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Lord Mahavira
counterparts together with hosts of minor. deities. But an interesting point was that though these new godheads inherited qualities of the predecessors and had their own new attributes, they were occasionally found to have failed in performing the basic functions of a god and some of the older original gods had to be summoned in that particular situation. This sometimes helped the older gods to survive by reasserting their position amidst the new ones. The fact emerges therefore, that our subconscious mind never allows any advancement of thought dissociated from the basic symbolic form and intrudes at the points of its break with new legends to maintain the link with its origin. Thus Krisna, whose divinity was beyond any question (in the Neminathacharita referred to by Buhler?), had to seek help from Naigameshin 'to obtain from Satyabhama, a son equal to Pradyuman in luck and good qualities.' Who was this Naigameshin? Was he not the primeaval male animal (Bovine) divinity which in course of evolution took the form of the male anthropomorphic godhead, Siva on the one hand and Rishabhanatha on the other ? Was not his presence in this particular situation proof enough that he was the male par excellence, (the bull), the consort of the Great Mother, and was always seen to appear in the dreams of the mothers of all Tirthankaras ? In fact, after being replaced by advanced type of anthropomorphic godheads, he was pushed behind the lime-light, continuing for ever to remain in the subconscious mind with full vigour and was ultimately found to have emerged at the critical moment to assist the advanced type of divinity, as the legend of the nativity of the Lord Mahâvîra shows. In the Kalpa Sutra 16-22, we find that though the Tirthankaras are the highest of the world, the guides of the world, the benefactors of the world', 'the givers of safety', 'the givers of shelter', 'the givers of life', 'the universal emperors of best law' and are thought to have reached the happy, stable, unstained, infinite, unperishable, undecaying place they may take the form of an embryo in the womb of a woman belonging to low families' due to undestroyable Karman. In addition, they had to depend upon Sakra, a much inferior divinity, for being removed from 'such like low, mean etc., families'. But it is interesting that to execute the
