Vṛṣṇidaśā
Princes of Dvārakā hear Ariṣṭanemi — and Prince Niṣadha chooses the path.
The Vṛṣṇis (or Yādavas) were the clan of Kṛṣṇa Vāsudeva and of the 22nd Tīrthaṅkara, Ariṣṭanemi (Neminātha). This final Upāṅga tells the stories of twelve Vṛṣṇi princes.
The story
Prince Niṣadha
Niṣadha, son of Baladeva and Revatī, lived in splendid Dvārakā. When Ariṣṭanemi came to teach, Niṣadha listened and took the householder’s vows — and later, initiation as a monk.
He was reborn in the highest heaven, and the tradition holds that he will be liberated in a future birth in Mahāvideha.
The Tīrthaṅkara of Their Own Family
Ariṣṭanemi was himself a Yādava — Kṛṣṇa’s cousin. Jain tradition remembers how, on his wedding day, he heard animals crying, kept to be killed for the feast, and turned away to renounce the world.
Now he had returned as a Tīrthaṅkara, and his own clan came to hear him.
The End of a Cycle
With the Vṛṣṇidaśā, the twelve Upāṅgas end — not with cosmology but with a family listening to truth.
From war to peace, from palace to path: the five narrative Upāṅgas trace a full arc of choices and their results.
What it teaches
- Ariṣṭanemi taught his own clan in Dvārakā
- Princes chose vows over pleasure
- The five narrative Upāṅgas form one connected story-cycle
- Spiritual choice can arise even in luxury
How the text is arranged
Twelve short chapters on Vṛṣṇi princes, beginning with Niṣadha. It completes the group of five connected narrative Upāṅgas.
The richest city in the world could not keep its princes from seeking freedom.
Ask yourselfWhat would make you leave a comfortable life for something deeper?