________________
family were full of sorrow. When the Lord realised this again with his clairvoyance, he resumed his movement, which made his mother happy. Seeing his mother so happy while in the womb he resolved – “as long as my parents are alive I shall not remove my hair and renounce."
The pregnancy period ended in a good atmosphere and on the thirteenth day of the bright fortnight of Caitra month during the midnight hour under Uttar f lgun constellation queen Tri al gave birth to a son. Gods showered the five auspicious things from the skies. There was an atmosphere of divine light and peace all over the world. 56 Dikkum rs (nymphs) and 64 Devendras celebrated the auspicious birth festival of the Lord. King Siddh rtha too freed the prisoners and gave charities with a free hand. All across the kingdom, people celebrated Lord's birth with great happiness and gaiety for ten days and in an atmosphere of endless happiness and fervour.
Naming Ceremony
After ten days celebration of the birth of his son; on the twelfth day king Siddh rtha called his family and friends for the naming ceremony. At that time those people said – "ever since this child entered his mother's womb we have had abundance of richness-wealth and progress by leaps and bounds. Hence the child should appropriately be named Varddham na.” People gave calls of joy. Impressed by the brave acts of his since childhood, gods named him as Mah v ra. He was also called “Sama a' as he easily gained good knowledge, gods named him Mah v ra on seeing his extraordinary bravey and on account of his practice of renunciation and difficult austerities he was called ' rama a' in the scriptures.
Birthplace and Parents
There is difference of opinion among scholars about the birthplace of Mah v ra. Some people consider Vai 1 his birthplace while some others say it is 'Ku danapura', and yet others believe it to be 'K atriyaku da'. At the same time, some people consider the Lord's birthplace as situated in Magadha and some say it was Videha. cr mga and Kalpas tra consider Mah v ra as the resident of Videha. The Digambara tradition, too, agrees with this opinion. They consider Ku dapura-K atriyakuņda as part of Videha. Monk Kaly avijaya considers Kundapura a suburb of
269
