Life of Bhagwan Mahavir
The Eleven Who Came to Argue
The Eleven Who Came to Argue is a Jain story from the Life of Bhagwan Mahavir collection about humility, doubt and truth, devotion, a mother's love and forgiveness. The morning after his kevaljnan, the gods fly past a great Brahmin sacrifice at Madhyam Apapa, and the proudest scholar in Magadh goes to defeat the newcomer, only to hear the doubt he has never spoken named aloud. Eleven scholars come to argue and stay to learn, Chandanbala becomes the first nun, and years later an old Brahmin woman in Brahmankund learns why she has grieved all her life. Then, at Shravasti, a former disciple turns his burning power on his teacher. The fifth of six long reads on the life of Bhagwan Mahavir, told the way Acharya Hemachandra and the Kalpa Sutra tell it.
| Teaches | Humility, Doubt and truth, Devotion, A mother's love, Forgiveness |
|---|---|
| Collection | Life of Bhagwan Mahavir |
| Tellings | The full story (20 min) |
| Who it suits | For grown-ups |
| Tradition | Shvetambar telling |
| Thought to keep | The greatest scholar in the land was won not by being beaten, but by being understood. |
Read the opening of The Eleven Who Came to Argue
The opening of the story
The Lord did not stay long by the Rijuvalika. That same night he set out. Hemachandra says the gods went with him in their thousands, setting golden lotuses under his feet as he walked, and their light made the road as clear at midnight as at noon. The tradition reckons that road at twelve yojanas. By morning he had come to the town of Madhyam Apapa, and in a garden called Mahasen, not far from its walls, the gods built the samavasaran once more.
In Madhyam Apapa in those days a wealthy and devout Brahmin named Somil was holding a great yagna. He had invited the most learned men in the land, masters of the four Vedas, and eleven of them stood above all the rest, each with hundreds of students of his own. There were three brothers of the Gautam family from the village of Gobar in Magadh, sons of Vasubhuti and Prithvi: Indrabhuti the eldest, Agnibhuti and Vayubhuti. There were Vyakta and Sudharma from Kollag, the half brothers Mandit and Mauryaputra from the hamlet of Maurya, Akampit from Vimalapuri, Achalbhrata from Kosala, Metarya from Tungik in the Vatsa country, and Prabhas, the youngest, from Rajgruhi.
Read the whole story of The Eleven Who Came to Argue See plans
What The Eleven Who Came to Argue teaches
Values Humility Doubt and truth Devotion A mother's love Forgiveness
To carry into the day
The greatest scholar in the land was won not by being beaten, but by being understood.
To talk about together
Indrabhuti had carried his deepest doubt in silence all his life. Why do we find it so hard to admit what we are unsure of, and what might change if we did?
Sources
Retold for JainStory from the traditional story and checked against 2 published sources:
- neonvagabond.xyz (2 pages)
- Wisdom Library (11 pages)