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SOME OF THE COMMON FEATURES....
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the Buddha at the time of conception finds in dream an elephant entering into her womb. In the life-history of Mahāvīra it is narrated that the mother of Mahāvīra sees an elephant in one of her fourteen dreams at the time of conception. (6) Birth :
It is reported that the Buddha was in full consciousness during his transfer from the divine life to the human life. Similar is the case with Mahāvīra.
1thors of both the stories are of the opinion that the Buddha and the Tirthankara should be born in some respected royal family. The Buddha while in heaven found out for himself the family of Ksatriyas worthy of his birth. Though it is said that in the opinion of the Buddha both the Brahmin and the Ksatriya families were worthy of the birth of a Buddha, the Buddha was not satisfied with any of the Brahmin families, which existed at that time, and hence he himself chose the Ksatriya family for his birth.
As regards Mahāvīra it is said by the Svetāmbara writers that first he was conceived by a Brahmin lady named Devānandā but Indra thought that birth of a tīrthankara should not take place in a Brahmin family as the brahmin caste was considered to be lower than the Ksatriya caste. So Indra got the embryo removed from the Brahmin lady and got it put in a Kșatriya lady named Trisalā. We can conclude from both the stories that there was a conflict between
s and the Ksatriyas and the writers favoured the Ksatriyas and their favour towards Ksatriyas is reflected in these stories. Here we should remember that these two great men denounced the Vedas. And the Brahmins were the custodians of the Vedas. So, it was but natural for them to denounce the Brahmins. However, it should be borne in mind that this antagonism was not deep-rooted, and we find that all the chief disciples of the Mahāvīra were Brahmins, and they are described as coming from respectable families.
(7) Name :
Not all the stories agree about the name of the Buddha. Some have it as Siddhārtha while the others have Sarvārthasiddha. but one thing is certain that on account of the Buddha's birth the family of Suddhodana became prosperous in every respect, and so the name Siddhārtha or Sarvārthasiddha was given to the Buddha.
Similar is the case with Mahāvīra. On account of his birth the Ksatriya Siddhārtha's property increased tremendously. So the name Vardhamāna was
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