Lord Mahavira

Author(s): Boolchand
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society

Page 90

( 83 ) Kāshyapagotra instructed two hundred and fifty śramanas; the Sthavira Akampita of the Gaujama gotra and Sthavira Achalabhrātă of the Hārītāyana gotra, both Sthaviras instructed together three hundred śramanas each; the Sthaviras Metārya and Prabhāsa, both of the Kaundinyagotra, instructed together three hundred śramanas each. Therefore it has been said that the venerable Ascetic Mahavira had nine Ganas þut eleven Gañadharas.” (Kalpasutra, pp. 286-7).
These conversions gave to Mahavira a respectable community of 4,411 śramanas. It is presumable that at this place not only śramaņas but also lay disciples joined Mahavira's order; in Jain texts there are references to the Lord having established a community of four orders laag i.e., monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen at the same time. We have already mentioned that, unlike Pārsva, who seems to have grouped all the laymen and similarly laywomen together, Mahavira made a clear distinction between ordinary laymen who merely expressed their sympathy with the Jain doctrine and faith as Jains and the body of laymen TATTF who took a special type of dīksă and who clearly undertook to observe the twelve lay vows. As Mrs. Stevenson has said, the genius for organisation which Mahavira possessed is shown in nothing more clearly than in the formation of this and the order of laywomen श्रमगोगासिका. These two organisations gave the Jaina a root in India that the Buddhists and, one might add, the other systems of parivräjakorders, never obtained, and that root firmly planted amongst the laity enabled Jainism to withstand the storm that drove Buddhism out of India.
Influence et Royal Courts :
Magadha : From the scene of Somilācārya's yajña Mahavira proceeded to Rajgriha, the old capital of Magadha, where Śrenika (Bimbisara) was the ruling monarch. As we have stated before, Mahavira was a Trätska from his father's side, but his mother was
sister to Cetaka, the king of Vaisali, who belonged to Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat