Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 492

467
Sec. 1]
STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SUTRA
In the BhS there is presented such a vivid picture of his life and work, his association with his disciples, contemporaries, his miraculous powers and magnificent personality.
Parentage of Lord Mahāvīra
The text throws a unique light upon the parentage of Lord Mahāvīra as revealed in course of his sermons delivered at the Bahusalaka Caitya and Brahmanakundagrama in the assembly of Rṣabhadatta, his wife Devānandā, Gautama
Indrabhuti and others.
On the first sight of Devananda at the Master just after her arrival at this Caitya, together with her husband from their house, milk gushed forth from her breast and she stood gazing at him with unwinking eyes.
Having observed these striking physical and mental conditions of Devānanda, Gautama Indrabhuti, the first disciple of Lord Mahavira requested his Guru to explain the cause of the flow of milk from her breast.
In that great assembly of his followers the Master made the sensational revelation of the incident of his birth in the Brahmana family of Rṣabhadatta and Devānanda and told Gautama Indrabhuti and others thus, "surely Goyama, Devānandā is my mother, I am the son of Devananda, the Brahmani, then that Devananda......having the flow of milk from her breast and being overwhelmed with joy stands gazing at me due to the attachment for the former son."1
Now this incident of the flowing of milk from her breast on the sight of her former son reveals the natural human trait of a mother for her son and gives a new turn to his birth-story and parentage.
This fact leads one to think fresh and to examine the account of the transfer of his embryo from the womb of Devānanda to that of Trisala, the Ksatriyani and vice versa,
1 Bhs, 9, 33, 381.