अरनाथ
Aranatha
The eighteenth Tirthankara.
The eighteenth Tirthankara, born at Hastinapur, and the last of the three consecutive Hastinapur Tirthankaras. Like Shantinatha and Kunthunatha before him he is recorded as having been a Chakravartin — a universal emperor — before renouncing.
His name is read as arising from ara, the spoke of a wheel; the wheel is the cycle of time, and the tradition places him at the turning between two of its ages.
The fish is his emblem. He attained nirvana at Shikharji.
On the emblem. Also given as the nandyavarta, a nine-cornered auspicious diagram.
This figure is known from tradition; there is no independent historical evidence. That is a statement about the record, not about the tradition.
Written for Jain Times. Corrections are welcome — see sources and licences.