Arihanta

India launched its first nuclear-powered submarine on 26th July 2009; the name that has been given to it is "ARIHANTA".I had discussion with my friends about naming nuclear submarine as Arihanta.

My very good friend, Manish, argued about this name and have given nice comments and history behind it which I am writing here

The word ‘Arihanta’ is compounded from ‘ari,’ meaning enemies, and ‘hanta,’ which means destroyer। So, the literal meaning of this Sanskrit word is "Killer of enemies".But in Jainism the term is used to indicate the person whose soul is devoid of all evils.Here the enemies refer to the feelings of anger, greed, ego and deceit. A person succeeding in overcoming these feelings is said to have attained the state of Arihanta.An Arihanta is believed to be a person with pure knowledge, pure perception and infinite power. In such a state the soul is said to be passionless.

And this is for sure that the GOI wouldn’t having in their mind, the real meaning while naming it.