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The Oldest Living Religion
points with Buddhism, they soon, rather dogmatically surmised that it was nothing but a later derivation of the latter.
At this stage, towards the close of the last century, Dr. Hermann Jacobi, the famous orientalist, stepped in and refuted the Bddhist derivation theory very successfully. At first he met severe opposition, but finally his findings were accepted by all. Jacobi proved beyond the shadow of any doubt that the Nigantha Nātaputta of tho Buddhist scriptures was none else but Vardbamāna Mabāvira, the last and 24th Tirthai kara of the Jainas, the Mahävira was not only an elder contemporary of Gautama Buddha but he was also a powerful rival of the latter, and that at the period of Mahāvira and even before it, Jainism had been for some time a firmly established religion, and also that Mahāvīra did only reform it and reorganize the order of the ascetics. The conclusive evidence in this cespect, collected by Jacobi and others may be summarised as below:
1. “In the Jajna scriptures are mentioned names of the kings of Magadha and of some religious teachers of the time, contemporary of Mahāvīra, who were also contamporary of Buddha. And in the Buddhist scripturos Mahāvīra is mentioned as Nigantha Nātaputta ( Nirgrantha Jõāts.putra ) and the place of his death is also indicated as Pāvā. So there is no doubt that both were contemporary and independent. Buddbists often refer to Jainas as a rival sect, but never so much as hint that this sect was a newly founded one. On the contrary, from the
1. Sacred Books of the East, vols. XXII & XLV (Intro
ductions) - In this world famous series Dr. Jacobi published translations of four Jaina canonical works.
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