________________
40
COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
Mahāvīra was born on the 13th day of the bright half of the month of Chaitra in the year 599 B. C. His father Siddhartha, King of the Kundapura of the Jñātr clan in Vaiśāli. His mother was Trisalā, the daughter of Chetāka, a King of the Licchavi clan. She had an@ther name Priyakāriņi. There is another tradition which regards her as the sister of Chetaka. The parents were the followers of the tradition of Lord Pārsvanātha. The child was first named Vira, but since his birth, as the kingdom began to attain greater prosperity, he was called Vardhamāna. In some religious texts, he is called Jñåtrputra. In the Buddhis literature he is called Nātaputta. According to tradition, he had been gifted at birth with matijñāna (perceptional knowledge), Śruta-jñāna (knowledge of the sacred lore) and manaḥ- paryāya jñāna (clairvoyance). He was thus born with all the intellectual and spiritual gifts which marked him out as a great religious teacher. He was educated as a prince. He possessed a gifted personality and a brilliant intellect. It is said that two sages Vijaya and Sanjaya who had heard about him, entertained doubts about his greatness. So they went to see bim; but when they saw him actually, all their doubts were dispeiled. They therefore called him Sanmati. Although lie was born in a royal family, he had hardly any love of power or wealth. He perceived that every living being had a soul with the same potentialities of greatness as his own; his conduct towards every living creature was full of compassion and love. The material comforts had no attraction for him. Sell-restraint was a way of life for him. He was sweet-tempered and bore no ill-will towards anybody.
A couple of stories built around him are very popular and may therefore be briefly referred to. One is that while he was in the palace, he saw people running about heller-skelter in fear. When he came out, he saw the royal elephant running madly frightening the citizens. He ran out at once, caught hold of he elephant by its truok and pacified it in no time. His marvellous courage and self-control were subjects of high
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
