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words; Mv. himself has to confirm the truth of his statements.
The same thing also happened in the Nandana sanctuary near Moyā26 (III 14). There Aggibhūi, the second Goyama, one day questions the Lord on Camara's iddhi; afterwards he informs his condisciple Vāubhūi, the third Goyama, of Mv.'s views of that matter. Vāubhūi, however, does not believe him until he has asked and received My.'s explicit corroboration. The discussion then goes on in a rather formalized way, Aggibhūi and Vāubhūi dialogizing with My, on the southern resp. northern gods.
It will be noticed that at the end of such dialogues, in the case of III 11 even at the end of each seperate question, the disciple takes his leave with the words 'sevam bhante, s'evam bhante!' thus expressing his belief in the Master's words. The same phrase is also heard whenever the scene changes (e.g. at the end of II 15 and XVI 31) and as a rule it also concludes the common uddesa. In the latter case it probably implies that Mv. and Goy. treated the different questions recorded in the udd, during one session. Of course this can only be regarded as an attempt to give such mixta composita the appearance of continuous dialogues.
In this connection it may be noted again that whenever we speak of 'discussions', 'dialogues' etc. these terms do not mean that the texts actually record real conversations. In fact the extreme formalization of the questions and answers hardly once allows of a rudimentary form of conversation, viz in V 81 where Mv.'s disciple Niyanthīputta questions his condisciple Nārayaputta, then shows that Narayaputta's theories are untenable, corrects them and answers further questions arising from this discussion. This is the only dialogue in which Mv. plays no role whatever.
Questions indeed occasionally are posed to persons other than Mv. but in such cases Mv. will afterwards confirm the answers. Thus in II 55, the scene being the Pupphavaiya shrine near Tungiyā27, certain Elders of Pārsva's creed, of whom four are
26 Moya: not identified.
27 Tunigiyā: probably mod. Tungi situated two miles from Bihār (JAIN, Life p. 344 seq.); see Toongee, Indian Atlas (ed. 1901) 103 S.E.: 25°10'-85°35'.
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