Chyavana Kalyanaka from Kalpasutra Queen Trishala's dream

Auspicious dreams are often described in texts of

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current ...

which forecast the virtue of children. Their number varies according to different traditions and they described frequently as fourteen or sixteen dreams. They are seen by mothers of the prominent figures in Jainism including

Tirthankara In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (Sanskrit: '; English: literally a 'ford-maker') is a saviour and spiritual teacher of the ''dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a '' tirtha'', which is a fordable passag ...

s, on the conception of their soul in the womb. They are interpreted as describing virtues and kingship of a future child. They are also found in various artistic media as an ornamentation.

Dreams

Their number and description differ according to major traditions of Jainism. According to

Digambara ''Digambara'' (; "sky-clad") is one of the two major schools of Jainism, the other being ''Śvētāmbara'' (white-clad). The Sanskrit word ''Digambara'' means "sky-clad", referring to their traditional monastic practice of neither possessing n ...

tradition, there are 16 dreams while according to Svetambara tradition, there are 14 dreams. Most of them are same. They are described in detail as dreams of queen

Trishala Trishala, also known as Videhadatta, Priyakarini, or Trishala Mata (Mother ''Trishala''), was the mother of Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism, and wife of the Jain monarch, Siddhartha of Kundagrama, of present-day Bihar. She finds mention ...

, mother of

Mahavira Mahavira (Sanskrit: महावीर) also known as Vardhaman, was the 24th ''tirthankara'' (supreme preacher) of Jainism. He was the spiritual successor of the 23rd ''tirthankara'' Parshvanatha. Mahavira was born in the early part of the 6t ...

, in some Jain texts. These dreams features animals, objects and a goddess associated with positive virtues and kingship. They are generally considered positive symbols in Indian culture so they frequently appear in other Indian religions like

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

and

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

Importance

In texts

These dreams are connected with the births of

s and the other prominent people including '' Chakravarti'', ''

Balabhadra In Jainism, Balabhadra or Baladeva are among the sixty-three illustrious beings called ''śalākāpuruṣas'' that are said to grace every half cycle of time. According to Jain cosmology, ''śalākāpuruṣa'' are born on this earth in every ...

/Baladeva'' and ''Vāsudeva'' in Jainism. They are 63 in total and called '' Shalakapurusha''. Their mothers see a certain number of dreams on conception of their soul in womb. They are described in the great detail in

Kalpasutra Kalpasutra may refer to: * Kalpa (Vedanga) Kalpa ( sa, कल्प) means "proper, fit" and is one of the six disciplines of the Vedānga, or ancillary science connected with the Vedas – the scriptures of Hinduism. This field of study is foc ...

. 12th century Jain monk

Hemchandracharya Hemachandra was a 12th century () Indian Jain saint, scholar, poet, mathematician, philosopher, yogi, grammarian, law theorist, historian, lexicographer, rhetorician, logician, and prosodist. Noted as a prodigy by his contemporaries, he g ...

described and interpreted them in detail in ''Trishashthishalakapurush''. ''Avashyak-niryukti'', an early verse-commentary in Prakrit, explains relation of names of some

s and these dreams.

Festivals

On the fifth day of festival of

Paryusana Das Lakshana'' or ''Paryushana is the most important annual holy event for Jains and is usually celebrated in August or September in Hindi calendar (indian calendar) Bhadrapad Month's Shukla Paksha. Jains increase their level of spiritual inte ...

, Jain monks read or narrate the portion of the ''Kalpasutra'' dealing with birth of last ''Tirthankara

'', to the Jain lay people. They are displayed to the people in the form of silver models and auctioned for temporary possession and display to other people for festive days.

Other

These dreams are symbolised and found in artistic media like paintings in manuscripts and on its covers, books, ornamentation in stone carvings, invitation scrolls and temple furnitures.

References

Sources

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External links

The Dreams of Queen Trishala

{{Jainism topics Jain belief and doctrine Dreams in religion