Shrimad Yashovijayji Upadhyay
ILLUSTRATION ABOVE:
It is a well-established convention that the Tirthamkaras, being supermen, are born only in the noble warrior (Ksatriya) caste. Bhagavan Mahavira was, however, conceived in the womb of a Brahmin person at midnight on the sixth day of the bright half of Asadha, as a result of his pride for superior caste in one of his previous births. Saudharma (Indra), the Lord of gods, wanted to avert this and hence he commanded god Hari-Naigamesin to transplant the foetus from the womb of Devananda to the womb of Trisala, the monarch of Siddhartha, in the city of Ksatriyakunda and to do vice-versa.
ILLUSTRATION BELOW:
The mothers of would-be Tirthamkaras witness fourteen auspicious objects in their dreams. Devananda also saw them in her dreams and on waking up she narrated her dreams to her husband Rsabhadatta. The learned Brahmin said to her: “O beloved of gods, a son, endowed with all virtues and valour, Will be born to thee.”
