Simandhara

Tirthankara Simandhar Swami resides at Mahavideh Kshetra, another land within the Jain cosmological universe (see Jain cosmology).[1][2][3]

The five lands of the Bharat Kshetra are currently in the 5th Ara (a degraded time-cycle in which Tirthankaras do not take birth).[4][5] The most recent Tirthankara present on Bharat Kshetra (present world) was Vardhamana Mahavira, whom historians estimate lived between 599-527 BCE, the last in a cycle of 24 Tirthankaras.[6][7]

On Mahavideh Kshetra, the 4th Ara (a spiritually elevated time-cycle) exists continuously. There, Tirthankaras perpetually are born.[8][4] There are 5 Mahavideh Kshetras, each being a separate land. At present, there are 4 Tirthankars residing in each Mahavideh Kshetra. Thus there are a total of 20 Tirthankaras residing there, Simandhar Swami being one among them.[2][9]

Simandhar Swami is a living Tirthankar, an Arihant, who is said to be currently present on another world in the Jain mythological universe.[10][11] The Arihant Simandhar Swami is believed to be currently 150,000 earth years old (equivalent to 49 years at Mahavideh Kshetra), and has a remaining lifespan of 125,000 earth years.[12][13] He lives in the city of Pundarikgiri, the capital of Pushpakalavati, one of 32 geographical divisions on Mahavideh Kshetra.[2][14][15] Pundarikgiri is ruled by King Shreyans, who is Simandhar Swami’s father. His mother is Queen Satyaki. While pregnant with Simandhar Swami, Queen Satyaki had a sequence of auspicious dreams indicating that she would give birth to a Tirthankara.[16][17] Simandhar Swami was born with three complete aspects of Gnan, Self-knowledge:

• Mati Gnan (see Jain epistemology), knowledge of the 5-sense realm
• Shruta Gnan (see Jain epistemology), knowledge of all forms of communication
• Avadhi Gnan (see Jain epistemology), clairvoyant knowledge[18]

As a young adult, he married Rukamani Devi and then, later in life, took diksha, renunciation from worldly life.[16]

Simandhar Swami’s height is 500 dhanushya, approximately 1,500 feet, which is considered an average height for the people of Mahavideh Kshetra.[2]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Simandhar Swami.

• Akram Vignan Movement

• Bhagwan, Dada (2005), Shree Simandhar Swami, Ahmedabad: Mahavideh Foundation
• Dundas, Paul (2002) [1992], The Jains (Second ed.), London and New York: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-26605-X
• Humphrey and Laidlaw (1994). The archetypal actions of ritual: a theory of ritual illustrated by the Jain rite of worship. Indiana University: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0198279477.
• Jaini, Padmanabh S. (1998) [1979], The Jaina Path of Purification, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-1578-5
• King; Brockington (2005), Intimate Other, The Love Divine in Indic Religions, Orient Blackswan, ISBN 978-81-250-2801-7
• Shah, Natubhai (2004) [First published in 1998], Jainism: The World of Conquerors, I, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-1938-1
• Shah, Pravin K, Jain Philosophy and Practice 1 (PDF), JAINA Education Committee, ISBN 8185568014
• Dadashri, Gnani Purush, The Current Living Tirthankara Shree Simandhar Swami (PDF), Dada Bhagwan Aradhana Trust
• Zimmer, Heinrich (1953) [April 1952], Campbell, Joseph (ed.), Philosophies Of India, London, E.C. 4: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, ISBN 978-81-208-0739-6CS1 maint: location (link)
• Britannica Tirthankar Definition, Encyclopædia Britannica
• Krishna, Nanditha (2014), Sacred Animals of India, Penguin UK, ISBN 9788184751826
• Shah, Umakant Premanand (1987), Jaina-rūpa-maṇḍana: (Jaina iconography), 1, Abhinav Publications, ISBN 9788170172086