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Bhagawan Mahavir )
[ 109
In the fifteenth birth, that might be taken into account, the soul of would-be Mahavira took bodily form of a Brahmana named Sthavara who lived in Rajagriha. He passed both the prime of his life and old age in leading the life of a Tridandi ascetic. After his death, he was born in the celestial region named Brahma, where he got an ordinary life of gods, at the end of which he again descended to this world.
When the soul of Lord Mahavira was running its course of seventeenth life a very peaceful and illustrious king named Vishvanandi ruled in Rajagriha and he had many queens. One of them was called Priyangu, and she had given birth to a son named Vishakhanandi. King Visvanandi had a younger brother, Vishakhabhuti who had a wife Dharini by name. It was this Dharini, who was to give birth to the soul of Lord Mahavira which had once got the name of Marichi, and which had now entered into her womb. After brith the child was named as Vishvabhuti. Vishvabhuti's boyhood passed in an atmosphere of fondling and sport. The royal magnificence, rich food and drink and the extra ordinary love and affection of the father and the mother had such a great influence upon his childhood that he seemed to be quite adult in his very young age. It was felt that he should be married, and accordingly he was wedded to a very cultured and educated princess who was a fit match for liim in beauty, virtue, health, learning, age and lineal descent.
Once upon a time Vishvabhuti was having a pastime with his wife in the Pushpoakarandaka orchard of Nandanavana (the forest named Nandana ) when prince Vishakhanandi canie there with the intention of having a recreation.
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