Rishabha (Hinduism)

In Hinduism, Rishabha is regarded to be the eighth lila avatar of Krishna or Vishnu. He appeared in the womb of Merudevi, the wife of King Nabhi. The King underwent many severe austerities and penances to please Krishna or Vishnu to get a son like Krishna or Vishnu. Krishna accepted his plea and thus incarnated as Rsabha the son of King Nabhi and Merudevi.

Jains accept Rsabha as Rishabha, as the first Tirthankar. Hindus regard their practices ars atheistic and contradictory to the teachings of Rsabha in the Bhagavata Purana. Hindus regard their teachings as contradictory to Rishaba's teachings because Rishaba taught about serving God, but Jains deny the existence of God..

Rishabha Rishi is mentioned in the Shrimad-Bhagavatam, Markandeya, Vayu, Brahmanda, Skanda, and Vishnu Puranas.

Children

He followed the orders of His guru and accepted a wife named Jayanti, who had been given to Him by the King of heaven, Indra. He begot a hundred sons in the womb of Jayanti. Of these hundred sons, the eldest was known as Bharat. Bharat became King of the world and since then, the Earth has been called Bharata-varsa. Rsabhadeva's other sons were headed by Kusavarta, Ilavarta, Brahmavarta, Malaya, Ketu, Bhadrasena, Indrasprk, Vidarbha and Kikata. There were also other sons named Kavi, Havi, Antariksa, Prabuddha, Pippalayana, Avirhotra, Drumila, Camasa and Karabhajana. Instead of ruling the kingdom, these nine became mendicant preachers, following the religious precepts of the Bhagavata Purana. Their characteristics and activities are described in the Eleventh Canto of the Bhagavata Purana during the talks between Vasudeva and Narada at Kuruksetra. To teach the general populace, King Rsabhadeva performed many sacrifices and taught His sons how to rule the citizens.

Thus Rsabha was an ideal father, who gave ept instructions to his sons. The instructions of Rsabha to his sons are present in Canto 5, Chapter 5 of the Bhagavata Purana.