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OURSELVES
svasti na indro bṛddhasravah svasti nah puṣā visvavedāh svasti nastārkṣyo ariṣṭanemih svasti no bṛhaspatirdadhātu
To historical scholarship, Aristanemi is still a part of protohistory: but to the devoted Jainas, as also to Mrs. Kremser, from whose pen we received a poem which appears in this issue, he is as much a historical personality, nay, a living reality, as Parsva and Mahavira. Jaina sources are full of references about Aristanemi and his elder cousin Krsna who were the two leading personalities of their age; even Brahmanical sources contain some references to this twenty-second Tirthankara of the Jainas, as the above sloka from the Rgveda indicates. A more pointed reference is contained in the Chandogya Upanisad where it has been stated that the teachings of Ghora Angirasa has such a profound impact on Krsna, the son of Devaki, that he becomes thereafter disinterested in mundane affairs. He was advised to follow the path of ahimsā, satya and tapa. Ghora Angirasa, according to the Buddhist monk Dharmananda Kausambi, is no other than the Jaina Tirthankara Aristanemi.
That Aristanemi was worshipped in India in about 1140 B.C. can be said on the basis of a copper plate grant of the Babylonian (Chaldean) king Nebuchadnazzar discovered and deciphered by Dr. Prannath Vidyalamkara and published in the Times of India (Weekly) on 19th March, 1935. According to his decipherment, it reveals that 'the said king Nebuchadnazzar who is also the lord of Rewanagar (in Kathiawar) and who belongs to Su-(Sumer) tribe has come to the place (Dvaraka) of the Yaduraja. He has built a temple and paid homage and made the grant perpetual in favour of Lord Nemi, the paramount deity of Mt. Raivata.'
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