________________
happy in achieving his objective and took Indrabh ti with him, to Lord's samava ara a.
The moment he saw Indrabh ti the Lord addressing him by his name and gotra said, “Come, Gautama Indrabh ti! Your mind has doubts about the existence of the soul. The one within you which is thinking thus is the soul. There has never been a lack of that soul nor will there be, that is, this soul is permanent.” Hearing a solution to his doubt from the Lord, without even expressing it, Indrabh ti, overwhelmed by devotion and faith, fell prostrate at the Lord's feet. He took initiation as the Lord's first disciple. This way, finding a purpose in Gautama Indrabh ti, Lord Mah v ra gave his first sermon of 66 days after attaining omniscience starting on the first day of the dark fortnight of r va a month.
Founding the T rtha (religious order /creed/tradition)
Following Indrabh ti, ten more scholars took initiation from Lord Mah v ra. The Lord imparted them the tripad (i.e. three words aphorism) knowledge of “uppanei v , vigamei v , dhuveiv " i.e. reality is with origination-destructon and permanence simultaneously. Based on this tripad knowledge Indrabh ti and other scholars produced the twelve Amgas known as Dw da mgi and incorporating the fourteen prior canons (prvas)in D iv da and became ga adharas. Four thousand four hundred disciples of these scholars also took initiation on that day. Princess Candanab 1 was the first female disciple female-monk in the Lord's congregation. amkha and others accepted the layman's conduct while Sulas and others, the laywomen's conduct. This way, giving instructions on scripture and conduct, Lord Mah v ra established the four-fold order of monks (male and female) and laymen-laywomen and became a T rthamkara. After founding the t rtha the Lord returned once more to R jag ha from Madhyam p v ’and completed the rainy season halt of that year there.
The 1st Year as omniscient (Keval )
In those days in R jag ha, there were many householders of the P r va tradition. The Lord resided in the Gu a la caitya there. When king
re ika heard the news of the Lord's arrival, he came to be present at the Lord's service with his family members. The Lord gave a sermon at the
299
