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LIFE
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Nikāya refers to an occasion when Mahāvīra was staying at Nälandā with a large body of Nirgranthas. It also refers to an occasion when the Jaina Tirtharkara remained seated with a large train of lay worshippers headed by Upali the Banker, all hailing from a village called Bälaka. The same authority attests that women found admittance into the Nirgrantha Order along with men. The Visakhavatthu in the DhammapadaCommentary distinctly represents Mrgāra the Banker of Srāvasti, father-in-law of the Buddhist lady Viśākhă, as a staunch lay supporter of Mahāvīra.
It is not without reason that Mahāvira has been represented in the Abhayarājakumāra-Sutta as personally interested in the welfare of Devadatta who fomented a schism within the Buddhist Order of the time 1 As Dr. Barua suggests, Devadatta was a man with Jaina leaning. It is probably under the influence of Mahāvīra's teaching that Devadatta insisted on having the following five special rules introduced in the Buddhist Order and enforced 'I. That a bhikkhu shall live all his life in
the forest.
1 Majjhima, I, pp. 392-393
