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महाश्रावक (mahAzrAvaka)

 
Spoken Sanskrit
English
महाश्रावक mahAzrAvaka
m.
 great zrAvaka or disciple
Monier Williams Cologne
English
महा—श्रावक
m.
 a gr° Śrāvaka or disciple (of Gautama Buddha or of a Jina),
Lalit.
HYog.
Edgerton Buddhist Hybrid
English
mahāśrāvaka (= Pali mahāsāvaka), important disciple (of Buddha). In general BHS, like Pali, knows no definite number or list of them (Vism. 〔98.26〕 speaks of the number 80)
a typical list of 26 names in SP 〔1.9 ff.〕, but at the end it adds, ‘and others’
no number given in SP 〔33.5〕
〔121.1〕
LV 〔6.15〕
Divy 〔489.11〕, etc. Only Mmk makes tentative starts at lists
twice it mentions groups of eight: Mmk 〔64.9 ff.〕 Śāriputra, Mahāmaudgalyāyana, Mahākāśyapa, Subhūti, Rāhula, Nanda, Bhadrika, Kaphiṇa
but 〔111.11 ff.〕 varies (1—2 = 2—1 of 〔64.9 ff.〕
then Gavāṃpati, Piṇḍola-Bharadvāja, Pilindavatsa, 6 = 5 above, 7 = 3 above, and 8 Ānanda, who in SP 〔2.8〕 is a mere śaikṣa, excluded from the mahāśrāvaka group)
in Mmk 〔40.25〕 Mahākāśyapa and Mahākātyāyana constitute a pair of mahāśr°
in 〔13.22 ff.〕 is a very long list, including some familiar and many fanciful and textually doubtful ones
the same is true of the list of females, mahāśrāvikā, which follows in 〔14.19 ff.〕 (beginning with Yaśodharā)
the names in both these lists are omitted here as being largely unreliable.