Nami Natha
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Naminatha was the twenty-first Jain Tirthankar of the current era. According to Jain beliefs, he became a siddha, a liberated soul which has destroyed all of its karma.
Naminatha was born to King Vijay Raja and Queen Vipra Rani of the Ikshvaku dynasty, who were the rulers of Mithila at that time. His birth date is the 8th day of Shravan Krishna in the Hindu calendar.
According to Jain tradition, the soul that would one day be the god Bhagavan Naminath purified itself during its incarnation as King Siddharth of the town of Kshambi in eastern Mhavideh. He reincarnated as a god in the Aparajit dimension, and later reincarnated as the child of Queen Vipra and King Vijay. As the queen had seen fourteen auspicious things in her dream at the moment of conception, the augurs declared that the unborn child was going to be a Chkravarti or a Tirthankar.
During Vipra's pregnancy, Mithila was attacked by a group of powerful kings. Peace-loving King Vijay was at a loss to find a peaceful solution, until an expert augur told the king that the pregnant queen should go to the roof of the palace and look at the attacking armies. The queen followed these instructions and threw a loving glance at the large armies stationed on the fields outside the town. The aura of the pious soul in her womb was so powerful that it cast a pacifying spell on the attackers. The kings, who had been sure of winning the battle, surrendered and bowed before king Vijay.
This incident inspired the king to name his new-born child "Naminath." Born on the eighth day of the dark (second) half of the month of Sravan, Naminath had a happy childhood. When he matured, he was married and later was given the reign of the kingdom. After a long and peaceful reign, he became an ascetic on the ninth day of the dark (second) half of the month of Ashadh. After nine months he attained omniscience under a Bakul Tree in a garden near Mithila. His first discourse was on the subject of right perception. After a long period of religious and spiritual activities, he went to Sammetsikhar, where he became liberated on the tenth day of the dark half of the month of Vaishakh.
The literary account seems to be supported by epigraphic evidence. In the Kathiawar peninsula, a copper plate has been discovered on which there is an inscription about King Nebuchadnezzar (940 B. C.). According to the inscription, Nebuchadnezzar, who was also the lord of Reva-nagara (in Kathiawar, Gujarat) and who belonged to the Sumer tribe, had come to the city Dwarka of the Yaduraja. He has built a temple and paid homage and made the grant perpetual in favour of Lord Neminatha, the paramount deity of Mt. Raivata.
Since Nebuchadnezzar lived in the 10th century B. C., this inscription testifies to the historicity of Neminatha the 22nd. Tirthankara of the Jains. Thus, there seems to be little doubt about Neminatha as a historical figure. However, there is still some uncertainty regarding his exact date. He is said to be the contemporary of Krishna the hero of Mahabharata. There are several opinions on the date of the Mahabharata, which range from 950 B.C. to 30002 B.C.
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