{{Short description|Jain cosmology being}} {{use dmy dates|date=June 2016}} {{use Indian English|date=June 2016}} {{Infobox deity | type = Jain | deity_of = Tīrthaṅkara | image = File: Simandhar Swami.jpg | caption = Idol of Simandhar at Shri Bibrod Adinath Jain Shwetamber Tirth, Bibdod, Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, India | other_names = Helds being saint ''(Sanyam ni sima ne dhāran karnār)'' | symbol = Bull | color <!--of Physical form--> = Gold | mantra = {{IAST|Aum hrīṃ śrīṃ arham śrī sīmaṃdharasvāmine namaḥ hrīṃ svāhā}}<ref>{{cite web | url=https://jainqq.org/explore/600454/3 | title=Search, Seek, and Discover Jain Literature }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://jainqq.org/explore/022213/18 | title=Search, Seek, and Discover Jain Literature }}</ref> | spouse = Rukamani | father = Shreyans | mother = Satyaki | height = 500 Dhanush | age = 84 lac purv | predecessor = himself 1st | successor = Yugmandhar }} {{Jainism}} '''Simandhar''' or '''Simandhara'''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cort |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0IF2CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA185 |title=Framing the Jina: Narratives of Icons and Idols in Jain History |date=2010-01-21 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-045257-5 |pages=185 |language=en}}</ref> is a ''Tīrthaṅkara'', an arihant, who is said to be currently living in another world in the Jain cosmological universe.
==Residence in Jain cosmology==
Simandhar resides at ''Mahavideh Kshetra'', another land within the Jain cosmological universe (see Jain cosmology).{{sfn|Natubhai Shah|2004|p=}}<ref name="Simandhar Swami Mahavideh Kshetra">{{citation|last=University |first=Jain |title=Mahavideh Kshetra |url=http://www.jainuniversity.org/PDFs/eng-lib/2.3.pdf |publisher=Jain University |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516172440/http://www.jainuniversity.org/PDFs/eng-lib/2.3.pdf |archive-date=16 May 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Darshan|first=Jain|title=Mahavideh Kshetra|url=http://www.jsmconline.org/JainDarshan/2005Dec.pdf|publisher=Jain Darshan|access-date=27 November 2013|archive-date=2 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202234541/http://www.jsmconline.org/JainDarshan/2005Dec.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The five lands of the Bharat Kshetra are currently in the fifth Ara (a degraded time-cycle in which Tirthankaras do not take birth).<ref name="Kaal Chakra">{{cite web|last=Jainism |first=My |title=Kaal Chakra |url=http://www.myjainism.com/PDF/Kaal_Chakra.pdf |publisher=My Jainism |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202223452/http://www.myjainism.com/PDF/Kaal_Chakra.pdf |archive-date= 2 December 2013 }}</ref>{{sfn|Jaini|1998|pp=30–32}} The most recent ''Tirthankara'' present on ''Bharata Kshetra'' (present world) was Vardhamana Mahavira, whom historians estimate lived between 599 and 527 BCE, the last in a cycle of 24 Tirthankaras.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jain Meditation |url=http://www.jainmeditation.org/pages/godhood.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427202217/http://www.jainmeditation.org/pages/godhood.html |archive-date=27 April 2012 }}</ref>{{sfn|Jaini|1998|pp=1–41}}
On Mahavideh Kshetra, the fourth Ara like (a spiritually elevated time-cycle) exists continuously. There, Tirthankaras perpetually are born.<ref name="Jain Tirthankaras">{{cite web|last=Tirthankaras|first=Jain|title=24 Tirthankaras|url=http://www.jaintirthankars.com/24tirthankars.html|publisher=Jain Tirthankaras }}</ref><ref name="Kaal Chakra"/> There are 5 Mahavideh Kshetras, each being a separate land. At present, there are 4 Tirthankaras residing in each Mahavideh Kshetra. Thus there are a total of 20 Tirthankaras residing there, Simandhar being one among them.<ref name="Simandhar Swami Mahavideh Kshetra"/>
==Biography per Jain tradition==
Simandhar is a living Tirthankara, an Arihant, who is said to be currently present on another world in the Jain cosmological universe.{{sfn|Pravin K Shah|pp=1–3}}<ref name=Arihants>{{cite web|last=Umich|title=Arihants|url=http://www.umich.edu/~umjains/jainismsimplified/chapter01.html|publisher=Umich.edu}}</ref> The Arihant Simandhar is believed to be currently 150,000 earth years old and has a remaining lifespan of 125,000 earth years. He lives in the city of Pundarikgiri, the capital of Pushpakalavati, one of 32 geographical divisions on Mahavideh Kshetra.<ref name="Simandhar Swami Mahavideh Kshetra"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Gyan |first=Jain |title=Mahavideh Kshetra |url=http://www.jaingyan.com/the-mahavideh-kshetra-is-located-in-the-middle-of-jambudwip/ |publisher=Jain Gyan |access-date=27 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203013453/http://www.jaingyan.com/the-mahavideh-kshetra-is-located-in-the-middle-of-jambudwip/ |archive-date= 3 December 2013 }}</ref> Pundarikgiri is ruled by King Shreyans, who is Simandhar's father. His mother is Satyaki. While pregnant with Simandhar, Satyaki had a sequence of auspicious dreams indicating that she would give birth to a Tirthankara.<ref name="Simandhar Swami">{{cite web|title=Simandhar Swami|url=http://www.jainworld.com/jainbooks/tirthankar/apendix-8.htm|publisher=Jain World|access-date=25 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|url=http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.jaina.org/resource/resmgr/Religious_Article/Arihant_Simandhar_Swami.pdf|title=Arihant Simandhar Swami|first=Deepika|last=Dalal|publisher=JAINA|page=3}}</ref> Simandhar was born with three complete aspects of jnana, or self-knowledge:
