tirthankaras/tk-11-shreyansanatha.jpg · 1200×1600A throne in the palace was thought to be unlucky, and no one would sit on it. The pregnant queen sat on it and came to no harm, so the child was named shreyas — auspicious, beneficial.
His era is important in the larger Jain history. The nine sets of Baladeva, Vasudeva and Prativasudeva begin in his time, with the first Vasudeva, Triprishtha. That soul would, many lives later, be born as Mahavira. The texts are unsparing: Triprishtha was a violent ruler who had molten lead poured into the ears of a servant who displeased him, and he fell to the lowest hell for it. The remaining karma of that act is the traditional explanation for what Mahavira endured in his final life — including the cowherd who drove spikes into his ears. It is perhaps the clearest single illustration of what Jains mean by karma.
