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Nandi Sootra
whose only means of living was alms. The ascetic order disintegrated and strayed towards the sea shore. The system of studying and memorizing the scriptures was disrupted. This long period of hardships caused the diffusion of scriptural knowledge.
When the conditions improved the ascetic order assembled at Patliputra and made the Herculean effort of compiling all that remained in the memory of the then extant ascetics. The twelfth Anga titled Drishtivad could not be compiled. Besides Bhadrabahu there was no ascetic scholar left, who had complete knowledge of the canons. Bhadrabahu was spending his time in seclusion in Nepal, busy with his higher spiritual practices. On the request of the Sangh he agreed to impart all his knowledge to some able students.
The Sangh selected five hundred brilliant ascetics for this task and sent them to Nepal. Only Sthulibhadra could complete this tough course, all the others returned much earlier. Even Sthulibhadra could not reach the prescribed level of discipline and as such he could absorb only ten (two chapters less) of the fourteen Purvas, complete with their text and meaning. Of the remaining four he could only memorize the text.
Besides imparting the education of the twelve canons, Bhadrabahu also wrote the Chheda Sutras - Dashashrutaskandha, the Brihatkalpa and Vyavahar Sutra. He died in the year 170 A.N.M. (299 B.V., 356 B.C.). With him the Shrutkevali lineage (those who knew both the text and the meaning of all the fourteen Purvas) became extinct.
Arya Sthoolibhadra - He was born in a famous Brahman family of Gautam gotra living in Magadh. He was the son of the illustrious minister Shakatal who was the back bone of Magadh politics. He had seven sisters, who later became ascetics under Acharya Sambhooti Vijay. His younger brother Shriyak was in the state services.
When he was young, Sthulabhadra's father sent him to the divinely beautiful courtesan Kosha to learn various facets of social behavior. Infatuated with the beauty of Kosha, Sthulabhadra stayed with her. It was only after twelve years that he came out of her house, when the king invited him to accept the post of prime minister, vacated due to the death of Shakatal. The news of the death of his father caused by some political conspiracy brought about a marked change in Sthulabhadra's attitude.
He resolved to renounce the social life to become an ascetic. In the year 146 A.N.M. (323 B.V., 380 B.C.) he took diksha from Arya Sambhooti Vijay. The story of his spending a monsoon-stay at Kosha's residence in order to test his determination and discipline is a popular saga in Jain history.
Sthulabhadra was the organizer of the conference of ascetics called for the compilation of the canonical knowledge scattered due to the twelve year drought. After compiling the eleven Angas, five hundred ascetics were sent to Bhadrabahu for learning the twelfth, Drishtivad. Only Sthulabhadra had the capability and determination to learn Drishtivad. When he had acquired the complete knowledge-of the text and the meaning of its ten chapters an incident occurred that put an abrupt stop to his learning.
His seven sisters, who had become ascetic, became curious about his endeavor and planned a visit to see it for them. With the help of his knowledge, Sthulabhadra came to know about their planned visit. In order to display his powers and to give his sisters a surprise Sthulabhadra transformed himself into a lion and Aagam-44 -Nandi Sootra
12 - Compiled by- Deepratnasagar
