Born Princess Vasumati of Champa, she was captured when her father's city was sacked and sold as a slave in the market of Kaushambi. A kind merchant bought her and cared for her like a daughter, naming her Chandana for her gentle nature. His jealous wife, fearing the girl would replace her, shaved her head, chained her feet and locked her in a cellar while the merchant was away.
At that time Mahavira was keeping a vow that seemed impossible: to accept food only from a princess who had become a slave, shaven-headed, in chains, standing at a threshold, weeping, offering boiled lentils from a winnowing basket, on the third day of her fast. For five months and more he found no such alms. When he came to Chandana's door, everything matched except that she was not weeping — and he turned away. Seeing him leave, she wept, and he turned back and accepted the food.
When Mahavira later founded the fourfold community, Chandanbala became his first woman disciple and head of the order of nuns, which by tradition grew to thirty-six thousand.
