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pots, flowers, damsels, music, dances, decoration and the material and the instruments used in all of them. It is even claimed that after the birth, the real baby Tirthankara was whisked away to some far off area never heard of as on the planet earth, substituting a fake baby temporarily for the earthly mother and immediate earthly human relatives.
(4) in the case of Lord Mahavira, even a further astounding story is mentioned. This is the transfer of his embryo by heavenly beings from the womb of one mother to that of another. Acharya Sri Bhadrabahu's "Kalpa Sutra," a book almost 2,300 years old, narrates as follows: "Harinaigameshin' the divine commander of the foot-troops of Sharka, the Chief of Gods, at the order of the latter then effected the transfer of the embryo from the womb of Devananda to that of Trishala; he first transferred himself through his magical powers into a staff stretching out to numerous miles, then for a second time transferred himself into a definitive form which those like him adopt on entering the world of humans and passed right through numberless continents and oceans and arrived in Jambudwipa in Bharatvarsha in the brahmanical part of the town Kundinpura at ths house of Devananda. He made his bow in the sight of Mahavira, cast Devenanda and all her attendents into a deep sleep and saying "May the Honourable One permit me" took Mahavira in the folded palms of his hands without hurting him. Then he went to the Kshatriya part of the town to the house of Siddhartha where Trishala dwelt and casting her attendants into a deep sleep effected the transfer and thereafter repeating the process with Devananda returned in that direction in which he had come, with that excellent divine motion of the heavenly beings. He flew upwards through numberless continents and oceans taking thousands of miles in each motion and arrived in the Saudharma Kalpa in the divine abode called Saudharma Avatamshaka where Shakra, the Chief of Gods lived."
(5) In Jaina texts, all present 24 Tirthankaras have their individual signs by which they are recognised such as a bullock,
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