tapas in Pulaha’s āśrama.
Ṛṣabha and Ṛṣabhakūṭa
Ṛṣabha did tapas in the forest for many years. The mountain peak on which he performed his tapas got the name "Ṛṣabhakūṭa". The sage who wished to observe strict silence did not like the presence of strangers and visitors in the vicinity. So he pronounced a curse that the mountain should drop boulders on any one who ventured to come there. Once he ordered the wind to blow without noise as it passed by the side of the mountain. He declared that anyone who made noise in Ṛṣabhakūṭa would be struck with thunder. A place of holy waters came into existence there. (Mahābhārata Araṇya Parva, Chapter 11).
The power of Ṛṣabha’s Yāga.
Ṛṣabha became a devotee of Śiva by worshipping him.
Once a Brāhmaṇa named Mandara had an illicit alliance with Piṅgalā, a prostitute. Both of them died together. Mandara was re-born as Bhadrāyu, the grandson of Nala and Piṅgalā as Sumati, the wife of King Vajrabāhu (Aṃśumān). Sumati became pregnant. Her co-wives who were jealous of her poisoned her. As a result of it, she and the child born to her fell victims to diseases. Daśārṇa abandoned them in the forest. Sumati lived in the house of a Vaiśya with her child. While living there, the child died of disease. Ṛṣabha went to the grief-stricken Sumati and comforted her. (Śiva Purāṇa).
Ṛṣabha’s End.
Ṛṣabha performed tapas according to the rules of Vānaprastha āśrama and conducted yāgas as ordained by Śāstras. On account of his austerity he became so lean and thin that all the veins in the body could be seen. Putting a pebble in his mouth, he went about in the forest, determined to renounce his body. (Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Chapter 1, Section 1).
In the course of his wanderings in the forest a wild fire broke out in which his body was burnt up. Śiva Purāṇa says that the soul of Ṛṣabha who died in the wild fire, attained Śiva Loka.