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44
SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
Learning that it was Gautam and Sudharma who chronicled the experiences of the Lord, I aimed my inquisitive communication towards them I could feel that my queries were duly received And still I was a loser in not catching their response And still I went on probing This time I questioned Devardhigani and the latter could send me communications His response was, 'Lord Mahavira confided his experiences with the primitives to Gautam and Sudharma in great detail They reduced this narration to epigrams I incorporated these terse utterances unaltered into the canonical texts'
'Were you unaware of the detailed incidents ?' 'I was aware'
Why then, did you barely allude to these events of the Lord's life?'
'Nothing better could be done You won't realise my difficulties Whatever could be scribed in the circumstances was good enough'
Without allowing any digression into the alleged difficulties I resumed the main theme
'Shall I be granted replies to a few queries of mine?' 'You will be' | put forth one query at a time 'How many times did the Lord visit the primitive areas ?' 'Only twice' 'When was it so?'
'First during the fifth year of his pursuits and last during the ninth one'i
'Which areas did he bless with his visit?' 'He visited Vajrabhumi and Sumhabhumi in Lat province's 'Where would he reside?' 'In caves, in dilapidated structures and also under a tree.'
'It must have been an uncomfortable experience' 1 'Awashyakchurns, I pt pp 290, 296 2 Ayaro 9/3/2
