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294
SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
was being made with each fibre of it Had not the first fibre seen the manufacture of the fabric, how would it be made with the last fibre ?'
The Lord analysed the epistemological issue at great lenght but Jamalı refused to budge from his dogmatic standpoint He abandoned the Lord and continued to disseminate his own philosophy: It was in the fourteenth year of Mahavira's attaining enlightenment? It synchronised with the fourteenth year of the founding of the order for full thirteen years there was no schism of any kind The fourteenth year saw the beginning of schisms But, thanks to the dignity of the Lord, Jamali's serious attempts at factionalism made no considerable dent in the order
Priyadarshna was Jamalı's wife She had been initiated by the Lord alongwith her husband She led a group of nuns She supported Jamali and abandoned the Lord's order Once she reached Shravasti with her nuns, She stayed in the receptacle store of Dhanka, the potter who lived there He was a follower of Lord Mahavira and was well-grounded in philosophy He once shot a fiery arrow at Priyadarshana's wrapping which immediately caught fire Flurried, she said, 'Why gentlemen! What an indiscretion! My mantle is burnt'
Said he, 'The cloth is not burnt It is in the process of burning A la mode Jamalı we can say that the mantle is burnt when it is reduced to ashes Your mantle is only progressing towards burning Why should you call it burnt?'
The logic of Dhanka came home to Priyadarshna, the nun She was reconverted to the Lord's fold alongwith her group of nuns 3
1. 'Bhagwai ,9/156-234 'Awashyakchurni, i pt pp 416-419. 2 'Awashyakchurni, i pt p 419 3 'Awashyakchurni I pt p 418
