Mahādeva ［摩訶提婆・大天］ (;  Makadaiba or Daiten): A monk of Mathurā in India who lived about one hundred years after Shakyamuni. He instigated the first division within the Buddhist Order. According to The Great Commentary on the Abhidharma, before becoming a Buddhist, Mahādeva committed incest with his mother and killed his father. He also killed an arhat. Later, discovering that his mother was having relations with another man, he killed her as well. He deeply regretted his evil deeds, however, and entered the Buddhist Order. He mastered the three divisions of the Buddhist canon and, an eloquent speaker, converted many people in Pātaliputra to Buddhism. He later advanced the so-called five new opinions, involving the view that those who have attained the stage of arhat retain certain human weaknesses. Controversy over whether or not to accept Mahādeva’s interpretations helped precipitate the first schism in the Order that resulted in the formation of two separate schools: the conservative Sthaviravāda (Pali Theravāda) school, and the more liberal Mahāsamghika school, which supported Mahādeva. Another account, however, traces this split to contention over ten modifications of the monastic rules proposed by monks in Vaishālī. See also five teachings of Mahādeva.