Lord Mahavira Vol 02

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

Page 31

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Lord Mahavira of Mahâvîra and teachers of his doctrines, both orally and scripturally. It is of some interest to notice them in detail, as the epithets given to them are liable to be misunderstood, and to lead to erroneous notions respecting their character and history.
This is particularly the case with the first, Indrabhuti, or Gautama, who has been considered as the same with the Gautama of the Buddhists, the son of Mayadevi, and author of the Indian metaphysics.” That any connexion exists between the Jain and the Brahmana Sage is, at least, very doubtful; but the Gautama of the Buddhists, the son of Suddhodana and Maya, was a Kshatriya, a prince of the royal or warrior caste. All the Jain traditions make their Gautama a Brahman, originally of the Gotra, or tribe of Gotama Rishi, a division of the Brahmans well known, and still existing in the South of India. These two persons therefore cannot be identified, whether they be historical or fictitious personages.
Indrabhuti, Agnibhuti, and Vayubhuti are described as the sons of Vasubhuti, a Brahman of the Gotama tribe, residing at Govara, a village in Magadha: from their race, Hemachandra, in the Commentary on the Vocabulary, observes, they are all called Gautamas. Vyakta and Sudharma were the sons of Dhanamitra and Dhammilla, two Brahmans of Kollaka, the former of the Bharadwaja, and the latter of the Agnivaisya tribe. Mandita and Mauryaputra were half brothers, the sons of Vijayadevi by Dhanadeva and Maurya, two Brahmans of the Vaisishtha and Kasyapa races, but cousins by the mother's side, and consequently according to the custom of the country, it is stated, the one took the other's widow to wife upon his decease. Akampita was the son of a Maithili Brahman, of the Gautama tribe; Achalabhrata, of a Brahman of Oudh, of the Harita family; Metarya was Brahman of Vatsa, of the Kaundinya tribe; and Prabhasa, a Brahman of the same race, but a native of Rajagriha in Bihar. These are the eleven Ganadharas, holders or masters of Jaina schools, although, before their conversion, learned in the four Vedas, and teaching the doctrines contained in them.
These converts to Jain principles are mostly made in the same manner : each comes to the Saint, prepared to overwhelm him with shame, when he salutes them mildly by name, tells them the subject that excites their unuttered doubts and solves the difficulty, not always very satisfactorily or distinctly, it must be admitted ; but