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Lord Mahavira
needs in the world by his own power, but also supports the brahman out of his goodness and generosity. The brahmanical tradition, of course, rejects any such notion, and it is to the proponents of this tradition that the story seems addressed. Not only does it suggest that the great saint was born as a ksatriya, but also that the opportunity for birth as a brahman was available and yet was rejected.
While this tale has been treated here as a pointed metaphor, the Svetâmbaras consider it true; indeed, they sometimes list the time of embryo transfer as a sixth auspicious moment in Mahâvîra's life. One scholar has suggested that Devânandâ was in fact a brahman wife of Siddhârtha, and that her child by him was foisted upon the ksatriya queen to give it greater status. 10 This explanation seems dubious, however, in light of the strict rules that have always prevailed forbidding the marriage of a brahman woman and a ksatriya man. Certain modern Jaina scholars have dealt with the problem by proposing that Devânandâ was perhaps a wet nurse to the baby." This view is given some credence by a famous scene in the Bhagavati-sútra, in which Devananda, now an old woman, meets the fully grown Mahâvîra. Milk flows from her breast at that moment, while he is heard to say, 'This is my mother.'12
A final important prebirth episode relates how, even in Trisalâ's womb, the baby Mahâvîra displayed a highly developed sense of ahimsa, nonharming, the primary moral precept for all Jainas. He lay completely still, lest his kicks should cause his mother pain. Only when he perceived with his supernatural knowledge that Trisala feared him dead did he stir slightly to reassure her. Further, his awareness at this time of the ease with which parental concern is converted into mental anguish moved him to vow that he would not renounce the household life until both his parents had passed away.13 This last point is not accepted by the Digambaras, who believe that Mahâvîra became a mendicant while his parents still lived, although he solicited and received their permission to do so. Both versions stand in sharp contrast to the description of Gautama's renunciation in the Buddhist Pali literature, where great emphasis is placed upon the need to abandon the worldly life no matter how strong familial pressures to the contrary.
The birth was attended by numerous marvels: gods and
