Bhagvana Mahavira

Author(s): Tulsi Acharya
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 18

10
Bhagavān Mahavira
new dawn to appear.
The Sunrise
The spring came and began to make its presence felt everywhere. Clad in the happy and colourful garments of new-born leaves the forest trees began to stir with life. The fragrance-laden flowers filled the atmosphere with their sweet smell and the spiring breeze carried it to distant corners. The sun rose on the morning of the thirteenth day of bright half of the lunar month of Caitra in this atmosphere. Trisalā gave birth to a son. It was a wonderful baby born at a wonderful moment. The mother, father and kinsmen of the child as well as Nature herself began to beam with joy. There was cheerfulness everywhere.
The birth of a child is not an accident. It is a definite link in the endless chain of destiny. It is true that new-born child comes all alone and barehanded in the world, but it is also equally true that its subtle body and mind contains infinite potentialities. It was this child who came to be known by the epithet Mahāvīra (i.e. a great hero) thirty years later. Nobody can aspire to become a Mahāvīra overnight. It takes ages to build a personality of courage and valour, and it had happened so in the case of Bhagavān Mahāvīra.
There is an old story. King Prajāpati of Potanpur had two sons, Acala and Triprştha. One day a dance performance had been arranged in the court. The king, the princes and the courtiers watched the absorbing art of the dancers with great interest. Suddenly a visitor entered the court and disturbing the performance went straight to the king. The king suspended the performance, stood up to receive the visitor and began to listen to him.
Prince Triprşțha felt offended. He enquired of his adviser inquisitively who the visitor was and how he was being given so much attention by his father. He was told that the visitor was the envoy of King. Ašvagriva, the Prativāsudeva