Lord Mahavira and His Times

SR No.: 011080
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kailashchandra Jain
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas
Publication Year: 1974
Total Pages: 427
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 107

Life of Lord Mahāvīra
87
to the Svetāmbara sources, the schism took place in M.E. 609, and according to the Digambara ones, in V.E. 136, thus giving the date as A.D. 82 or 79.1
6. The date of the redaction of the Svetāmbara canon is another instance. Tradition places this event in M.E. 980 or 993 (i.e. A.D. 453 or 466) which seems to be quite correct since Bhadrabāhu III, who wrote the Niryuktis on the redacted Agamasūtras, was an elder brother of Varāhamihira, the astronomer (427 S.E. or 505 A.D.).
7. Pushkarasärin, who was a contemporary of Pradyota of Avanti and Bimbisāra of Magadha, was the ruler of Gandhāra with its capital at Taxila. Pradyota was engaged in hostilities with Pushkarasārin the cause of which is not known. Pushkarasārin is said to have sent an ambassador and a letter to king Bimbisāra of Magadha. But Bimbisāra was in no mood to alienate Pradyota. Pradyota was unsuccessful in his war, but was saved from disaster by the outbreak of hostilitics between Pushkarasārin and the Pāndavas. The Pāņdavas appear to have settled in the Punjab.
This area of Gandhāra seems to have become a part of the Persian empire from about 550 B.C. It is generally held that the eastern conquest of Cyrus (558-530 B.C.) included the Districts of Drangiana, Sattagydia and Gandaritis (Gandhāra). The two later inscriptions of Persepolis (518-515 B.C.) and of Naksh-i-Rustam (515 B.C.) mention Hi(n)du or the northern Punjab as a part of the domain of Darius, the successor of Cyrus. These references indicate that probably it was Cyrus who conquered Gandhāra which was inherited by Darius as a part of his empire, while for himself he pushed his Indian conquest farther into the region called Sindhu.
As Gandhāra became a part of the Persian empirc from 550 B.C., its ruler Pushkarasārin must be placed earlier. Bimbisāra and Pradyota, who were the contemporaries of Pushkarasārin, were ruling in about 550 B.C. As Vsahávira is known to be a contemporary of Bimbisāra and Pradyota. the drie of
izasyaka lülibhashya (609 A.D.), Diracasura (933 AD.