Part 1: His parents (king Siddhārtha and queen Triśalā)

Now in this Jambūdvīpa in the division Bharata there is a Brāhman hamlet, named Brāhmaṇakuṇḍagrāma. A Brāhman, Ṛṣabhadatta of the Kauḍālasa family, and his wife, Devānandā of the Jālandhara family, lived there.

Nandana fell and descended into her womb on the sixth day of the bright half of Āṣāḍha, the moon being in the constellation Hastottara. Devānandā, sleeping comfortably, saw fourteen great dreams which she related to her husband at daybreak. He considered:

“Beyond a doubt these dreams indicate that you will have a son, learned in the four Vedas, possessing the highest nature.”

After the Lord had entered Devānandā’s womb, great wealth came to the Brāhman, just as if a wishing-tree had come. When eighty-two days had passed after the Lord had entered her womb, the lion-throne of the Lord of Saudharmakalpa trembled. Knowing by clairvoyance that the Lord had entered Devānandā's womb, Śakra rose from the lion-throne, bowed, and reflected:

“The Arhats, teachers of three worlds, are never born in an insignificant family, nor in a poor family, nor in a family that subsists on alms. Rather, they are born in warrior-lines,^[1] Ikṣvāku, et cetera, man-lions, like pearls originating in pearl-oysters, et cetera. It is not suitable for the Lord’s birth to have fallen into a low family. Yet even Arhats are not able to change strong karma. The low-family-karma, which was acquired by the Lord showing family-pride in the Marīci-incarnation, has now matured. We always have authority to place elsewhere in a great family Arhats who have fallen into a low family from the power of karma. What king and queen of a great family are there now in Bhārata, to whom the Master can be transferred, like a bee from a jasmine to a lotus?

Here in Bharata there is a well-known city named Kṣatriya-kuṇḍagrāma, which resembles my city, the ornament of the earth, the place of many shrines, the sole support of dharma, unstained by sins, purified by sādhus. That same city, free from the vices—hunting, wine-drinking, et cetera, is the means of purification of Bharatakṣetra, like a holy place of the earth. The king there is Siddhārtha of the Jṭāta-line, a descendant of Ikṣvāku, who always considered himself to have his purpose accomplished (siddhārtha) by dharma alone. Knowing the Principles—soul, non-soul, et cetera, a traveler on the road of propriety, he has placed his subjects on the road, devoted to their interests like a father.

He is a kinsman for the rescue of people who are poor, without a lord, et cetera; the refuge of those seeking a refuge, the crest-jewel of the warriors. He has a chief-queen, named Triśalā, the best of wives, the abode of merit, the embodiment of praise-worthy qualities. She, spotless by nature, now purifies the earth by her various qualities like the Mandākinī by its waves. Unspotted by deceit which is the accompaniment of a woman-birth, straightforward by nature, she is a goddess on earth whose name is pronounced auspiciously. Just now she is pregnant. I must make quickly a change by the transfer of her embryo and that of Devānandā.”

After these reflections, Śatamakha summoned at once General Naigameṣin and instructed him to act accordingly. Naigameṣin carried out carefully his Master’s instructions regarding the exchange of the embryos of Devānandā and Triśalā. Devānandā the Brāhmaṇī, asleep, saw the fourteen great dreams, which she had seen before, issuing from her mouth. She arose, beating her breast, weak, sick from fever. Saying, “Some one has taken away my embryo,” she wept for a long time.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The vaṃśa, bamboo, is also considered a source of pearls. Cf. I, n. 314,