8. QUEEN TRISALA WITNESSES FOURTEEN GREAT DREAMS

With the foetus of Bhagavan Mahavira in her womb, the holy queen Trisala witnesses the following fourteen auspicious objects in her dream:-

(1) a lion,
(2) an elephant,
(3) a bull,
(4) goddess Laksmi,
(5) a pair of garlands,
(6) the Moon,
(7) the Sum,
(8) a flag,
(9) a silver jug,
(10)a lake with lotuses,
(11) the milky ocean,
(12) a divine aerial car,
(13) a heap of jewels and
(14) A smokeless fire.

The monarch narrated the dream to the monarch and asked him what it augured. The monarch as well as the dream-interpreters predicted that the monarch would give birth to an illustrious son destined to be a Tirthamkara in this very life. Queen Trisala, of Vasistha Gotra, Was the sister of monarch Cetaka of Ksatriya caste who ruled over the democratic state of Vaisali, the capital of Videha. King Siddhartha and queen Trisala Were both followers of Bhagavan Parsvanatha’s Sramana tradition. Queen Trisala became the ‘Universal Mother’ because she gave birth to the twenty-fourth Tirthamkara.