Nimi Mahārāja

Nimi Mahārāja was a royal ṛṣi (seer-king) and the son of Ikṣvāku. He began the line of kings of Mithilā. He began a great satra-yāga (a long fire ritual) and chose Vasiṣṭha as chief priest. This led to a śāpa (a curse) between the two. Nimi was fixed in ātmajñāna (knowledge of the self), so he would not take a body again. Instead he came to dwell in the blinking of the eyes of all living beings. From his churned body the first Janaka was born, and Janaka founded the city of Mithilā.

Lineage and identity

Nimi was the son of Ikṣvāku. Ikṣvāku was the eldest son of Vaivasvata Manu. Most of Ikṣvāku’s hundred sons became rulers of the different regions of Āryāvarta. Nimi began a separate line that became the famous dynasty of Mithilā. It stood apart from the main Solar line of Ayodhyā. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells this in the 9th Skanda, Chapter 13.

The śāpa of Vasiṣṭha

Nimi began a great satra-yāga and chose Vasiṣṭha as his chief ṛtvik (officiating priest). Vasiṣṭha said no for the time being, because Indra had already asked him to serve at another yāga. He asked Nimi to wait until he came back.

Nimi was a man of viveka (clear judgement). He saw that life is short and decided not to delay the holy rite. He began the yāga with other qualified ṛtvijas.

Vasiṣṭha came back and saw that Nimi had gone on without him. He was angry and pronounced a śāpa: “This Nimi, who is proud of his learning, shall perish.”

Nimi saw that Vasiṣṭha himself had broken the rule that dharma must not be put off. He also saw in Vasiṣṭha a wish for double fees. So Nimi returned the śāpa: Vasiṣṭha too shall perish. Vasiṣṭha did die. He was reborn as the son of Mitra and Varuṇa through Urvaśī. This is in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 13.

Giving up the body

Nimi was firmly settled in ātmajñāna. After he pronounced his śāpa, he let go of his body. The ṛtvijas of the yāga kept the body safe in fragrant oils until the satra was finished.

The devas then offered to give Nimi a body again. He refused. He said: “May I not be bound again in the prison of a body. Those who meditate on Śrī Hari and fix their minds on Him do not wish to be joined to a body, because they fear its end. They seek the lotus feet of Bhagavān Hari for mokṣa (liberation).”

He said that the body by its very nature is the home of pain of body, pain of mind and fear. At every moment death waits for those who live in a body, like a great fish that lies in wait to eat a smaller one.

The devas honoured his renunciation. They granted that Nimi would live freely as the life within the eyes of all embodied beings. His presence shows itself in the blinking of the eyelids. This is in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 13.

The birth of Janaka and the founding of Mithilā

The ṛtvijas worried that the kingdom would have no ruler. They churned (mathana) the body of Nimi that they had kept, and a son was born from the churning. He received three names that belong to his unusual birth:

• Janaka, born in the line of Nimi, who had no body.
• Vaideha, born from the videhā (the one without a body).
• Mithila, born of the churning.

The city he founded in his land took his name and became the famous Mithilā. It was a great centre of royal wisdom and tapas (austerity). This is in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 13.

The Mithilā dynasty

Many famous kings of Mithilā came after the first Janaka (Mithila). The Bhāgavata gives their line in order: Udāvasu, Nandivardhana, Suketu, Devarāta, Bṛhadratha, Mahāvīrya, Sudṛti, Dhṛṣṭaketu, Haryaśva, Maru, Pratīpaka, Kṛtiratha, Devamīḍha, Viśruta, Mahādhṛti, Kṛtirāta, Mahāromu, Svarṇaromu, Hrasvaromu, and then Sīradhvaja. Sītādevī was born in the furrow of Sīradhvaja.

Among these descendants was Kṛtadhvaja, famous for being firm in ātmajñāna. His son Keśidhvaja was a great knower of the self. His talk with Khāṇḍikya, who followed the path of karma (action), is a famous episode.

The whole line of Mithilā was known for deep spiritual practice. Even as householders and rulers, they stayed free from rāga and dveṣa (liking and dislike). They were helped by the grace of ṛṣis such as Yājñavalkya. This is in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 13.

The Matsya Purāṇa account: where the word nimiṣa comes from

The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 200, also tells the story of Vasiṣṭha and Nimi. It tells it inside its teaching on gotra and pravara (family lines of ṛṣis), as the origin of the word nimiṣa (the blink of an eye).

In this account Nimi asks for a yajña. Vasiṣṭha asks him to wait. Nimi refuses, because good acts of dharma must not be delayed. Each gives the other a śāpa to become videha (without a body), and both die.

Nimi’s reasons in the Matsya Purāṇa are long. He says that death acts without favour or feeling. He says that the number of breaths given to a person runs out without warning. He says that a duty of dharma put off until tomorrow is a duty lost. He says: “In matters of vidyā (learning) and earning wealth, treat the body as lasting; in matters of duty to dharma, treat it as not lasting.”

After death both jīvas go to Brahmā. There Brahmā says to Nimi:

“O Nimi! I give you the eyelids of all beings as your dwelling. Because Nimi rests (śayate) there, that moment is called nimiṣa.”

So the word nimiṣa (the blink of an eye) comes from Nimi resting in the eyelid.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 13
• Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 200