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

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74
Lord Mahāvīra and His Times
Nirvāṇa is we dcpend not only on the Buddhist but also on the Jaina and Brahmanical sources to fix up the dates of Mahāvīra's contemporary rulers and religious teachers.
THE THEORY OF MAHĀVĪRA'S NIRVĀŅA IN 467 B.C.
The theory that Mahāvīra's Nirvāṇa occurred in 467 B.C. was suggested long ago by H. JACOBI and strongly supported by J. CHARPENTIER.K.A. SASTRI,3 who subscribes to the same opinion, supports this theory with almost the same arguments which are as follows.
1. This date is based on a tradition recorded by the great Jaina author, Hemachandra, namely, that there was a gap of 155 years between the death of Mahāvīra and the accession of Chandragupta Maurya. According to the Jaina tradition, the accession of Chandragupta Maurya at Ujjain took place in 312 B.C. Hence, the year of the Nirvāṇa is 467 B.C. Here the year 312 B.C. probably indicates the date of extension of the Mauryan rule over Ujjayini in the reign of Chandragupta Maurya.
2. J. CHARPENTIER believed the year of Mahāvira's Nirvana to be 467 B.C. on the presumption that the Buddha's death definitely occurred in 477 B.C. According to the Buddhist texts, Mahāvīra and the Buddha were both contemporaries, and they flourished in the reign of Ajātaśatru. -
3. He believed that no person of the name of Vikrama ever existed about 57 B.C. and further that there was discrcpancy of 60 years between the account of other Jaina sources and that of Hemachandra who stated that Chandragupta Maurya came to the throne 155 years after Mahāvira's dcathi, Hence by deducting 60 years from the traditional period of 527 years before Christ, he arrived at the year 467 B.C.
4. According to the Jaina tradition, the Jaina Pontill Sambhūtivijaya died exactly in the year following Chandragupta's accession, or 156 after Vsra. Bhadrabāhu, thc succe
1. Introductions to Sbe, xxii and XLV, on Mahavira and his Predeces.
sors, I, A, IX, pp. 150 ff. 2. JA, XLIII, pp. 118 fi; also sec CAI, Vol. I, p. 130. 3. History of India. Pt. I, pp. 39-40.