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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
190
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
ÂKÂRÂNGA SÚTRA.
months of it being left; in the fourth month of summer, in the eighth fortnight, in the light fortnight of Âshâdha, on its sixth day, while the moon was in conjunction with Uttaraphalguni, the Venerable Ascetic Mahâvira descended from the great Vimâna1, the all-victorious and all-prosperous Pushpottara, which is like the lotus amongst the best (and highest flowers), and like the Svastika and Vardhamânaka amongst the celestial regions, where he had lived for twenty Sâgaropamas till the termination of his allotted length of life, (divine) nature and existence (among gods). Here, forsooth, in the continent of Gambudvipa, in Bharatavarsha, in the southern part of it, in the southern brahmanical part of the place Kundapura, he took the form of an embryo in the womb of Devânandâ, of the Gâlandharâyana gotra, wife of the Brâhmana Rishabhadatta, of the gotra of Kodala, taking the form of a lion2. (2) The knowledge of the Venerable Ascetic Mahâvira (with reference to this transaction) was threefold: he knew that he was to descend; he knew that he had descended; he knew not when he was descending. For that time has been declared to be infinitesimally small. (3)
Then in the third month of the rainy season, the fifth fortnight, the dark (fortnight) of Âsvina, on its thirteenth day, while the moon was in conjunction with Uttaraphalguni, after the lapse of eighty-two days, on the eighty-third day current, the compassionate god (Indra), reflecting on what was the established custom (with regard to the birth of Tirthakaras), removed the embryo from the southern
1 Vimânas are palaces of the gods. 2 Cf. Kalpa Sutra, § 2.
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