* Mati Jnana (see Jain epistemology), knowledge of the 5-sense realm * Shruta Jnana (see Jain epistemology), knowledge of all forms of communication * Avadhi Jnana (see Jain epistemology), clairvoyant knowledge{{sfn|Jaini|1998|p=3}}
As a young adult, he married Rukamani and then, later in life, took diksha, renunciation from worldly life.<ref name="Simandhar Swami"/>
Simandhar's height is 500 dhanushya, approximately 1,500 feet, which is considered an average height for the people of Mahavideh Kshetra.<ref name="Simandhar Swami Mahavideh Kshetra"/>
== Worship == === Iconography === Simandhara is usually depicted in a sitting or standing meditative posture with the symbol of a bull beneath him.{{Sfn|Shah|1987|p=101}} Every ''Tīrthankara'' has a distinguishing emblem that allows worshippers to distinguish similar-looking idols of the ''Tirthankaras''.{{Sfn|Encyclopædia Britannica}}{{Sfn|Krishna|2014|p=34}}{{sfn|Zimmer|1953|p=225}}
<gallery> File:Simandhar Swami.jpg|Idol of Simandhar at Shri Bibrod Adinath Jain Shwetamber Tirth, Bibdod, Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, India File:Digamber Jain mandir ujjain 2013-09-22 02-16.JPG|Simandhara in Digambar Jain temple, Ujjain File:Simandhar Swami in Simandhar Jain Temple in Mehsana, Gujarat, India.jpg|Simandhar Swamiat Simandhar Jain Temple, Mehsana </gallery>
=== Main temples ===
* Shree Simandhar swami Śvetāmbara Jain Temple,Katargam,Surat
<gallery> File:Derasar,Lower Parel,Mumbai - panoramio (1).jpg|Simandhara Swami Derasar at Parel, Mumbai </gallery>
== See also == {{commons category|Simandhara Swāmī}} * Shantinatha * Kunthunatha
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * {{citation |last=Dundas |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Dundas |title=The Jains |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X8iAAgAAQBAJ |edition=Second |date=2002 |orig-year=1992 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-26605-X |location=London and New York |ref=none}} *{{cite book|last=Humphrey and Laidlaw|title=The archetypal actions of ritual: a theory of ritual illustrated by the Jain rite of worship|year=1994|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Indiana University|isbn=0198279477|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3jbXAAAAMAAJ |ref=none}} * {{citation |last=Jaini |first=Padmanabh S. |author-link=Padmanabh Jaini |title=The Jaina Path of Purification |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wE6v6ahxHi8C |date=1998 |orig-year=1979 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |location=Delhi |isbn=81-208-1578-5 }} *{{citation |last1=King |last2=Brockington |title=Intimate Other, The Love Divine in Indic Religions |year=2005 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |isbn=978-81-250-2801-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WhgDL6SwGeQC |ref=none}} * {{citation |last=Shah |first=Natubhai |author-link=Natubhai Shah |title=Jainism: The World of Conquerors |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qLNQKGcDIhsC |volume=I |date=2004 |orig-year=First published in 1998 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=81-208-1938-1 |ref={{sfnref|Natubhai Shah|2004}} }} * {{citation |last=Shah |first=Pravin K |title=Jain Philosophy and Practice 1 |year=2002 |publisher=JAINA Education Committee |isbn=8185568014 |url=http://www.terapanthinfo.org/pdf/books/JainPhilosophy.pdf |ref={{sfnref|Pravin K Shah}} }} * {{citation |last=Zimmer |first=Heinrich |author-link=Heinrich Zimmer |title=Philosophies Of India |date=1953 |orig-year=April 1952 |editor-first=Joseph |editor-last=Campbell |editor-link=Joseph Campbell |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/Philosophy.of.India.by.Heinrich.Zimmer |isbn=978-81-208-0739-6}} * {{citation | url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/596895/Tirthankar | title=Britannica Tirthankar Definition | publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |ref = {{SfnRef|Encyclopædia Britannica}} }} * {{Citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DF_af8_547EC|title=Sacred Animals of India|first=Nanditha |last=Krishna|publisher=Penguin UK |date=2014|isbn=9788184751826}} * {{Citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_y_P4duSXsC|title=Jaina-rūpa-maṇḍana: (Jaina iconography)|volume=1|first=Umakant Premanand |last=Shah|date=1987|publisher=Abhinav Publications| author-link=Umakant Premanand Shah |isbn=9788170172086}}
{{Jain Gods}} {{Jainism topics}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simandhar Swami}} Category:Tirthankaras