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Life of Lord Mahāvīra
Mahāvīra's feet. She became the first woman disciple of the Teacher and was placed at the head of the nun's order. Nails in the Ears
During the thirteenth year, Sramana Mahāvīra was meditating on the outskirts of Chamāņi village. At that time, a shepherd came there with oxen and instructed Mahāvīra to look after them till he returned in the evening. Mahāvīra was in deep meditation and silence and hence he did not reply. In the evening when the shepherd returned he did not find the oxen there as they had gone away for grazing elsewhere. He enquired Mahāvīra about the whereabouts of his oxen but he was still in meditation and did not give any reply. The shepherd became furious and decided to beat him. He collected two sharp sticks from the forest and hammered them into Mahāvīra's ears. The pain was terrific but Mahāvīra did not utter a word and continued in his meditation. After completing his Kāyotsarga ( meditation ), he proceeded towards the house of a merchant named Siddhartha in Madhyamā city for begging alms. The merchant noticed nails in the ears of the great ascetic and was deeply sad. With tears filled in his eyes, he called a reputed Vaidya named Kharaka, who removed the nails and applied some oil to heal the wound.
This was almost the last of all adversities that Śramana Mahāvīra faced observing spiritual practices for twelve and a half long years ( Trişastiśalākāpuruşacaritra, 10.4). Rigorous Austerities
We come across detailed description of the rigorous austerities observed by Śramana Mahāvīra during this period of Sādhanā. Out of twelve years, six months and fifteen days, Mahāvīra took food for just three hundred and fifty days only. He observed many fifteen day-long, thirty day-long and even one hundred and twenty day-long fasts. While observing these fasts, he did not even take water and continued wandering from one place to another. Here we find a list of various fasts observed by him during this period :
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