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disciple Gosāla, the son of Mamkhali. Why are you fabricatng false statements to hide your identity ?" This made Gosāla more angry. He started abusing Mahävīra. Savvānubha i(2) and Supakkhatta(3), two disciples of Mahāvira could not tolerate Gosāla's abusive remarks. When they tried to stop him Gosāla struck them with his supernormal power called tejolesya and burnt them to ashes. Then he struck Mahāvīra with the same lesya, but owing to Matiāvīra's extraordinary influence, it returned from him and recoiling upon Gosala himself produced a burning sensation in his body. Seeing Titthayara Mahāvīra unperturbed, Gosāla told him that he (Mahāvira) would suffer from biliary fever and die in six months. Mahāvira told Gosāla that he (Mahāvīra) would live sixteen years more, but struck by his own tejoleśyā he (Gosāla) would suffer extremely from biliary fever and die in seven days. Gosāla died accordingly.88 The Sūtrakstānga refers to Gosāla rebuking Mahāvira for not wandering alone but in a group consisting of his disciples.89
When Mahāvīra arrived at Memdhiyagāma, he was suffering from Biliary fever. The disease took an accute form. The people started saying that Titthayara Mahāvīra would die in a period of six months. This rumour was heard by ascetic Siha(1), Mahāvira's disciple who was practising periances at Maluya-Kaccha. He felt highly disturbed by it. Mahāv immediately summoned him and told that he was not going to die after six months. He also assured him that he would live for sixteen years more. Mahāvīra further said : "O Sīha ! you should however go to lady Revati(1) residing in this town and bring from her the stale kukkudamarsa and not the two kavoyasariras prepared specially for me. That will serve my purpose." Ascetic Siha acted accordingly. Mahāvīra took it as medicine and his disease was cured:90
Thus Mahāvīra passed thirty years of his life as an omniscient Tittha kara. He spent his last rainy season at Majjhimā-Pāvā. There on the fifteenth, i.e. the last day of the dark fortnight of the month of Kārtika, in the night, Venerable ascetic Mahāvīra left his body at the age of seventy-two and attained liberation before three years and eight and a half months of the expiry of the Dasamasusamă era.91 Titthayara Usabha(1) died before one koțākoți sāgaropama years less forty-two thousand years of the death of Titthayara Mahāyira:92 Titthayara Pāsa(1) died before 250 years of Mahāvira's liberation.33 88. Bha. 547ff., Sth. 776.
91. Kalp. 123-4, Sam. 72, 89, Tir. 709, 89. Sut. 2. 6. 1-2, SutCu. p. 417.
Vis. 1702, AvaN. 276, 305 90. Bha. 557. See BhaA. p. 691 for the 92. Kalp. 228, Sam. 135.
meaning of kukkkudamamsa and 93. AvaBh. 17. kavoyasarira. They are interpreted in both the vegetarian and nonvegetarian ways.
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