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Sheetalnath in his previous life was King Padmottar of Sushima state in the Pushkarvar region. He was a very religious person who used to be engaged in religious and spiritual practices.And so, he later handed over the kingdom to his son and took Diksha from Tristadha Muni. He became a saint and performed many religious and spiritual practices. He performed and he got enlightenment and so in his next life he was reborn as the tenth Tirthankar. His soul descended into the womb of Queen Nanda wife of the King Dridhratha of Bhaddilpur region. When the child was in the womb of Queen,she informed the King that she had fourteen auspicious dreams.The King immediately mentioned that the auspecious dreams were similar to the ones seen by Bhagwan Suvidhinath’s mother and they were happy to know that their son was going to be the next Tirthanakar. On the twelth day of the month of Magh(according to Jain calender) she gave birth to a baby boy. During the pregnancy of Nanda devi, one day the King developed a complete burning sensation and high fever, none of the medicines or ointments could relieve his suffering and cure his fever. The queen was worried seeing his suffering. Then she began to place her hand on his head, he immediately felt cool and had a relief. To their surprise it was a complete miracle, everywhere she placed her hand the king got relief and his fever was cured. They realised it was due to the greatness of the unborn child Nanda devi carrying in her womb.Due to this they named him Sheetal (cool, calm). He was an obedient and loving son and everybody use to admire him and he use to treat everyone with respect. As years passed he grew up and his parents got him married. He spent a lot of time in prayer and meditation. After some years, his father crowned him and announced him as King and he himself retired and went to the forests to undergo spiritual penances. Sheetalnath was a wise King and ably served his subjects and there was complete peace in his kingdom.
One day sitting in prayer, Sheetalnath had a vision of all the memories of his past lives and they came to his mind and he realised the purpose of his this life. A deep sense of detachment came over him and he embraced ascetism. Many of the members of the royal family and his subjects followed him to this path.Then he continued his rigorous spiritual practices under a Peepal tree and achieved Omniscience on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month of Paush(according to Jainism).
He continued preaching and spreading the tenets of Jain religion, of Compassion, Non violence, the Five codes of conduct, Right action, Right Thinking and Right Knowledge for a long time and people followed his preaching. On the dark half of the month of Vaisakh(according to Jain calendar) he attained nirvana auspecious land of Sammed Shikhar. Swami Sheetalnath is associated with Srivasta emblem.
