Trishala

Trishala also known as Queen Trishala, Mother Trishala, Trishala Devi, Priyakarini, or Trishala Mata was the Mother of Mahavira, the 24th Jain Tirthankara and wife of Jain monarch, Siddartha of Kundgraam, of present day Bihar.

She finds mention in the classical Jain text, Kalpa sutra, written by Acharya Bhadrabahu (433 - 357 BC), which is primarily a biography of Jain Tirthankaras.

Life

Like her son Mahavira, she was born into royalty. She was the eldest daughter of Chetaka, the King of the republic of Vaishali. Trishala had seven sisters, one of whom was initiated into the Jain order of ascetics while the other six married famous kings, including King Bimbisara of Magadha and Mahavira's own brother, Nandivardhana. She and her husband King Siddharth of Kundgraam were followers of Parshvanath, the 23rd Jain Tirthankar. According to Jain texts, Trishala carried her son for nine months and seven and a half days during the 6th century BC. However, Shvetambars generally believe that he was conceived by Devananda, the wife of a Brahmin and was transferred to Trishala's womb by Indra because all Tirthankars had to be Kshatriyas.

Dreams

According to the Jain scriptures, Trishala had fourteen dreams after the conception of her son. In the Digambara sect of the Jaina religion, there were 16 dreams. After having these dreams she woke her husband King Siddharth and told him about the dreams. The next day Siddharth summoned the scholars of the court and asked them to explain the...
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