Lord Shreyanshnath, 11th Tirthankar

 Shreyanshnath is the eleventh Jain tirthankara of the present avasarpini time cycle. His complexion is golden and symbol is rhinoceros. The chaitya tree under which he got omniscience is tanduka.

In his third previous birth, he was the king Nalinigulm of Kshema town in Kacch Vijay, located in the Purva Videha Kshetra on the Pushkarvar Dweep. King Nalinigulm ruled his kingdom very diligently, serving his people well and following religion with sincerity. He died in time and went to heaven.

Upon completing the celestial lifespan, the soul of Nalinigulm descended into the womb of queen Vishnu Devi, wife of king Vishnuraj who lived in the Sinhpur town of Bharatvarsha. During this period, the kingdom witnessed good credit growth (Shreya) and fortune. Hence his name was decided to be Shreyans. When he became grown up, he got married and later on became the king. After ruling for many years, he decided to become an ascetic. He took initiation and within two months attained omniscience. He travelled many places preaching the path of liberation. Once he arrived in a city named Patanpur where Tripusht Vasudev (one of the past reincarnations of the soul of Mahavir) was delivering speech on religion. Upon receiving the message that Tirthankar Shreyanshnath has arrived in his city, Tripusht Vasudev rushed to the site to listen his speech. Shreyanshnath delivered a sermon on nirjara. In Jainism nirjara is a process of removing karmas or obstacles gets attached to the soul during lifetime and which determine the fate of the soul after death. Many people were motivated by his sermon and took mendicancy. Knowing his time for emancipation is near, Shreyanshnath went to Mt. Sammet with one thousand ascetics and began a fast. After passing a month, he attained nirvana.

Yaksa  became his male messenger deity. Likewise, the goddess Manavi became the Lord’s female messenger deity.


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