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History of Nirgrantha tradition
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The Tradition of Pārsva and Mahāvira
From the texts of Rșibhāṣita, Uttarādhyayana and Sūtrakrtānga etc. it is known that sages like Nami, Bāhuka, Kapila, Nārāyaṇa (Tārāyaṇa), Angirasa, Bhāradvāja, Nārada etc. who were actually not sages of this tradition, have occupied a highly respectable place in Nirgrantha Dharma. They were also called Arhats like. Pārsva and Mahāvīra, but when Nirgrantha sect got centered on Pārśva and Mahāvīra these sages were given a respectable place with the epithet of 'Pratyekabuddha'. But were considered different from their own tradition in a manifest form. Thus, we see that by 5th century BC Nirgrantha-samgha got limited to the tradition of Pārśva and Mahāvīra only. Further, it has to be kept in mind that the traditions of Pārśva and Mahāvīra were also separate in the beginning. Though from the informations available from the texts of Uttarādhyayana and Bhagavati we come to know that some of the Sramaņas of the Pārsva-tradition joined Mahāvira's Samgha, having been impressed by Mahăvira's personality in his lifetime. But in Mahävīra's lifetime the two traditions did not fully merge with each other. From the description in Uttarădhyayana it seems that soon after Mahāvīra's Nirvāṇa, his chief disciple Gautama and his contemporary Acārya
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