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and perhaps MN III 231,13 where the Buddha explains his majjhimā pațipadā between kāma (Indra) and tapas (Prajāpati).
Besides, it may be noticed that in the Ř V we meet with the first, though mythical, case of intra-uterine communication between mother and child. Popular belief, especially in India,78 was acquainted with this long before western prenatal psychology began taking note of it in this century."
Of Mahāvīra tradition tells us that for the first 82 days80 he stayed in the womb of Devanandā, a brahmin lady, and was then transplanted by Indra, 81 or, at his command, by his army commander Hariñegamesī82 into the Ksatriya Queen Tisalā's womb, for the idea had come to Indra's mind that Jinas are never reborn into lower class, poor, or Brahmin families.83 Later, when Devananda and Usabhadatta, her husband, happen to call on Mahāvīra in a temple in order to pay their respects to him, the latter designates her as his mother.84 The Āyäranga, the oldest Jaina Āgama, complicates things in that it gives brahmin nomina gentilicia to Usabhadatta as well as to Siddhattha, Tisalā's consort, i.e. Kodāla (Sa. Kausalya)85 resp. to Kāsava (Sa. Kāśyapa).86 Both Jainism and Buddhism, however, are Ksatriya religions and therefore Mahāvīra could not be a Brahmin. This was a "misconception", which the later church leaders did away with by means of the miraculous foetus exchange by the goat-headed god Hariñegamesī.
The Jains, as is well-known, adopted and adapted this vaisnavite mythologeme in which Nidrā, the goddess of sleep, exchanges the foetus of Baladeva from the womb of his mother Devakī into that of her sister Rohiņī, in order to save him from the mortal grip of his Herodes-like father Kamsa.87 Here, the point of departure for the Jains was the name
78 Also, e.g. RV 4,27,1 (Soma); Mbh cr. ed. 1,98,13 and 12,328,46 (Dīrghatamas).
For modern examples see, e.g. Oman 1908: 69; Thompson and Balys 1958: T 575.1. 79 See, e.g. Janus 1990: esp. 76 sqq. 80I cannot offer an explanation of nor parallels for this number. 81 Ayar 2,15,4. 82 Kappa Jinac $30. 83 Kappa Jinac $17. 84 See Glasenapp, von 1925: 297; Schubring 1935: 26 ($17), and Jaini 1980: 232. 85 For this see Bollée "Notes on Middle Indo-Aryan Vocabulary III” (forthcoming). -
Perhaps the Jain interest in Cāņakya (for whom see Chandra and Mehta 1970 s.v.
Canakka) is connected to Kodāla, Mahāvīra's brahmin father. 86 Ayar 2,15,4. 87 Harivamsa cr. ed. 47 - 48; BhāgPur 10,2,8. See also, c.g. O'Flaherty 1975: 206
- 213 and Spratt 1966: 302 (according to whom "the psychoanalytic view (of the embryo transfer) is that it is intended to diminish the hostility between father and son"). Further, Printz 1925: 124 expresses doubt as to a direct borrowing from the Krsna legend.