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dha turned ascetic during the life time and against the will of his father, Mahavira did so after the death of his parents and with the consent of those in power: Buddha led a life of austerties for 6 years, Mahavira for 12; Buddha thought these years wasted time, and that all his penances were useless for attaining his end, Mahāvira was convinced of the necessity of his penances and persevered some of them even after becoming a Tirthankara,
Amongst Buddha's opponents Gośāla Mamkhaliputta is by no means so prominent as amongst Mahavira's nor among the former's do we meet "Gamali, who caused the first Schism in Jain Church. All the disciples of Buddha bear different names to those of Mahavira. To finish this enumeration of differences, Buddha died in Kusinagar, whereas Mahavira died in 'Pavā', avowedly before the former".
Dr. Jacobi has absolutely omitted the mention of evidences supporting his belief nor has he reviewed the dates of the birth and death of both. Hence it is difficult to infer his view about the contemporaniety of Mahāvira and Buddha.
The Date of Mahavira's Nirvana
The allusions occurring in both the volumes of the Jain Sūtras edited by Dr. Jacobi bear testimony to the fact that he regarded 526 B.C. as the date of Mahavira's Nirvana. He writes (11). "The recordation of the Jains canon or the Siddhanta took place, according to the unanimous tradition in the council of 'Vallabhi' under the presidency of Devardhi. The date of this event 980 (or 467 A, D, is incorporated in the Kalpa Sūtra. (148)". This extract brings home the fact that Dr. Jacobi has accepted 526 B.C. as the date of Mahavira's Nirvana, for we get 980 and 993 respectively only after adding 454 and 467 to 526. He has repeated the same fact, incidentally, in his
introduction to the second volume of the Jaina Sūtra edited by him (13). It was written in 1894 A. D. i. e, ten years after the introduction, he wrote the first volume. We come across one more allusion in that introduction which indisputably confirms 526 B.C. as the date of Mahāvira's Nirvāna. Dr. Jacobi writes: "Khaluya Rohagutta of the Kausi
