Jain Journal 1970 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 33

APRIL, 1970
discussion, replied: "O beloved of the gods, there are thirty Great Dreams enumerated in our books, and of these, those who dream fourteen dreams are the mothers either of Universal Emperors or of Arhats; and hence the Ksatriyāṇī, having seen fourteen, will be the mother either of a Cakravarti or of a Jina.
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The king Siddhartha gladly accepted this interpretation and dismissed the interpreters with gifts.
After the lapse of nine months and seven and a half days, in the middle of the night, when the moon was in conjunction with the asterism Uttaraphalguni, Trisala, perfectly healthy herself, gave birth to a pefectly healthy boy.
That night was an occasion of great rejoicing; the universe was resplendent with one light, as the gods and goddesses descended and ascended, and great was the noise and confusion of the assembly of gods. These gods appeared to celebrate the feast of anointment (abhişeka) of the Tirthankara's birth-day. Siddhartha proclaimed a ten days' festival in his city, with remission of taxes, alms-giving, and so forth. On the twelfth day there took place a royal banquet, and it was announced that the boy's name would be Vardhamana.
Mahavira dwelt in Videha thirty years, before his parents departed to the world of the gods; and then only, with the permission of his elder brother and the great men of the kingdom, he fulfilled his vow. He made a suitable distribution of all his wealth. This distribution of gifts occupied a whole year, at the end of which time, Sakra with four order of gods came to Ksatriya Kundapura. He created by magic a divine pedestal (deva chamda) with a throne and footstool. Then placing Mahavira on the throne he bathed him with pure water and precious oils and robed him in the lightest of figured muslins. Then the gods again created by magic a splendid palanquin called Candraprabha provided with a throne.
After completing a three days' fast, Mahavira ascended the throne and took his seat in the palanquin; in front it was borne by men, by the gods behind. It proceeded from the Ksatriya quarter of Kundapura along the highway toward the park called Jnatrisanda. Just at nightfall the palanquin came to rest upon a little hillock beside an Asoka tree; Mahavira descended and took his seat beneath the tree, with his face toward the east. He removed his ornaments and fine clothes and tearing out his hair in five handfulls, he obtained dikṣā, vowing to commit