Aranath

Ara
18th Jain Tirthankara

Idol of a Tirthankara
Details
Alternate name: Aranath
Historical date: 16,584,980 BCE
Family
Father: Sudarsana
Mother: Mitra devi
Dynasty: Ikshvaku
Places
Birth: Hastinapura
Nirvana: Sammed Shikhar
Attributes
Colour: Golden
Symbol: Fish
Height: 30 dhanusha (90 meters)
Age At Death: 84,000 years old
Attendant Gods
Yaksha: Yakshendra
Yaksini: Dharini
Jainism

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Jainism Portal

Aranath was the eighteenth Jain Tirthankar of the present age (Avasarpini).[1] According to Jain beliefs, he was born around 16,584,980 BCE. He became a siddha - a liberated soul which has destroyed all of its karma. Aranath was born to King Sudarshan Raja and Queen Devi Rani at Hastinapur in the Ikshvaku clan.[1] His birth date was the 10th day of the Migsar Krishna month of the Indian calendar.

Contents

Previous births

King Dhanpati of Susima city in Mahavideh area took Diksha from Samvar Muni and after acquiring Tirthankar-nam-and gotra-karma he reincarnated in the Graiveyak dimension of gods.[2]

Life as a Tirthankara

From here he descended into the womb of queen Maha Devi, wife of king Sudarshan of Hastinapur. Besides the fourteen great dreams that precede the conception of a Tirthankar, queen Maha Devi also saw a gem studded wheel (Ara). accordingly, after the birth the boy was named Ara Kumar.

When Ara Kumar became young he was married to many beautiful princesses. Later king Sudarshan gave the kingdom to Ara Kumar and became an ascetic. For some years Arnath ruled as a regional king. Gradually his power and glory increased and one day the disc weapon appeared in his armory. He conquered the six continents and became a Chakravarti. In his attendance were thirty two thousand kings.

After a long and successful reign, one day emperor Arnath was thinking about the ever changing seasons. This triggered a chain of sublime thoughts that lead to complete detachment. He renounced all the wealth, power and glory and became an ascetic. He did spiritual practices and wandered around. After three years he arrived in the Sahasramra jungle outside Hastinapur and stood in mediation under a mango tree. With the fire of higher meditation he burnt one after another the four vitiating Karmas including illusory, knowledge obstructing, perception obstructing, and power hindering. Consequently he attained omniscience. His first discourse after attaining omniscience was on the subject of "how to win over the enemies like attachment and aversion."

In this first religious assembly thousands of individuals became ascetics including his 32 chief disciples headed by Kumbh. Spending a long period of twenty one thousand years wandering and promoting religion, he finally arrived at Sammethshikhar and attained liberation. The sixth and seventh Vasudevas and Baldevas and the eighth Chakravarti (Subhum) were his followers.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Tukol, T. K. (1980). Compendium of Jainism. Dharwad: University of Karnataka.  p.31
  2. ^ Helen, Johnson (2009) [1931]. Muni Samvegayashvijay Maharaj. ed (in English. Trans. From Prakrit). Trisastiśalākāpurusacaritra of Hemacandra: The Jain Saga. Part II. Baroda: Oriental Institute. ISBN 978-81-908157-0-3.  p.249
  3. ^ Helen, Johnson (2009) Part II pp.250-67