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MYTHOLOGY OF THE BUDDHAS AND THE
TIRTHANKARAS DR. NAND KISHORE PRASAD, M. A., PH. D.
The Buddhist sources refer to some essential features which must occur in the life of all the Buddhas. So also, the Jaina sources contain
information about the nature of all the Tirthankaras. These common features called dhammatā by the Buddhists and atiśaya by the Jainas are pertaining to jāti (conception), gotta (family), mode and place of birth and such other cardinal events of the life of the Buddhas and the Tirthakaras.
In this paper we propose to give a brief resume of the different aspects of the popular belief about the features common to all the Buddhas and the Tirthankaras as we gather from the Buddhist and the Jaina sources respectively.
Among the Buddhist sources, the Mahapadīnasutta of the Dighanikayn, ihe Buddhavainsa, Nidanakatha of the Jatakatthakathā, the Mahāvastu Avadana, etc. are some of the texts which discuss this aspect of the Buddhas elaborately. Likewise, the Acarangasūtra, the Samavayangasütra, Kalpasūtra, Višeşāvasyakabhaş ya, the Trişaşțišalā kapuruşacaritra, the Abhidhānacintamani, etc. are some of the Jaina books which more or less refer to the features peculior to the Tirthankaras.
The Mahā padansutta bears a comprehensive list of the features common to all the Buddhas. There, the Buddha himself is recorded to have stated the list which may be summed up as below -
When a Bodhisatta descends from the Tusitaloka (heaven of Delight) and enters into his mother's womb,
(1) he is mindful and self-possessed; (2) an infinite and splendid radiance surpassing the glory of the
gods is made manifest throughout the universe; (3) four sons of the gods guard the four quarters so that no one
may harm to the Bodhisatta or his mothers; (4) his mother, being a lady virtuous by her own nature, has no
desire for pleasures of the senses and is incapable to be sedu
ced by a man enamoured of her; (5) his mother bears him possessed of the pleasures yielded by
the five senses;
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