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Parents of the Tirthankaras
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both in groups of twenty-four and singly. When single, the mother is shown reclining on a cot with the child lying beside her, both attended by maids and/or the dik-kumâris of Jaina mythology. Such representations form part of the numerous scenes depicting the entire life of a Jina, but are generally without the dik-kumaris as in the miniature illustrations of Kalpasutra Mss. Of these numerous examples the commonest type can be seen, depicting the mother lying on a cot with a child at her side and attended by maid-servants.? Another type represents the mother lying on a cot in the lower part of the miniature, while the upper panels show the various dreams (fourteen according to the Svetambaras) seen by the mother during the holy conception.3
In the case of the mother of Mahâvîra, however, some more types of miniatures are available. One of these shows the Brahman lady Devânandâ seeing the fourteen dreams when Mahâvîra first entered her womb, a second shows Devânandâ sleeping on a cot while Harinegameshin is depicted carrying away the foetus of Mahâvîra, while a third type shows Trisala lying on a cot with Harinegameshin, who is standing beside her, carrying the foetus of Mahâvîra.
On a pillar in the famous Dharana-vihara shrine at Ranakpur, in former Jodhpur state, Rajasthan, is found the figure of a mother lying on a cot representing the nativity of a Jina. An older and larger sculpture of the same subject is preserved in Temple No. 4 at Deogarh fort, Jhansi district, Uttar Pradesh. The sculpture (dated V.S. 1077/A.D. 1020) shows the mother resting on a cot and shampooed by a maid; and includes representations of the twentyfour Jinas on all the three sides of the mother leaving us in no doubt about the identification of the figure.
Nativity images were equally popular with other sects of ancient India. The nativity of the Buddha, at the site of his birth, near the Lumbini grove, is well known 5 The nativity of Krishna is represented on the outer wall of the first Pañchâyatana temple at Osia, and is assignable to the early medieval period. Similar representations are known from Eastern India, and include images depicting the birth of Sadasiva.?
The famous sculpture from Pathari in former Gwalior State, of a mother lying on a cot with a child beside her, and attended
