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Iconography of 24 Tirthankaras
165 sutra) with Varadatta as their chief according to both the sects. Yakşi or Yakşiņi was the leader of the äryikās. There were besides some well-known asyikās like Rūjimati and Katyayani. Nemi obtained nirvana on Ujjayanta (Urjayanta) or Mt. Girnar, identified as Raivataka of old texts.
According to Tiloyapannatti, Pārśva and Kuşmāņdi were the yaksa and yakşiņi respectively of Neminatha. According to others they are known as Gomedha and Ambika (same as Kuşmändi). The Digambaras sometimes describe Sarvanha as the yaksa of Neminātha.
Jinaprabha sūri says that Neminātha was worshipped at Sauryapura in the Sankha-Jinalaya, in the city called Patala, in Mathura, Dvaraka, Simhapura and Stambhatirtha (Cambay in Gujarat). At Cambay he was known as Patala-linga-Neminātha269
Scenes from the life of Neminātha have been very popular in Jaina art. Nemi (also called Aristanemi), a very brave prince, was, from the very beginning, a person of a pious nature and averse to worldly pleasures. He was reluctant to marry. Ultimately, his marriage with princess Räjimati, daughter of king Ugrasena, was arranged. When the marriage procession was going towards the bridal pavilion, with the bridegroom Nemi in a chariot, Aristanemi saw a large number of animals captured in a yard by the wayside, apparently with a view to kill them for serving the guests with meat. He snuddered at the idea of the impending great animal slaughter for which sin his own marriage was responsible, and decided to give up marriage and instead become a Jaina recluse. He immediately ordered his charioteer to turn back and, going on the Mt. Raivataka (Girnar), took dikşå as a Jaina monk. Räjimati the bride, a pious lady following the Indian ideal of womanhood, regarded Neminātha as her husband though not formally married (but already the engagement has taken place), and following Nemi's footsteps, became a Jaina nun. Rathanemi, a younger brother of Neminātha, also became a Jaina monk.
Once upon a time, on Mt. Girnar, when at dead of night there was a heavy downpour of rains, Rajimati, the nun, took shelter under a cave, and, taking off all her drenched clothes, began drying them. A flash of lightning revealed her naked lovely form to Rathanemi who also had taken refuge in the samo cave. Rathanemi's weak mind was tempted to enjoy sexual pleasure but Rajimati, the pious nun, explained to him that desire to have her was like licking what was vomitted by another person. This saved the situation and Rathanemi repented for his evil thought. This incident between Rathanemi and Räjimati forms the theme of a very old ballad in the Jaina canonical text called the Uttaradhyayana sutra.270 Belief in Aristanemi thus goes back to some centuries before the Christian era.
The historicity of Neminátha or Aristanemi is linked up with that of Kșşņa the hero of Harivamsa, Bhagavata, etc., since both of them are cousin brothers according to Jaina Puranas. The Uttaradhyayana sūtra ballad is certainly an ancient onc as shown by Charpentier.271 An Aristanemi is known to Vedic literature though his identity with the Jaina Tirthankara cannot be confidently asserted.272
As stated before, scenes from the life of Neminātha have been very popular in Jaina art. Paperboard covers to hold mss. for reading have sometimes painted on them the scene of marriage procession of Neminátha. Wooden book-covers of palm-leaf manuscripts are found painted with scenes from the life of Neminātha. We have already referred to such book-covers with scenes from the life of Santinatha. In the collections of the L.D. Institute of Indology are book-covers with scenes from the life of Mahavira as also covers with the scenes from the life of Parsvanātha.
In one of the ceilings of the bhamati of the Lūna Vasahi built in the thirteenth century by Tejpala at Abu, we have scenes from the life of Neminātha, and in another ceiling some scenes from the early life of Krsna at Gokula. In one of the ceilings of the bhamati (corridor) of the Santinátha temple, Kumbharia, we have scenes from the life of Naminātha, carved in the eleventh century A.D. Of the same age is an other ceiling in the Mahāvira temple, Kumbharia, depicting scenes from the lives of Santinātha and Neminátha. In a ceiling in front of cell no. 10, Vimala Vasahi, we have a scene 273 of the water-sports (jala-krida) of Krsna's queens, Krsna and Nemi, and also the scene about testing the valour between Krsna and Neminátha, and the scene of marriage procession etc. The scenes in the Lūnavasahi ceiling are elaborate and include scene of fight between Krspa and Jarasandha besides the marriage procession, a scene of marriage of Nemi and Rajimati in the marriage pandal, and their returning home in a palanquin and the scene of renunciation of worldly life (diksä) of Neminātha etc. 274
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