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46
COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
flocked to
hear his sermons and became his
Śrāvasti, followers.
Of the eleven Gañadharas, only two of them, Gautama and Sudharma, survived Mahāvira while the rest of them adopted the vow of Sallekhanā at different times at Rājagļha and attained salvation.
After the Nirvāṇa of Mahāvīra, Indrabhūti Gautama lived for about 12 years and attained omniscience. Sudharma then assumed the spiritual leadership and he too attained omniscience. He was followed by Jambūsvå mi who was the last to attain omniscience.
After Jambusvāmi had attained salvation in 403 B. C. Prabhava continued the leadership of Jaina thought and died in 397 B. C. It was during his time that the two sects of Osvāla Jaina and Śrīmāla Jaina arose. 11 It may be noted that upto Jambūsvāmi, there is unanimity between Digambara and Svetām bara traditions. Thereafter, the Svetämbara tradition gives the names of Prabhava, Svayambhava, Sambhūtivijaya and Bhadrabābu while the Digambara tradition mentions the names of Vişnu, Nandi, Aparājita, Govardhana and Bhadrabābu. These are called the Śruta-kevalins who did not attain omniscience like their three predecessors. 12
It is an outstanding event of history that it was this Bhadrabāhu who was the Guru of Chandragupta of the Maurya dynasty who migrated to the South along with his 12000 disciples as he sensed a famine of terrible severity. Chandragupta also accompanied bis Guru and the inscriptions at Śravanabelagola and elsewhere bear ample testimony to this great event in the spread of Jainism in Southern parts of India. Chandragupta became a Jaina ascetic after abdicating bis throne in 297 B. C. and died twelve years later ai Sravanabelagola after adopting the vow of Sallekhanã. 13
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