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SK GUPTA
DEVANANDA'S DREAM ·
AN INTERPRETATION OF ITS
SYMBOLISM
When Mahavira descended into the womb of Devananda, she saw fourteen beautiful and auspicious objects' in her dream viz, an elephant, a bull, a lion, the anointing of the goddess Sri, a garland, the Moon, the Sun, a flag, a vase, a lotus, a lake, an ocean, a celestial abode, a heap of jewels, and a flame Curiously enough as the embryo was transferred to the womb of Ksatranı Trisala by Harinaigamesa, she also saw the same set of objects2 in her dreams These objects were not dreamt by Devananda and Trisala alone According to both Digambara and Svetambara texts, practically each and every mother of the respective Tirthankaras and the mothers of secondary deities also saw them in their dreams But the two traditions differ in their narrations in respect to the number of objects seen in the dreams Svetambara sutras mention fourteen objects whereas Digambara texts3 speak of sixteen objects adding to the list minayugala and nagendrabhavana It appears that to defy Salakapurusas, the secondary deities of the Jain pantheon, similar auspicious dream symbols were associated with their descent in mothers' womb 4 According to the Svetambara tradition the mother
Lecturer in the Department of History and Indian Culture, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur
1 Kalpa-Sutra, su 3, SBE, p 219
2 Kalpa-Sutra su 31-46, op cit, Pp 229-238 For details see UP Shah,
Studies in Jain Art, p 105
3 Mahapurana, Sarga 12, VV 101-119, pp 259 ff Harwamsa, Sarga 8, Verses 58-74, pp 160-161
4 Pavitrakalpasutra, ed Muni Punyavijayajı, su 71, text p 26f, also see TrisastiSalakapurusacarita, 1, 4 VV 88ff, Gaekwad's Oriental Series, Vol LI, Baroda, P 148 But according to Svetambara tradition she sees five dreams (Harivamsa, 31 1-2, p 412)
