नेमिनाथ
Neminatha · also Aristanemi
The twenty-second Tirthankara. Tradition relates that he renounced the world on his wedding day, on hearing the animals gathered for the feast.
The twenty-second Tirthankara, known also as Aristanemi, and — in tradition — a cousin of Krishna, which places him inside the same body of story as the Mahabharata.
The account that defines him is his wedding. Arriving at the marriage pavilion, he heard animals crying from an enclosure and asked what they were for; told they were to be slaughtered for the feast, he turned the chariot around, released them, and renounced the world on the spot. His betrothed, Rajimati, is said to have renounced after him.
It is the tradition's sharpest statement about ahimsa: not an argument, but a man walking away from his own wedding rather than let a feast be made of it. He is associated with Girnar hill in Gujarat, where he is held to have attained omniscience and liberation.
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.