Nimi was the son of Ikshvaku. Once he wanted to conduct a long and tiresome yajna for the benefit of his people. He approached Guru Vashishth to preside over the yajna, however Vashishth had already committed to conduct a yajna for Indra and said he will conduct yajna for him after fulfilling his commitment to Indra.
However, Nimi did not want to wait so he went ahead with the yajna under the guidance of Gautam rishi. When Vashishth came back after completing Indra’s yajna, he got furious at Nimi for going ahead with someone else and cursed Nimi to lose his body.
Nimi’s people were sad to see his lifeless body but yet continued with the yajna. After yajna Gods asked when they wanted. They demanded that Nimi be returned.
Nimi refused to return to his body but he decided to live on the eyelids of his people. They say Nimi still lives in our eyelids and the time taken to blink is called nimish.