Article: Vimala

Dates and numbers

The five auspicious events that mark a Jina’s life – kalyāṇakas – are traditionally associated with a specific date. This is given according to the system of the Indian calendar:

• month
• fortnight
• day in the fortnight.

Astrological considerations also play a role here and the texts normally mention the constellations when an auspicious event takes place.

The dates associated with these events are potential or actual dates of commemoration. These may be marked in festivals, which determine the Jain religious calendar.

There may be variations in the dates in different sources, Śvetāmbara on one side, Digambara on the other. But there are also cases of differences within the same sectarian tradition.

There are also other numbers connected with the life of this Jina.

Monastic and lay communities

Fourfold community
Image by Wellcome Trust Library © Wellcome Library, London

A Jina is not an enlightened being who exists alone after reaching omniscience. After perfect knowledge comes general preaching – samavasaraṇa. This sermon, which is attended by all, is reported in the scriptures as resulting in large numbers of listeners being inspired. Many turn to religious life, becoming monks or nuns, while many others make the vows that lay people – śrāvaka and śrāvikā – can follow in their everyday lives. Further, the Jina’s teachings are preserved and passed on by his chief disciples – the gaṇadharas. This is why a Jina is also called a Tīrthaṃkara, meaning ‘ford-maker’ or ‘founder of a community’.

Each Jina establishes a ‘fourfold community‘, led by the chief disciples. Made up of monks, nuns, lay men and lay women, the fourfold community follows the principles the Jina has set out in his preaching. How members follow the religious teachings vary according to whether they remain householders or take initiation into mendicancy. Individual figures relating to each Jina are thus important.

Vimala’s fourfold community

Chief disciples	Monks	Nuns	Lay men	Lay women
57 led by Mandara – Śvetāmbara 51 – Digambara	68,000	100,800 led by Padmaśrī – Digambara	208,000 led by Tripṛṣṭha	434,000

Identification

All Jinas have individual emblems – lāñchanas – and colours that help to identify them in artwork. They also have attendant deities known as yakṣa and yakṣī, who often appear flanking them in art.

More details

Besides the basic information, the sources provide more details on various topics. These are almost infinite and vary depending on the sources. Such information differs between Śvetāmbaras and Digambaras. Here are only a few instances of extra detail.

All of the princes who become Jinas are carried on a palanquin to the park where they perform the ritual gesture of initiation into monastic life – dīkṣā. The palanquin of Vimalanātha or Lord Vimala is named Devadattā. On this occasion, he is accompanied by numerous kings.

He performs a two-day fast. The next day he breaks his fast at the house of King Jaya in the town of Dhānyakaṭa.

Vimala wanders for two months as an ordinary ascetic and reaches omniscience under a tree of the jambū variety.

Events, stories and hymns

Boar
Image by Victoria and Albert Museum © V&A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The life of Vimalanātha or Lord Vimala is almost eventless. In the 9th-century Lives of the 54 Jain Great Men – Cauppaṇṇa-mahāpurisa-cariya – written in Prakrit by the Śvetāmbara monk Śīlānka, the chapter about the 13th Jina is hardly more than one page.

The 12th-century Sanskrit text Tri-ṣaṣṭi-śalākā-puruṣa-caritra, written by Hemacandra, has become the standard Śvetāmbara version of the Jinas’ lives. This text gives Vimala’s life more substance because the story of the triad of Bhadra, Svayambhū and Meraka is inserted within the general frame of the story and told at length. As usual with such triads, it is a tale of war and fighting. The two main enemies are the Vāsudeva Svayambhū and the Prati-vāsudeva Meraka, whose hatred continues from their previous births.

Vimala is mainly praised alongside other Jinas in hymns dedicated to the 24 Jinas. One instance is the devotional song dedicated to this Jina in the Gujarati set of hymns composed by Yaśovijaya in the 17th century. This example can be found among the manuscripts digitised on JAINpedia.

Temples and images

Vimalanātha or Lord Vimala is not one of the most popular Jinas. Yet he is known through a number of stone sculptures, such as:

• a 9th-century figure in the Digambara style, preserved in the Sarnath Museum in Uttar Pradesh
• sculptures in the western Indian temples of Vimala Vasahi at Mount Abu and at Kumbharia in Gujarat
• figures at Shravana Belgola, Venur and Mudbidri in Karnataka, along with sculptures of other Jinas.

Metal images showing Vimala alone or with other Jinas are also available in temples and museums.