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All these Ga adharas were Brahmins by caste and Vedic scholars. After taking initiation, they all studied the 11 Amgas. Hence, all of them had the knowledge of the 14 p rvas and possessed special attainments (labdhis).
Introduction of Gautama etc in the Digambara tradition
In the Digambara tradition, Ma dal c rya Dharmacandra in his text, "GautamaCaritra” introduces Lord Mah v ra's first three ga adharas which, in brief, is as follows:
A scholar named dilya used to stay in Br hma anagara in the Magadha region. He had two wives - Sthamdil and Kesar . One day, in the last part of the night Sthamdil saw auspicious dreams and a god came into her womb, after completing his time in the fifth heaven. After nine months, Sthamdil gave birth to a beautiful son who was great and of good deeds. The scholars predicted that this boy will possess knowledge of all the scriptures and his fame will spread across the earth. The parents named him 'Indrabh ti'. This boy later became Lord Mah v ra's first Ga adhara and became famous as Gautama.
After sometime, another god completed his time in the fifth heaven and entered into Sthamờil 's womb. Upon completion of the pregnancy, she gave birth to a very beautiful and charismatic son. The parents named him G rgya and he later on became famous as the Lord's second Ga adhara Agnibh ti.
After some ti lya's second wife also became pregnant with a god from the fifth heaven who entered her womb and in time she gave birth to a son. Sāņdilya named this son of his Bh rgava who went on to become a scholar like his two brothers and also took initiation and became Lord Mah v ra's third Ga adhara popularly known as V yubh ti.
Ma dita and Maurya: Clarification
There is an opinion among some past and present scholars that Lord Mah v ra's sixth Ga adhara, Maņdita and seventh, Maurya, were brothers. Vijay dev was their mother. Dhanadeva was rya Maņdita's
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