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LIFE OF MAHÁVÍRA.
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CHAPTER VI.
MAHÁVÍRA’S PUBLIC LIFE AND DEATH.
The venerable ascetic Mahávíra was learned and intent on the acquisition of knowledge, perfect in his form, and free from all defects, benevolent and affable in disposition, of distinguished rank, the son of a man distinguished in rank, and himself like the moon (among the stars) in his illustrious family; his body was perfectly symmetrical, the son of a symmetrical mother, and the most symmetrical of his family* Thirty years he lived as a householder, but after the departure to the abode of the gods of his father and mother, he determined to carry out his purpose, and obtained the consent of his brother, who had now become king. At that time, also, the gods who attend on Jina saluted him, and announced to him that the period for becoming an ascetic had arrived, in these words: “Victory, victory to thee ! O Chief of the
* There is a play on the word Videhi here used.
See above.
