King hetaka
and Queen Subhadra were blessed with seven daughters, viz. (1) Trishala,
(2) Mrugavati or Priyavati, (3) Suprabha, (4) Prabhavati,(5)Chelana or
Chelani,(6)Jyeshtha (7) Chandana.Thesecond princess Mrugavati was married
to King Shataniki of Kaushambi. The famous King Vatsarja Udayana was their
son. The third princess Suprabha was given in marriage to King Dasharatha
of Dasharna State The fourth Princess Prabhavati became the Queen of King
Udayana of Sindha-Sauvira or Cutch in in Gujarata. The fifth princess
Chelana was given in marriage to the Emperor 5h.renika or Bimbisara of
Magadha and became his senior queer. Both Emperor Shrenika and Queen
Chelana were the great patrons of Jaina religion and were constantly
referred to in Jaina literature as the devout followers of Mahavira. The
sixth princess Jyeshtha and the seventh princess Chandana remained
unmarried throughout their lives and devoted their energies in the
propagation of Jaina religion. In fact Chandana entered the ascetic order
formed by Mahavira and eventually became the head of the female ascetics
of the order.
The first
princess Trishala* was married to King Siddhartha, the Ganaraja of Kund
hapura (Vaishali), who belonged to the Kshatriya clan of the Jnatrikas.
King Siddhartha hailed from Kashyapa Gotra and was the son of King
Sarvartha and Queen
* According
to another version, Trishala was sister of King Chetaka and not daughter
of King Chetaka. -
Shrimati. King Siddhartha Was also
known as Shreyamsa and. Yashamsa. King,
Sidartha and Queen Trishala, in course of time, gave birth to Mahavira and
earned the extraordinary reverence and respect as the parents of the 24th
Tirthanlcara of the Jainas. In this way Mahavira, through his parents, was
closely related to the powerful royal families of Videha, Magadha,
Kaushambi and other important Kingdoms of the time.
2. The Birth
and the Childhood:
King
Siddhartha and Queen Trishaladevi were leading a religious and peaceful
life in the seven storeyed Palace, known as Nandyvarta Rajaprasada
situated in Kundalapur, the suburb of Vaishali which was the capital city
of Videha republic. As Trishaladevi belonged to Videha republic, she was
termed as Videhi (i.e. of Videha) or Videhadatta (i.e. given by Videha).
Due to her amiable and kind acts towards others, Trishala was: popularly
known as Priyakarini, i.e. the doer of good acts. Trishala was also famous
as an ideal lady and queen since she possessed in a great measure all the
essential attributes of a faithful wife and a devoted queen. Naturally
Trishala was very dear to King Siddhartha and was immensely loved and
respected by her subjects.
When
Siddhartha and Trishala were passing their days in happiness, a pleasant
and unusual event occurred in the life of Trishala. it so happened that on
the last part of the night of the sixth day of the bright half of the
month of Ashadha when Moon was in Hasta Nakshatra; Queen Trishala in her
sound and calm sleep saw sixteen beautiful dreams. In these 16 auspicious
dreams she witnessed the following 16 objects in succession.
l. Gaja,
i.e. an elephant,
2.Vrishabha,
i.e. a bull,
3.Simha,
i.e. a lion,
4.Lakshmi,
i.e. goddess Lakshmi, ,
5.Mala-Yugma, i.e. pair of garlands,
6.Shashi,
i.e. the Moon,
7.Surya,
i.e. the Sun,
8.Jhasha-yugala, i.e. a pair of fishes.
9.Kalasha-Yugala, i.e. a pair of pitchers,
10.Sarovara,
i.e. a lake.
11.Samudra,
i.e. an ocean,
12.Simhasana, i.e. a throne,
13.Deva-Vimana, i.e. a divine aerial car,
14.Nagendra-bhavana i.e. a house of Nagendra,
15.Ratna-rashi, i.e. a heap of jewels, and
16.Nirdhuma-agni, i.e., a smokeless fire.
Queen
Trishala got upimmediately after witnessing these dreams and began to
contemplate over them. Indeed she was extremely eager to know the meaning
and indication of the succession of the special objects seen in these
sixteen dreams. Soon after finishing her bath and worship, she hurriedly
went with high expectations to meet King Siddhartha in the Palace. It was
really a pleasant surprise for King Siddhartha to find Queen Trishla
entering the Palace in great eagerness at an early hour of the day. King
Siddhartha received her with great love, made her to seat near him on the
left side of his throne and anxiously enquired the reason
of her morning visit.
Queen Trishala communicated to,
him the successsion of sixteen dreams seen by her in the very early hours
of the morning and respectfully asked the purport of these dreams.The King
was extremely happy to know about these dreams as he was an expert in the
art of interpretation of dreams. The King predicted that the queen would
give birth to an illustrious son destined to be a Tirthankara in this very
life and while explaining in detail the meanings of these dreams, he
narrated the good things and qualities suggested by them.
Realising
the special significance attached to these dreams that only the mothers of
would-be Tirthankaras get such a succession of sixteen dreams, both King
Siddhartha and Queen Trishala felt extreme happiness and eagerly awaited
to see the auspicious face of their son. They had not to wait for long. On
the conclusion of nine months, seven days and twelve hours of the period
of pregancy after the day of conception when she saw those sixteen dreams
(i.e. Friday,� 17th June599B.C.)Queen Trishala gavebirth to a son at Kunda
pura (Vaishali) during the last hours of the night on the thirteenth day
of the bright half of the month Chaitra. Thus Mahavira saw the light of
the day on Monday, the, 27th March 598 B.C. At the time of his birth the
Nakshatra (i.e. constellation) was Lfttara Phalguni, the Rashi (i.e. a
sign of the Zodiac) was Kanya, the Samvatsara (i.e. the the name of the
year) was Siddhartha, the Chinha (i.e. the emblem) was Lion, and the Varna
(i.e. the colour was Svarnabha (i.e. golden);
