Book Title: Shraman Mahavira
Author(s): Dineshchandra Sharma
Publisher: Mitra Parishad Calcutta

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Page 326
________________ 308 SHRAMAN MAHAVIR Buddhist scriptures record that post-Mahavira period saw factions in his order vide 'Majjhimnikaya' 'Once the Lord graced the village Samagam of Shakya state Nigantha Nayputta (Mahavira) had died a short while ago at Pawa His demise caused a split into his order The subscribers were strifetorn Each schism claimed to be the sole spokesman of the system and not the other The latter would aver, "No You are ignorant of dharma. You dwell in falsehood, while I in truth What I preach is benign and what you do injurious The order in which you state truth is a perverse order. Your thesis is arbitrary It has'entrapped you Try hard to escape from its grip, if you can Please be ridden of the malefic system you have created" Such jarring exchange was the rule of the day amongst the followers of Mahavira, then. 'The white-garbed followers of Nigantha Natputta are | also as much averse to his order as they were to his alien, inept unsystematic, unenlightened disreputted, hostile and refugeless system 'Chund Samanuddesh came to Ananda at Samagam on completing his rainy camp at Pawa He informed Anand of the feud and faction that Mahavira's death had set in Said Ananda to him, "Blessed Chund! Let's carry the happy news as a gift to the Lord" "The two monks coveyed the development to Lord Buddha after paying him respects' Jain cononical literature does not mention this incident Two such events took place during the life-time of Lord Mahavira In the fifty-sixth year of the Lord his disciple Jamalı had virtually caused a sohism He had five-hundred monks with himself. Some of them stood with him while others grew hostile to him The Buddhistic scriptures might have recorded it in this lopsided chronology, Again, during the fifty-eighth year of the Lord polemics occurred between his disciple Gautam and Lord Parshwa's disciple Keshi. They wrangled over dharma, uniform and allied matters The Buddhistic scriptures could have thus chronologically twisted the event

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