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 Gaṇa Mukhya, Siddhartha of Kundagrama, of present-day Bihar. She finds mention in the Jain texts.

==Life== Trishala was born as a princess of the Licchavi Republic. The Jain text Uttarapurāṇa details the life of all Tirthankaras and other Salakapurusa. It is mentioned in the text that Consul Chetaka of Vaishali had ten brothers and seven sisters. His sister Priyakarini (Trishala) was married to Siddartha. As per Shvetambara texts and Indologist Hermann Jacobi, Vardhamana Mahavira's mother Trishala was sister of Consul Chetaka. His third wife, Kshema, was a daughter of the chief of the Madra tribe of Punjab. Trishala had seven sisters, one of whom was initiated into the Jain monastic order while the other six married famous kings, including Bimbisara of Magadha. She and her husband Siddhartha were followers of Parshvanatha, the 23rd Tirthankara according to the second chapter of the Śvētāmbara Ācārāṅga Sūtra. According to Jain texts, Trishala carried her son for nine months and seven and a half days during the 6th century BC. However, Shvetambaras generally believe that he was conceived by Devananda, the wife of a Brahmin Rishabhadatta and the fetus was transferred to Trishala's womb by Indra because all Tirthankaras have to be Kshatriyas. All this is mentioned in the Shvetambara text, Kalpasutra, which is primarily a biography of the Tirthankaras.