Rishabha (Hinduism)

In Hinduism, Rishabha is one of the twenty-four avatars of Vishnu in the Bhagavata Purana. Some scholars identify this avatar to be the same as the first tirthankara of Jainism, Rishabhanatha. Shaiva texts like the Linga Purana regard Rishabha to be among the 28 avatars of Shiva. Rishabha is also found in Vedic literature, where it means the "bull" and is an epithet for Rudra (Shiva).

According to John E. Cort and other scholars, there is a considerable overlap between Jain and Hindu Vaishnava traditions in the western parts of India, with Hindus adopting Jain sacred figures in Hindu texts like Rishabha and his son Bharata.

Vedic literature
The Vedas mention the name Rishabha. However, the context in the Rigveda, Atharvaveda and the Upanishads suggests that it means the bull, sometimes "any male animal" or "most excellent of any kind", or "a kind of medicinal plant".

According to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a professor of comparative religions and philosophy at Oxford who later became the second President of India, there is evidence to show that Rishabha was being worshipped by the first century BCE. The Yajurveda, states Radhakrishnan, mentions the name of three Tirthankaras – Rishabha, Ajitanatha and Arishtanemi, and that "the Bhāgavata Purāṇa endorses the view that Rishabha was the founder of Jainism". It is an epithet for the bull in the Rigveda:

"ऋषभं मा समानानां सपत्नानां विषासहिम् । हन्तारं शत्रूणां कृधि विराजं गोपतिं गवाम् ॥१॥ अहमस्मि सपत्नहेन्द्र इवारिष्टो अक्षतः । अधः सपत्ना मे पदोरिमे सर्वे अभिष्ठिताः ॥२॥ अत्रैव वोऽपि नह्याम्युभे आर्त्नी इव ज्यया । वाचस्पते नि षेधेमान्यथा मदधरं वदान् ॥३॥ अभिभूरहमागमं विश्वकर्मेण धाम्ना । आ वश्चित्तमा वो व्रतमा वोऽहं समितिं ददे ॥४॥ योगक्षेमं व आदायाहं भूयासमुत्तम आ वो मूर्धानमक्रमीम् । अधस्पदान्म उद्वदत मण्डूका इवोदकान्मण्डूका उदकादिव ॥५॥"

- Rig Veda X.166

Translation:

"1. Make me a bull among my peers, make me my rivals, conqueror:   Make me the slayer of my foes, a sovereign ruler, lord of kine 2. I am my rivals' slayer, like Indra unwounded and unhurt,     And all these enemies of mine are vanquished and beneath my feet. 3. Here, verily, I bind you fast, as the two bow-ends with the string.     Press down these men, O Lord of Speech, that they may humbly speak to me. 4. Hither I came as conqueror with mighty all-effecting power,     And I have mastered all your thought, your synod, and your holy work. 5. May I be highest, having gained your strength in war, your skill in peace     my feet have trodden on your heads. Speak to me from beneath my feet,      as frogs from out the water croak, as frogs from out the water croak."

- Ralph Griffith

Other examples of Rishabha appearing in the Vedic literature include verses 6.16.47 of Rigveda, 9.4.14–15 of Atharvaveda, 3.7.5.13 and 4.7.10.1 of Taittiriya Brahmana, etc.