History Of Jainism With Special Reference To Mathura

SR No.: 022807
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: U K Sharma
Publisher: D K Printworld P L
Publication Year: 2001
Total Pages: 304
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

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60
History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathurā
district of Bihar;65 and Kamillapura, 66 which is Kampil in the Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh.67 Systematic archaeological excavations have been made at Rajghat (Varāṇasī), Ahicchatra, Hastinapura and Kośāmbī. These places were in existence long before the sixth century BC.69 It is, therefore, credible that these places were associated with the activities of Pārsvanātha, 70 who lived in the ninth-eighth century BC.71
Pārsvanātha is said to have died 250 years before the death of Vardhamāna Mahāvīra.72 The date of Mahāvīra's nirvana (death) is the sheet anchor of Jaina chronology; all dates, anterior and posterior, are counted from this event, which is the starting point of the current Jaina or Mahāvīra era.73 The Jainas are almost unanimous in holding that Mahāvīra's nirvana took place in 527 BC, 74 and a large number of historians have expressed agreement with this date.75 Pārsvanātha, thus, died in 777 BC, i.e., 250 years before the death of Mahāvīra. Pārsva is said to have lived for one hundred years.76 It is, therefore, clear that Pārsvanātha lived from 877 BC to 777 BC.77
65. HGAI, p. 203; HJM, p. 60 fn. 13; JAA, I, p. 16. 66. JAA, I, p. 16; HJM, p. 60; LDJC, p. 19. 67. HGAI, p. 92; HJM, p. 60 fn 15; JAA, I, p. 16. 68. JAA, I, p. 16. 69. Ibid. 70. Ibid., pp. 16-17. 71. Ibid., p. 16; JOLR, p. 14.
CHI, I, p. 153;CUHI, I, p. 185; JAA, I, p. 16; JOLR, p. 14; SIJA, p. 40;AOIU,p.411;JSAI,
p. 32. 73. JSAI, p. 32. 74. Ibid., p. 35. 75. Ibid.; JAA, I, p. 16; JSS, p. 22; CUHI, I, pp. 220-1; JI, p. 89; ACHI, p. 101. 76. CHI, I, p. 154;AOIU, p. 411; JI, p.83; JSS, p. 14;LDJC, p. 19; Kalpasūtra,6.149-69; JAA,
I, p. 16; JOLR, p. 14. 77. JAA, I, p. 16; JOLR, p. 14.