Part 1: Mahāvīra’s omniscience

The Master, Lord of the World, exposing himself to the heat of the sun, remained under a śāl tree in the field of the householder Śyāmāka on the north bank of the Ṛjupālikā, in the vicinity of an old^[1] shrine, in the squatting posture, observing a fast of two days, in the muhūrta Vijaya.^[2] The destructive karmas of the Master, who was engaged in pure meditation, standing on the ladder of destruction of karma,^[3] snapped like an old rope. On the tenth day of the white half of Vaiśākha, when the moon was in conjunction with Hastottara, in the fourth watch of the day, the Lord’s omniscience arose.

Knowing about the Lord’s omniscience from the shaking of their thrones the Indras came there with the gods, delighted. Some jumped up, some flew, some danced, some laughed, some sang, some roared like a lion, some neighed like a horse, some trumpeted like an elephant, some squeaked like a chariot, some hissed like a snake. Other gods of the four categories, their hearts delighted by the appearance of the Master’s omniscience, behaved in various ways. The gods made a samavasaraṇa^[4] according to rule, adorned with three walls, with four doors in each wall. Seated in it, the Lord delivered a sermon, because it was the rule, though he knew, “There is no one here capable of complete self-control.”