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the Order. These conversions gave to Mahavira a respectable community of 4411 Śramaņas and a large number of lay-disciples or Śramaṇopāsakas. The genius for organisation, which Mahāvīra possessed, is shown in nothing more clearly than in the formation of the order of the lay-disciples-both of men and women. Now, Mahavira's fame as an omniscient seer began to spread fast and widely.
Mahavira had some powerful supporters among the ruling kings and princes also, to whom was due the spread of his doctrines. King Udayana of the country of the Sindhu-Sauviras, king Dadhivahana of Campā and his daughter Candanā, king Satānika of Kausāmbi and king Canda Pradyota of Avanti are notables in the list of such rulers.
Further, the federal illumination in honour of Mahāvira's death by eighteen Gaṇarājās of Kāši and Kośala, nine Mallakis, and nine Licchavis points to the extent of his influence and to that of his religion over these republican people.
But Mahāvīra, like the Buddha, was also known for his devoted disciples, some of whom attained to Kaivalya. His first conserts were the eleven Gaṇadharas, already referred to. Gardabhāli, who made a monk of king Sanjaya of Kampilya, is another notable. In one of the well-known Jaina Āgamas, Uvāsagadasão, the names of ten of the most important layfollowers of Mahāvīra are recorded.
Vanijyagrama, Campā, Varanasi, Ālabhiā, Kāmpilyapura, Polāsapura, Rājagṛha, and Śrāvasti are mentioned as the important ones among the places visited by the venerable Ascetic. In Vānijyagrāma, the great laydisciples were Ananda and his wife Bhadra; in Varanasi, Cūlanīpriya and his wife Śyāmā, Surādeva and his wife Dhanya; in Alabhia, Cullaśataka and his wife Bahulă; in Kampilyapura, Kuṇḍakolita and his wife Puṣya; in Polāsapura, Sakaḍālaputra and his wife Agnimitrā; in Rājagṛha, Mahāśataka and his wife Revati; and in Śrāvastī, Nandinīpriya and his wife
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