Munisuvrata

Munisuvrata
Twentieth Jain Tirthankara
Shri 1008 Munisuvratnath Bhagwan Statue
Venerated in	Jainism
Predecessor	Māllīnātha
Successor	Naminatha
Symbol	Tortoise
Height	20 bows (60 metres)
Age	over 30,000 years
Color	Black
Personal Information
Born	Rajgir
Moksha	Shikharji
Parents	Sumitra (father) Padmavati (mother)

Munisuvrata Swami (Munisuvratanātha) (मुनिसुव्रत स्वामी) was the twentieth Tirthankara of the present half time cycle (avasarpini) in Jain cosmology. He became a siddha, a liberated soul which has destroyed all of his karma. Events of the Jaina version of Ramayana are placed at the time of Munisuvratanatha. His chief apostle (gañadhara) was sage Malli Svāmi.

Munisuvratanatha was the twentieth Tirthankara of the present half time cycle (avasarpini) in Jain cosmology.

According to Jain texts, Munisuvratanātha was born as 34 lakh plus 25,000 years passed after the birth of the nineteenth Tirthankara, Mallinātha. According to Jain beliefs, Munisuvratanātha descended from the heaven called Ānata kalpa on the twelfth day of the bright half of the month of Āśvina – āśvina śukla dvādaśi– to Queen Padmā and King Sumitra.

In his previous incarnation, Munisuvrata was born as Surshreshta, the king of Champa, Mahavideh.

On the third day of Shraavana (month) Krishna (dark fortnight) according to Hindu calendar, Queen Padmavati of Rajgir saw sixteen auspicious dreams. When she shared her dreams with her husband, King Sumitra of the Harivamsa clan, he explained that a Tirthankara will be born to them soon. Then, Munisuvrata was born to them on the fifteenth day of the Shraavana Shukla (bright fortnight) in 1,184,980 BC.

According to Jain texts, after spending 7,500 years as youth (kumārkāla), Munisuvratanātha ruled His kingdom for 15,000 years (rājyakāla). He then renounced all worldly pursuits and became a monk. According to Jain beliefs, Munisuvratanātha spent 11 months (chadmasthakāla) performing karma-destroying austerities and then attained the all-embracing knowledge – Omniscience (kevala jñāna).