Agama And Tripitaka Comparative Study

SR No.: 022804
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nagaraj Muni
Publisher: Today and Tomorrows Printers and Publishers
Publication Year: 1986
Total Pages: 804
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

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in 544 B. C. But it should be noted that by accepting these dates for the Nirvana of Mahavira and Buddha, Dr. Mukherjee has created self-contradiction in his view of Mahavira's seniority to Buddha. For the total age of Mahavira's was 72, and that of Buddha was 80, so that, if the above chronology is accepted, Buddha would become six years older than Mahavira.
Thus, we can conclude that though Dr. Mukherjee has succeeded in proving Mahavira's seniority and predecease with respect to Buddha, he has failed to reconcile his chronology with these facts.
Dr. Kamta Prasad Jain
Dr. Kamta Prasad Jain, a Jain Digambara scholar and the editor of Ahimsa Vani, has also accepted the above date of Mahavira and Buddha. Though he is of the view that Mahavira predeceased Buddha, he clearly denies the belief that Mahavira was older than Buddha (89). In order to support his view, Dr. K. P. Jain has tried to falsify a Buddhist allusion that Buddha was younger than Mahavira, by interpreting it as an 'irony' (90). But his effort is a good example of far-fetched and unnatural interpretation. Also he has taken no account of other explicit references (91), found in the Buddhist texts, showing Buddha's juniority to Mahavira.
Dharmananda Kausambi
A well-known Buddhist scholar, Dharmananda Kausambi has discussed the contemporaneity of Mahavira and Buddha in some of his books. It is his belief that Buddha was definitely the youngest amongst the seven religious teachers of his time (92), and, that his order (Samgha) was the smallest of all. S'ri Kaus ambi has, however, neglected the chronological aspect of the problem. His argument is (93): "Even if Buddha's birth-date is taken back or forth by few years, it would not deteriorate his character. The importance should be given not to the date of his birth, but to the circumstances existing before his birth, and to how he found out a new path in them".
The main reason of his neglecting the chronology seems to be that it is too equivocal to be determined.