________________
354
account of his proposal to the Buddha for the inclusion of women in the monastic order (14).
Ananda was the Buddha's personal attendant (upasthăka). The story of his attaining this position is very inter
esting. At his 56th year, the Buddha called all his monks and said,
"Bhiksus ! Engage an attendant for me. In the absence of one, I am not getting proper attention. I say, go by this route, and the bhiksus go by another route. Carelessly they place my bowl and cloth on the ground. Overriding the claim of Sariputta, Moggallana and others, the Buddha took Ananda as his personal attendant" (15).
From that time, Ananda became the Buddha's inseparable companion. Sometimes he put questions to ihe Buddha as Ganadhara Gautama did to Mahavira, and sometimes he gave his suggestions. Just as it stated that Gautama was linked to Mahāvira in his previous births, so we have many accounts in the Jåtaka about Ananda's link with the Buddha in his previous births. When strangers came to see the Buddha, they had invariably to apply through him, Just as after the passing away of Mahavira, Gautama became very much overwhelmed with grief, so was Ananda after the passing away of the Buddha. As Ananda had come to know before hand that the Buddha would pass away on that day, he went aside, took the support of a pole and wept bitterly. In the case of Gautama, he became omniscient during the same night when Mahāvira passed away. Ananda attained arhathood after a considerable gap but before he went to attend the first Buddhist Council. Like Gautama who felt a remorse till he became omniscient, Ananda too passed through a similar state till be became an arhat. Thus there is much similarity between the two events.
Mahāvira too had a devoted follower bearing the same name (Ananda) (16), but he was a householder. Beyond a similarity of the two names, there is nothing to cause confusion between the two. There was still another Ananda: who was a monk in Mahavira's order. It was to this (third) Ananda that Gosalaka had said,
"By the stroke of my fiery powers, Mahāvīra will soon meet with his end".
