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The world is full of contradictions. While there are people who sing praises and appreciate the valour of a person, there are others who are jealous of him. Bhagavan Mahavira was also subjected to this experience. Once prince Vardhamana was playing with his mates on the outskirts of the city. At that very moment, Sakrendra started paying glowing tributes to the courage, valour, bravery and fearlessness of prince Vardhamana, a young boy of eight. A jealous god challenged the statement on the ground the fear is an instinct inherent amongst all mortals and especially in children. In order to frighten the child, he assumed the form of a formidable and frightening cobra and encircled the tree on which the children were playing. Naturally all the boys were frightened and ran away for their life, but Mahavira stood there like a rock. Without batting an eyelid and being completely undaunted, he caught hold of the cobra bravely with his hands and flung it away.
The god who failed so miserably in his first attempt to frighten prince Vardhamanam decided to test his bravery again. Assuming the form of an ordinary child, he mingled with the group of children and suggested a novel game in which the victor was to be carried over his shoulders by the vanquished child. The god lost game to prince Vardhamana and offered to carry him on his shoulders. But as soon as he had the prince on his shoulders, the god started inflating his body at every jump, and ultimately he assumed a gigantic form. But prince Vardhamana visualized by means of his Avadhi knowledge that this is the same god who had tried to frighten him before and he gave a mighty blow on his shoulder with his clenched fists. The god could not withstand the blow and having assumed his original form, he bowed down to the prince and returned back to the heaven. Sakrendra and all the other gods hailed the victory of prince Vardhamana and exclaimed that he was ‘Mahavira’-’The Great Hero’. Since then he is universally known by that epithet.
