Tulsi Prajna 1993 02

SR No.: 524574
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Parmeshwar Solanki
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
Publication Year: 1993
Total Pages: 166
Language: Hindi
Classification: Magazine, India_Tulsi Prajna, & India
File Size: 7 MB

Page 126

18
Mahāvīra Era
Then, while one group of the evidence would place Chandragupta 215 years after the death of Mahāvira, the other after 155 years only. The two dates are 60 years apart-a big difference. Bhadrabāhu became an Achārya 162 years A.M. according to some, the other assign 209 A.M. for the event. The difference is 47 years between the two dates--again, a big difference. Nobody has so far cared to explain it. In my humble opinion all the four dates are correct but confusion caused by a long lapse of time, has misplaced them. What we need is to evaluate them and place them properly. Dates of the birth of Bhadrabāhu and Chandragupta were deemed memorable by the tradition. Next in importance were the dates of Pațțābhișeka of Bhadrabāhu and Diksa of Chandragupta. So it seems reasonable to hold that Bhadrabāhu was born 162 years after the death of Mahāvīra and became Āchārya 209 years after the death of Mahāvīra. Similarly, we can hold Chandragupta was born 155 A M. and became a Jaina monk 215 A.M. People who linked the figures 155 and 215 with Chandragupta's coronation were mistaken. Renouncing kingdom to become a Jaina monk at the age of 60 is neither unusual nor impossible. Abilities might have made Bhadra. bāhu an Achārya at 47 and there is nothing incredible in it, More. over, the disciples are not necessarily younger than a guru and a guru at 47 can have disciples of 60 and above.
Before we conclude, we have to observe the following gāthā in the Cylonese Pali work Mahāvamsa :
जिननिव्वाणतो पच्छा पुरे तस्साभिषेकतो ।
TETET JET Tagui ga farifaTug 11 V/21. It is intended to show there that the interval between the death of Buddha and the coronation of Asoka was 218 years only. That is disproved by the evidence of the Purānas as we are going to see. The word 'Jina' in the gathā is remarkable, It indicates there was a tradition in India that claimed there was an interval of 218 years between the death of Mahāvira and coronation of Chandragupta. It had originated out of confusion as 218 A.M. seems to be the date of the death of Chandragupta. The Ceylonese Buddhists picked up the verse from Indian tradition and used it for the purpose mentioned above. That made the confusion worse confounded. The Pattavalis
I the Kharataragachchha and Tapāgachchha assign about the same date, namely 219 A.M., for the death of Sthülabhadra and coronation of Chandragupta. That is significant. II. VIKRAMA AND SAKARĀJĀ
The Jaina tradition mentiones Vikrama and Sakarājā and the