Indrabhuti Gautama

Indrabhuti Gautama was the Ganadhara (chief disciple) of Mahavira, the 24th and last Jain Tirthankara of present half cycle of time. He is also referred to as Gautam Gandhar.

Name

His birth name was Indrabhuti Gautama. He was commonly referred by his gotra, Gautama. He is often referred to as Goyama in Prakrit scriptures.

Birth

He was born in the Gochchar village in the Magadha kingdom to a Brahmin couple, Vasubhuti and Prithvi.

Digambara Tradition

According to Shatkhandagama, the digambara scripture, the Indra, pretending to be a medicant, approached Indrabhuti. The Indra asked him to explain the meaning of a verse:

When he was unable to explain the verse, the Indra advised him to visit the samavasarana of Lord Mahavira so that he can learn the meaning of the verse. As he was approaching the set of Lord Mahavira at his gandhakuti, he saw the lofty manastambha (the column of pride). Seeing the manastambha, his pride vanished and he was filled with humility. He became the chief disciple of Lord Mahavira at the age of 50. The day he took diksha is celebrated as Guru Purnima. His brothers Agnibhuti and Vayubhuti, both scholars of distinction, also became Ganadharas of Lord Mahavira.

Indrabhuti

Indrabhuti (alternatively King Ja) is a name attributed to a number of individuals that have become conflated in Vajrayana Buddhism. One Indrabhuti, considered a Mahasiddha, was a disciple of Lawapa.

Identities of the king

Samten Karmay attempted to identify the different personages known as Indrabhutai.

Conflation of Indrabhuti related to conflation of Oddiyana

The matter of the conflation of Indrabhuti and at least one evocation of the historicity of a particular personage by that name is intimately connected with the location of 'Oddiyana' (the locality denoted by the term 'Oddiyana' whether in each case cited is Swat Valley or Orissa or some other location is glossed with a suite of orthographic representations and near homophones which require further case-by-case examination and exploration), Orissa and the cult of Jaganath and a number of texts that inform the matter such as the Sādhanamālā' , Kālikā Purāṇa, Caturāsiti-siddha-Pravṛtti, Jñānasiddhi as Donaldson (2001: p. 11) frames an overview of some of the debate and then ventures further salience: