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LIFE
Präknt, other than Pāli. The impetus given by the Master to the development of the current speech of the people at large continued to act, and his later followers greatly helped in the literary development of all the main Prākrit dialects of mediæval India.
The Jains place the event of Mabāvīra's Nirvāṇaḥ (demise) in B C. 527, while the Buddhists of Ceylon fix B C 544 or 543 as the date of Buddha's Mahāparinirvāna. These two dates, one proposed for the demise of Mahāvīra and the other for that of the Buddha, cannot be harmonized with the historical facts connected with the life of the two great teachers of India Two things may be taken as certain (1) that Mahāvīra predeceased the Buddha by 5 or 6, 7 or 8, or even 14 or 15 years ; and (2) that Mahāvīra passed as a Jina before the Buddha The authenticity of B.C. 544 or 543 as the date of Buddha's demise has been questioned by modern scholars who propose either 486 or 484 as the correct date The figure 544 or 543 is accounted for as the date of accession of Sreņika Bimbisāra Similarly the figure 527 is accounted for as the date of attainment of Jinahood by Mahāvīra Accepting this date for Mahāvīra's Kevaliship, one has to compute the date of his birth as B.C 570, and that of his demise as BC 498 (or 500 in round numbers).
