Previous Births of Shantinath

The account of the earlier incarnations of Bhagwan Shantinath indicates that this soul had taken the path that lead towards purity of soul. As a result of his upliftment of the soul as Shrisen and Vajrayudh he got birth as Meghrath, son of King Dhanrath of Pundarikini town in Mahavideh area. King Dhanrath gave his throne to his son and became ascetic.

Meghrath was a benevolent and religious ruler. He was compassionate and protected all living things. Disturbed by the miseries of the mundane life, one day king Meghrath was doing mediation. He transcended to a very high level of purity. Knowing about this uncommon purity and determination of Meghrath the king of gods bowed to him with reverence, "My salutations to you O citizen Yogi! there are but a few in this world who could reach this level of detachment and purity." Two senior consorts of Indra, Surup and Atirup did not like this gesture of praise of a mere human. They both came to disturb the meditation of Meghrath. They made several beautiful and voluptuous damsels appear before the king. These beauties tried to disturb Meghrath by a display of dances and inviting gestures. When these night long seductive afflictions failed to disturb king Meghrath, the goddesses, before returning to their abode, appeared themselves and asked the king to forgive them.

King Meghrath’s uncommon purity and determination made gods to bow to him with reverence. King Meghrath, then, crowned his son and took Diksha from Arhat Dhanrath. Due to his increasing purity in meditation in the face of many afflictions, he earned the Tirthankar-nam-and-gotra-karma. Completing his age he reincarnated in the Sarvarthasiddha dimension of gods.