________________
116 ]
[ The Previous Lives of Lord Mahavira
penance which is thus faultless and devoid of any desire for its fruit. The saint Vishvabhuti however forgot everything in his fit of anger. He turned his penance into the form of a Nidana and cherished a hope for the result. After some time he died and was reborn in the region of the gods named Mahashukra where he got a very dignified life of a god. This was the eighteenth birth of the soul of would-be Lord Mahavira, which had taken place on earth and in various regions of gods, passed one by one by this time.
TRIPRISHTHA VASUDEVA King Ripupratishatru was reigning in Potanapura at the time when the nineteenth birth of the soul of Mahavira took place in this world. Ripúpratishatru was a great and illustrious king. His principal queen was Bhadra who gave birth to a Baladeva named Achala. When the child was in the womb his mother dreamt four auspicious dreams. Another queen of this king brought forth Tripristha the Vasudeva, which was the nineteenth birth of Lord Mahavira. At the time of Tripristha's descending from heaven and entering into the womb, his mother had seen auspicious dreams. The childhood of these two brothers was spent in an atmosphere of love and joviality. They had a profound love for each other and as they were used to live together the shortest separation of the one became exteremly unbearable for the other.
It has always been the law of nature in this world that twenty four Tirthankaras, twelve Chakravartins, nine Vasudevas, nine Baladevas, nine Prativasudevas take their birth during the periods of Avasarpini and Utsarpini. The duty of Tirthankaras is to remove evil and ugliness from this world
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
