A History of Indian Literature v2.c20.s2.66

v2.c20.s2.66

(The Brahman Usabhadatta and his wife Devāṇandā went on pilgrimage to Mahāvīra.) “Then milk began to flow from the breast of the Brahman woman Devāṇandā, her eyes filled with tears, her arms swelled beside her bangles, her jacket stretched, the hairs of her body stood erect, as when a Kadamba unfolds itself in response to a shower of rain; thus she gazed at the holy monk Mahāvīra without averting her eyes. “Why, Master,” said the venerable Goyama to the holy monk Mahāvīra, “does the Brahman woman Devāṇandā gaze…(thus)…without averting her eyes?” “Hear, Goyama,” said Mahāvīra, “the Brahman woman Devāṇandā is my mother, I am the son of the Brahman woman Devāṇandā. That is why the Brahman woman Devāṇandā gazes at me with tender love, the cause of which is that I first originated in her.” (It is then related how Devāṇandā was received into the Order by Mahāvīra himself.)