Tirthankar Mahavir

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

Page 42

Acharya Shri Kailassagarsun Gyanmandir
when they could start pouring the water to bathe the tirthankara.
What a sacred and wonderful moment when the water cascaded down from the pitchers? The life of a tirthankara was so magnificent and mysterious that it aroused various sentiments in one's heart and innumerable images in one's mind.
The child, Vardhamana, knew at once that a doubt had arisen in the mind of Indra. He pressed the toe of his right foot on Mount Meru and suddenly the mountain quaked. The earth underfoot shuddered and
Saudharmendra even the peaks of the mountain
bounds Mount Menu began to shake. Shakra Indra who was keen to partake of the celebrations experienced the mixed emotions of embarrassment and astonishment. He thought, "How could this happen exactly at the moment we are to celebrate the after-birth bathing ritual? Who wants to obstruct these age old traditional celebrations by such a rash act? Who has caused this?."
Shakra Indra was enraged and he immediately told the Lords and their gods, "Go, start the search for the one who has acted with such wickedness on this important occasion. The one who desires to end our celebrations in which all the Gods have attended - find the person at once. The afterbirth bathing ritual of a tirthankara is an occasion for universal jubilation and rejoicing; how can there be such a violent earthquake at this moment?"
The Lords of the Gods used their supernatural power and became aware that the very child whose celebratory bathing ritual they were about to undertake was responsible for the earthquake. They wondered why the child had done such a thing.