Life of Lord Mahavira

Author(s): Sarabhai Manilal Nawab
Publisher: Sarabhai Manilal Nawab

Page 43

The Life of Lord Sri Mahavira
Fig. 13. SMP. 3. Brahmani Devananda and the fourteen lucky dreams. On the night when Mahavira descended from the Puspottara heaven to take the form of an embryo in the womb of Brahmani Devananda, she had the fourteen important auspicious dreams; namely (1) an elephant, (2) a bull, (3) a lion, (4) the anointing of the goddess Srl, (5) a garland, (6) the moon, (7) the sun, (8) a banner, (9) a full jar, (10) a lotus lake, (11) an ocean of milk, (12) a celestial palace, (13) a heap of jewels, (14) a brilliant smokeless fire.
14]
In the foreground of the scene Devanandá lies on her couch, dressed almost as in our figure 14 with bodice, scarf and ornaments and her lips are painted red. A maid is in attendance. Above Devananda the fourteen dreams appear in three panels. Under a canopy spread with a coverlet decorated with arabesque.
The left hand margin is painted in two registers. A maid Chawri-bearer is standing. in the upper register. A maid holding a vina in her right hand and feeding grass by her left hand to an antelope is standing in the lower register.
In the middle margin is painted the beautiful flower-plant.
The right hand margin is also painted in two registers. In the upper register, another maid chawri-bearer is standing. In the lower register, another maid holding a vina in her right hand is standing.
At the top of the page is the beautiful arrangement of hamsa is depicted.
At the bottom of the page are three antelopes, two singers and a couple of hamsa is depicted..
In the text written in gold ink is
"He did not know that he was descending; and that he knew that he had descended.
During that night, in which Sramana Bhagavan Mahavira took the form of a foetus. in the womb of Brahmani Devananda of Jalandhara gotra, Brahmani Devananda was on bed couch, in a condition between sleeping and waking-taking fits of sleep-and having seen the following noble, prosperous, happy, fortunate, auspicious and beautiful fourteen great dreams she woke up. The objects were as follows: (1) An elephant, (2) a bull, (3) a lion"
ચિત્ર ૧૪. દેવાનંદા
દત્તને પોતાને આવેલા સ્વપ્ના કહે છે. જીરાની પ્રતના માના ૩ ઉપરથી.
ચિત્રના વર્ણન માટે ભાગમાં ડાબી બાજુએ બેઠેલા
એ ચિત્ર ૧૩નું આ પ્રસંગને લગતું જ વર્ણન, ચિત્રમાં વધારામાં ઠેઠ ઉપરના ઋષભદત્તને દેવાનંદા પાનાને આવેલા સ્વપ્ના કહી સંભળાવે છે.
Fig. 14. Devanandă relates her dreams to Rṣabhadatta. The treatment is essentially the same as that in figure 13.
In this painting, at the left hand top corner Brāhmaṇa Rṣabhadatta and Brahmapi Devananda are also seated.