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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsun Gyanmandir
Pranata. In his ninteenth and twenty-first previous births he was born as an infernal being in the seventh and fourth hells respectively. In his twentieth previous birch he was born as a lion, that is, as an animal.
If we confine our account only to his those previous births in which he was born as a human being, then we will have to give the concerned account of only twelve previous births. They are the births of Nayasara, Marichi, Kaushika Brahmana, Pushyamitra Dvija, Agnidyota Dvija, Agni Dvija, Bharadvaja Dvija, Sthavaraka Dvija, Yuvaraja Vishvabhuti, Triprushtha Vasudeva, Priyamitra Chakravarti and Rajkumara Nandana.
This shows that out of these twelve previous births as a human being, in six he was born as a brahmana. And it is noteworthy that in none of these twelve previous births as a human being, he was born as a female child.
Now we give an account of Tirthankara Mahavira's relatives in his previous human births. His first previous birth was that of Nayasara. We do not come across the names of Nayasara's relatives in any Jaina work. Mahavira's third previous birth was that of Marichi. Marichi's father was Bharata. Bharata was a son of the first tirthankara Rushabha. Bharata was also a universal ruler (chakravarti). Thus Rushabha was Marichi's grand father, and Sunanda and Sumangala were Marichi's grand mothers. Rushabha had a hundred sons. All hundred brothers except Bharata and Bahubali, were Marichi's paternal uncles. Brahmi and Sundari were sisters of Marichi's father. Marudevi was Marichi's paternal grandfather's mother and Nabhi was his paternal great grandfather.
In the birth of Marichi, Mahavira followed the religion of 'Tridandi' parivrajaka. It means that first Marichi accepted Jaina asceticism but afterwards when he found it very hard to practise, he abandoned it and became a tridandi. The description of a tridandi is available in Acharya Hemachandracharya's Trishashti. shalakapurushacharita.
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