Lord Mahavira Vol 02

Author(s): S C Rampuria
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati Institute

Page 29

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Lord Mahavira
Varddhana Suri, the disciple of Chandra-acharya, a teacher of the Jaina faith, according to the doctrines of Parsvanath. In the course of the dispute it appears that the followers of Parsvanath wore clothes, whilst Mahâvîra was indifferent to vesture, and the latter consequently belonged to the division of the Jains called Digambaras, or those who go naked, whilst Parsvanath's disciples were Svetambaras, dressed in garments. During the six years expended in this manner Mahâvîra visited number of places, most of which appear to be in Bihar and the adjacent provinces, as Rajagriha, Sravasti near Oudh. Vaisali, which is indentified with the capital of Bihar and others.
Proceeding on his pereginations Mahâvîra voluntarily exposed himself to be maltreated by the Mlechchha tribes of Vajrabhumi, Suddhibhumi, and Lat, or Lar, the countries apparently of the Gonds, who abused and beat him, and shot at him with arrows, and baited him with dogs, to all which he offered no resistance, and indeed rejoiced in his sufferings; for, however necessary to personal purification, it is not the duty of a Jain ascetic to inflict tortures upon himself- his course of penance is one of self-denial, fasting and silence, and pain, however meritorious its endurance, must be inflicted by others, not himself. At the end of the ninth year Mahâvîra relinquished his silence in answer to a question put by Gosala, but continued engaged in the practice of mortification and in an erratic life. His squire having learned from him the possession of the Tejalesya, or power of ejecting flame, and having learned from certain of the disciples of Parsvanath, what is technically termed the Mahanimitta of the eight Angas, intending, probably their scriptural doctrines, set up for himself as a Jina, and quitted his master.
Indra having declared that Mahâvîra's meditations could not be disturbed by men or gods, one of the inferior spirits of heaven, indignant at the assertion, assailed the Sage with a variety of horrors and temptations, but in vain, Mahâvîra's pious abstraction was unbroken. He then wandered about and visited Kausambi. The capital of Satanika, where he was received with great veneration, and where his period of self-denial ended in perfect exemption from human infirmities. The whole of the time
expended by him in these preparatory exercises was twelve years .and six months, and of this he had fasted nearly eleven years. His