Mahapajapati raised Siddhartha after his mother died, and when she asked to ordain she was refused three times. The account has her shaving her head, putting on robes, and walking to Vesali with a company of women, arriving with swollen feet — at which point Ananda argued her case and asked the Buddha directly whether women could reach awakening. He said yes. She was admitted, along with eight garudhammas, additional rules subordinating even the seniormost nun to the most junior monk, and a remark attributed to him that the teaching would now last half as long. Scholars widely regard the eight rules and the remark as later insertions. Either way they are in the canon, and the female ordination lineage lapsed in Theravada countries centuries later — which is the argument being had today.