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Dalsukh Malvania
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 Mahavira does not denote him in later pcriod The terms, Vira and Mahavira 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 Mahavira The terms Jina, Arbat were common for all the leaders of Sramanas and we see that the word Jaina was not the pro perty of the followers of Lord Mahavira 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 Mahavira 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
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In this way the denotation of these words though broad in early daya has become limited in course of (ime In this context I shall try here to collect the various epithets given to Lord Mabavira in the earlier canonical literature of the Jainas
Acaranga Part II 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 Mabavira is the second section Let us see the epithets used in them for Lord Mahavira
la his mendicant life Mahavira calls himself a 'Bhikkhu (9 2, 12) He is also called 'Nayaputta' and Nayamıya (9 1 10) indicating his clan but both of these terms have became his names also
He is sometimes given an epithet 'mun (9 19, 20) which is generally used for an ordinary ascetic or monk
That even the Sramanas were using the term 'Mahana'-(Brahmana) for their respected persons is welknown from the Dhammapada (26) of the Palt canon, as well as from the Uttaradhyayana (12) of the Jaina canon So it is but natural that Mahavira's one of the many epithets is Mahana (9 1 23, 9 2 16,93 14,9 4 17, 9 2 10,9 4 3) He is also called 'Nam (9 1 16) and 'Meha' (91 16) which indicate that he was not only a person of good character but was endowed with knowledge also He is again and again given an epithet 'Mahatra (9 1 13,9 3 8, 9 4 14, 9 2 1, 9 3, 13) for his valour shown with regard to his ascetic life And we see that it
