1432

Indra Instructs Harinaigameshin to Transfer Mahavira's Embyro

Indra is worried that the jina Mahavira will be born to a Brahman (priestly) caste woman, as all pure beings, including jinas, are born into Kshatriya (royal) caste families. It is the eternal responsibility of an Indra, king of the gods, to have a jina transferred into a womb of a royal woman. Thus, in this scene Indra instructs his goat-headed commander of the divine infantry, Harinaigameshin, to remove the embryo from the womb of the Brahman woman Devananda and place it in the womb of the Kshatriya woman Trishala, wife of King Siddhartha.