The 5 Kalyanaks of Bhagwan Neminath

A kalyanak — literally "auspicious event" — is one of the five turning points in a Tirthankara's life that the whole of creation is said to mark. Every Tirthankara has the same five. For Bhagwan Neminath, also called Arishtanemi, the twenty-second Tirthankara, they are:

Source: the per-Tirthankara tables in 24 Tirthankars Information and View, in the JainGPT library.

Who he was

Neminath was a cousin of Krishna — the Harivansh clan is the link — which places him inside the same narrative world as the Jain Harivansha Purana and the Jain telling of the Mahabharata.

The event between janma and diksha

The reason his diksha falls the day after his birth tithi in the calendar is the episode every Jain child learns.

Neminath was to marry Rajimati (Rajul), daughter of King Ugrasen. On the wedding day his procession passed an enclosure of animals penned for the feast. Hearing them cry and learning why they were there, he turned the chariot around and gave up the marriage, renouncing the world and going on to Girnar.

Rajimati renounced too, following him to Girnar and becoming a sadhvi — and the episode that follows, in which she recalls her brother-in-law Rahnemi to his vows when his resolve slips, is one of the most quoted passages in the Uttaradhyayana Sutra.

Why Girnar matters

Because two of the five kalyanaks — kevala jnana and nirvana — happened on Mount Girnar in Saurashtra, Gujarat, it is one of the foremost Svetambara tirthas, and the climb to the Neminath temple remains among the most-walked pilgrimages in Jainism.

Note that tithis vary slightly between panchang traditions and between Svetambara and Digambara reckoning; the dates above follow the Svetambara tables. For the Gregorian date in a given year, check your community's panchang.

Related: What the five Kalyanaks are in Jainism · SOLVE THIS ANAGRAM ABOUT BHAGWAN NEMINATH