After Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana ordained, the Buddha declared them his two chief disciples (Pali: "aggasavaka"), following the tradition of appointing a pair of chief disciples as the past Buddhas did, according to Buddhist belief. Since they were newly ordained some of the monks in the assembly felt offended, but the Buddha explained that he gave them the roles because they had made the resolve to become the chief disciples many lifetimes ago. Maudgalyāyana attained "arhatship" seven days after ordaining following intense meditation training. Śāriputra attained "arhatship" two weeks after ordaining while fanning the Buddha as the Buddha was delivering the "Vedanāpariggaha Sutta" to a wandering ascetic. Pali texts state that the ascetic was Śāriputra's nephew but Chinese, Tibetan and Sanskrit texts state he was Śāriputra's uncle. According to commentaries such as the "Atthakatha", Śāriputra took longer to achieve enlightenment than Maudgalyāyana because his knowledge had to be more thorough as first chief disciple, and thus required more preparation time.