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“As we saw in the last chapter, the dreams have a double meaning: They are the dreams that announce the birth of a universal emperor, but they also announce the birth of a Tirthankar. In other words, a Tirthankar is one who might have been an earthly king but became an ascetic instead. In this connection, it is important to note that a Tirthankar-to-be is always born into a family belonging to the Kshatriya varna, the social class of warriors and kings.” — Lawrence A. Babb
As we saw in the last chapter, the dreams have a double meaning: They are the dreams that announce the birth of a universal emperor, but they also announce the birth of a Tirthankar. In other words, a Tirthankar is one who might have been an earthly king but became an ascetic instead. In this connection, it is important to note that a Tirthankar-to-be is always born into a family belonging to the Kshatriya varna, the social class of warriors and kings.