[2] According to traditional accounts, he was born to King Vishvasena and Queen Aćira of the Ikshvaku dynasty in the north Indian city of Hastinapur.

His icons include the eponymous deer as his emblem, the Nandi tree, Garuda Yaksha, and Nirvani Yakshi.

[2][note 1] A Tirthankara (ford-maker, saviour or spiritual teacher) signifies the founding of a tirtha, a passage across the sea of birth-and-death cycles.

[4][5] He was born to King Vishvasena and Queen Aćira at Hastinapur on the 13th day of Jestha Krishna in the Ikshvaku clan.

[7] According to Śvetāmbara monk Acharya Hemachandra, epidemics, evils and misery were destroyed when Shantinatha was in his mother's womb.

During his reign he conquered all six divisions of the earth in all directions, acquiring elephants, horses, nine-fold most precious treasures and fourteen ratna (jewels).

After his sixteen years of asceticism, on the ninth bright day of the month of Pausha (December–January), he achieved kevala jnana .

[13] After achieving kevala jnana he visited Somanasapur, and was offered first ahara (food) by King Dharma Mitra and his wife.

[8] On the 13th day of the dark half of the month Jyestha (May–June), he attained nirvana at Sammed Shikharji,[13][12][note 2] known contemporaneously as the Parasnath Hills in northern Jharkhand.

[31] Jinastotrāņi is a collection of hymn dedicated to Shantinatha along with Munisuvrata, Chandraprabha, Neminatha, Mahavira, Parshvanatha and Rishabhanatha.

[33] One such shloka reads: First, Lord Śhāntinātha Jina, for a long period of time, wielded supremacy as a king and provided protection to his subject from enemies; later on, on his own, became an ascetic and, as the embodiment of benevolence, pacified evil tendencies.The Shantinatha Charitra, by Acharya Ajitprabhasuri in 14th century, describes the life of the 16th Jain Tirthankara Shantinatha.

Shantipurana, written around the 10th century by Sri Ponna, is considered to be one of the three gems of Kannada literature.

[37][38][39] Ajitasanti or Ajita-Śhānti-stava composed by Acharya Nandisenasuri, a seventh century Jain monk, a famous Śvetāmbara hymn, has alternate verses praising Ajitnatha and Shantinatha.

Hastinapur, for example, is a hilly part of Uttar Pradesh, which is believed to have been a place of Shantinath, along with Aranatha and Kunthunath.