Tirthankar Mahavir

Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Jaybhikkhu Sahitya Trust

Page 31

Command of Shakrendra
flower, the hairs on her arms stood on end, an expression of her overwhelming joy. She remembered her dreams as she got up and went straight to her husband's bedroom and with the sweet words 'victory, victory to you' she awakened him. Having woken up and sitting on his bed, Rushabhadatta Brahmana, well-versed in Vedas, received her with similar sweet words and asked. her to take her seat. When she described him the dreams she had, his joy knew no bounds. On the strength of his study of the science of dreams and his personal experience, he revealed to her the significance of her dreams. He told her that they signified acquisition of prosperity and power coupled with increase in fame. However,those were the secondary benefits. The principal fruit the dreams signified was the birth of an extraordinary son. The son would be highly intelligent, knowledgeable and expert in all the sciences. Intoxicated with boundless joy, they, for the remainder of the night, indulged in worldly enjoyment and pleasure, instead of engaging themselves in the performing religious rites.
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Shakra Indra, Lord of gods, destroyer of cities of asuras and wielder of the thunderbolt, saw through his clairvoyant powers, the event that had taken place in Bharata. On the one hand, he was filled with joy on seeing the venerable tirthankara descending into the womb of mother Devananda, while on the other, he was puzzled over the unusual situation that the tirthankara would be born in a caste other than the warrior caste; venerable tirthankaras, the great renouncers of the world, always took birth in the brave warrior caste. It was the duty of Indra to transfer the embryo from the womb of this mother, who did not belong to the warrior caste, to a woman who belonged to the warrior caste. Thus, before Indra there arose a grave problem of how the embryo in the womb of one woman could be made to take birth through another woman.
Shakra Indra found the solution to this difficult problem. He summoned the god Harinegameshi, the chief of his infantry, who presented himself before Shakra. He was an obedient servant of his master, and he successfully carried out his orders. He was also a firm devotee of tirthankara, the Supreme Soul, the embodiment of compassion. Joining his hands in salutation