Life and Stories of Jaina Savior Parcvanatha

SR No.: 011028
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Maurice Bloomfield
Publisher: Maurice Bloomfield
Publication Year: 1919
Total Pages: 271
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, N000, & N040
File Size: 20 MB

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Life and Stories of Pārsvanātha
In Kathākoça, p. 71 queen Crīsundari is foretold by dream of the moon that she will be the mother of king Kurucandra. See also Samarād. 5. 8.
Again, a dream lion is a sign of royalty. Thus the present passage; Samarād. 2. 8; and Pariçiştaparvan 2. 52, where Dhāriņi, after seeing a lion in a dream, conceives a son, Jambū, who is an incarnation of the god Vidyunmālin. The rebirths of Gunasena and Agniçarman in Pradyumnasūri's Samarādityasamkşepa 2. 8, 357; 3. 10; 4. 13; 5. 8; 7.8; 8. 8 are regularly heralded by glorious dreams. And Kunti gives birth successively to three sons, each ushered in by auspicious dreams in the Çatrunjaya Māhātmyam (Burgess, Ind. Ant. xxxi. p. 299). Cf. also Kathākoça, p. 64. For other dreams that augur royalty see my article on Müladeva, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. lii. p. 646. note 63.
In other ways also dreams are associated with child birth and child happiness. Especially, children are named to match dreams. In Çālibhadra Carita 2. 51 Bhadrā, wife of the merchant Gobhadra, sees a ripening rice-field, and bears a son who is given the name of Çālibhadra (Rice-luck'). In the present text, 5. 125, the Saint Pārçva owes his name to a dream. Apparently this mode of naming is particularly popular with the Jainas; see the accounts of the naming of the Arhats in Stevenson, The Heart of Jainism, pp. 51 ff. Similarly, Kathākoça, p. 125, queen Kumudini sees a heap of jewels in her sleep, therefore names the son with whom she is pregnant Ratnaçikha ("Jewel-crest'). Kathākoça, 146, queen Madanasenā sees in a dream a lotus lake; when her son is born they give him the name Madanaçekhara. Kathākoça, 195, the girl Davadanti (Damayantī) is so named because, when her mother is pregnant with her, she sees in her dream an elefant (dantin) being bufned in a forest fire (dava). See also Jātaka 547.
In Daçakumāracarita i. 6 a queen beholds towards morning an auspicious dream vision, hearing the words, Conceive by His Majesty the fruit of the creeper that fulfils wishes.' Thereupon she conceives a child, the blossom of her beloved's heart's desire. Kathās. 43. 143, King Karpūraka of Karpūrasambhava is visited in a dream by Çiva, who says: 'Rise up a daughter shall be born to you, who shall be superior to a son, whose husband (Naravāhanadatta) shall obtain the sovereignty of the Vidyādharas. In