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Epthets of Lord Mahâvîra in Early Jaina Canon
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of the Pali-pitakas. It will also be clear from the discussion that as time passed on some of these epithets acquired the status of names having lost their status of adjectives.
The epithets, viz. Arihanta, Arhat, Buddha, Jina, Vira, Mahâvîra and Tathagata were not the sole property of a leader of a particular sect whether Brahmin or Sramana. But it seems that they became popular amongst the Sramanic sects especially for Mahâvîra, Gosala and Buddha with the result that they were dropped by the Brahmin sects for their leaders. Similarly the term Buddha (139, 177, 882, 204) was used for an intelligent person but after Gautama it became the sole property of Buddhism and became the special name of Gautama. The term Buddha though used as epithet in early days for Mahâvîra does not denote him in later period. The terms, Vira and Mahâvîra were common for a heroic persons but we see that they have become the real names of Lord Vardhamana. Thus in course of time the original name Vardhamana was thrown in background giving place to the terms Vira and Mahâvîra. The terms Jina, Arhat were common for all the leaders of Sramanas and we see that the word Jaina was not the property of the followers of Lord Mahâvîra alone. It should be noted that the followers of Buddha were known for a long time as Jainas but now the case is not so and only the followers of Mahâvîra are denoted by the word. Same is the case with the term Tathagata and now we see that only Lord Buddha is denoted by it.
In this way the denotation of these words though broad in early days has become limited in course of time. In this context I shall try here to collect the various epithets given to Lord Mahâvîra in the earlier canonical literature of the Jainas.
Acaranga Part I: As an ascetic
The first part of the Acaranga can be sub-divided in two sections. The chapters in the beginning giving the gist of the preaching is the one section and the last chapter giving the picture of the ascetic life of Lord Mahâvîra is the second section. Let us see the epithets used in them for Lord Mahâvîra.
In his mendicant life Mahâvîra calls himself a 'Bhikku' (9.2.12). He is also called 'Nayaputta' and Nayasuya (9.1.10) indicating his clan but both of terms have became his names also.
