Contemporaneity and Chronology of Mahavira and Buddha

SR No.: 006721
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nagrajmuni, Mahendramuni
Publisher: Today and Tomorrows Book Agency
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 188
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 7 MB

Page 137

Research and Conclusion
Again, as stated above, Mahāvīra attained omniscience 14 years before Gośalaka's death. Consequently, on the basis of fact No. 2, Buddha could not have attained the enlightenment prior to this. At the most, he could have attained it in the same year. If we suppose so, Buddha would be 35 and Mahāvīra 42 at that time. Therefore, the minimum possible seniority of Mahavira could be 7 years and the minimum possible interval between their Nirvāṇa could be 15 years.
11.7
Thus Mahavira's seniority to Buddha lies between 21 and 7 years, and the interval between their Nirväņas lies betbeen 29 and 15 years.
We get another way to reach a more definite period within the possible range stated above. The Atthakatha of Anguttara Nikaya supplies us a complete chronological list of the places where Buddha passed his rainy seasons after his enlightenment. According to the above work, in Rajagṛha, Buddha spend his 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 17th and 20th rainy seasons after the enlightenment.2 Now according to the Sammññуaphala Sutta of Digha Nikaya, the event of Ajātaśatru's only call upon Buddha, during which the king Ajātaśatru asked Buddha a question about the fruitfulness of monkhood and repented for murdering his father, took place during
1. Anguttara Nikāya, Atthakathā, 2-4-5.
2. According to Rhys Devids, Buddha passed his 4th rainy-season in Mahāvana (Vaiśālī): (Buddhism by Rhys Davids quoted by M.N. Shastri in Buddha: His Life, His Teaching, His Order p. 120). But the Attakatha states that the 5th rainy season was spent at Vaiśālī in the same way Aṭṭakatha states that Buddha passed his 6th rainy-season at Mankula Parvata." While Rhys Davids has stated that he passed the 5th rainy-season, at Mankula Pravata. It seems, that in the calculation of Rhys Davids, there is an error of 1 year.