Trishala, queen of the Jnatrika clan, was carrying her child when she dreamed — on a single night — fourteen great dreams. She saw a white elephant with four tusks, a snowy bull, a lion shining like gold, the goddess Lakshmi bathing on a lotus, a garland of mandar flowers, the full moon, a bright sun, a heavenly banner, a kalash of gold, a lake covered in lotuses, a milk-white ocean, a celestial vimana, a heap of jewels and a smokeless fire. The astrologers of King Siddhartha came in the morning. They studied the dreams in silence. Then the oldest of them stood and said, "Maharaj — the queen carries a being who will be either a Chakravartin, lord of all six continents, or a Tirthankar, the teacher of dharma for this whole age." On the bright thirteenth of the month of Chaitra, the prince was born. The kingdoms around prospered from the day his mother conceived him — fields gave bigger harvests, treasuries swelled, sicknesses faded. So he was given the name Vardhamana, "the one who increases prosperity." Only later, after he stood under the storm and the snake and never moved, did the world call him Mahavir. Mahavir Jayanti is celebrated by Jain communities everywhere on this date. The morning is bright with processions and panchamrit-snan; the evening is quiet with the reading of the Kalpasutra. Sweets are distributed not because of festivity alone, but to mark a date the world remembers — the date a being was born who would, one day, give us all a way to be free.