Lord Mahavira and His Times

Author(s): Kailashchandra Jain
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas

Page 29

Jainism before Lord Mahāvīra Kalpasūtra. He is said to be the twenty-second Tīrthankara. He was the son of a king named Samudravijaya of Sauripura, a big town on the bank of the Yamunā. His mother's name was Sivādevi. He was named Arishțanemi because his mother saw in a dream a nemi, the outer rim of a wheel, which consisted of rishța stones flying up to the sky. Giranara or Raivataka hill is considered to be his nirvāna-place.
Neminātha is connected with the legend of Śrīksishņa as his relative. According to the Trishashțišalakāpurushacharita, he was a cousin of Lord Krishna who negotiated his marriage with Rājamatī, daughter of Ugrasena, ruler of Dvārikā, but Neminātha, taking compassion on the animals which were to be slaughtered in connection with the marriage feast, left the marriage procession suddenly and renounced the world. He then left Dvārikā and proceeded to a garden called Salasambhavana on the mount Raivataka, where he practised asceticism and attained salvation. According to the Kalpasūtra, he lived up to the age of 1,000 years.
The Chhāndogya Upanishadi refers to Krishņa, son of Devaki, as a disciple of Ghora Angirasa who instructed him about tapas (asceticism), dāna (charity), ārjava (simplicity or picty), ahimsā (non-injury) and satyavāchana (truthfulness)-virtues which are extolled by Kệishna in the Gitā. As Jaina tradition makes Vāsudeva-Krishna a contemporary of Tirtharkara Arishtanemi who preceded Pārsvanātha, some scholars identify Ghora Angirasa with Nenninātha. Neminātha is also known to have instructed Śrikrishna, but his identification with Ghora Angirasa is by no means correct as he is not known by this name in Jaina literature.
The age when Vāsudeva-Krishna flourished cannot be determined with certainty. The reference in the Chhāndogy'a Upanishad seems to point to a date in the sixth or seventh century B.C. The Mahābhārata war, in whiclı Kșishna is known to have participated, was, according to H.C. RAI CHAUDHURI, fought either in the 14th century B.C. or in the 9th century B.C.
1. Chhānd, III, 17, b. 2. PEAT, pp. 31-36.