________________
69
Ganges (near Rajagrha), lay entirely in the land of their Sworn enemy? Many thinkers and historians such as Pt. Rahul Sankrityayana (46), Dr. Rajbali Pandey (47), M. A. D. Litt, Nathuram Premi (48), Dr. Nalinaksa Dutt (49), Shri Ranjan Suri Deo (50), Shri Shrichand Rampuri (51), Acārya Vijyendra Suri (52), etc. have confirmed this fact. All of them agreed to the fact that Mahāvira had died in the Pāvā of Mallas, that this Pāvā should be on the North of the Ganges (53) and that the Pāvā situated in the South of the Ganges (near Rajagrha in Patna district) and traditionally believed to be the place of Mahāvira's Nirvana has erroneously been adopted by the Jains, being oblivious of the true Pāvā.
Thus, it becomes clear that the Payà, on the basis of which Dr. Jacobi rejects the Buddhist allusion about Mahavira's Nirvana by ascertaining them as false and unreal, happens to be the historically accepted Pāvā and confirms the authenticity of those allusions.
Āgamas and Tripițakas in Relation to the Contemporary Conditions Dr. Jacobi's view that the Ja
was give a more comprehensive account of the contemporary conditions than what the Buddhist Tripitakas do, is also not trustworthy for, the events cited by Dr. Jacobi are not all contained in the original Agamas. The whole event of "The victory over yaisali which ensued after the Mahasila - Kantaka war and the Ratha -Musala war and where in the monk Kulayalaya became the cause of the demolition on the ramparts of Vaisali, has been quoted by Dr. Jacobi himself from a later Jain work, Avasyaka Katha. The Agamas and the Tripitakas, which are the original canonical texts of the Jains and the Buddhists respectively, in fact, do not differ much regarding the description of the contemporary political conditions. Now, if we consider the later works of both traditions, the work of the Buddhist traditions like Mahāvaṁsa contain as much vivid descriptions as we find in those of the Jain traditions. Mahavamsa contains even the chronology of the kings up to Asoka (54). This by no means testifies to the fact that Buddha died later than Mahavira.
The Date of Mahāvīra's Nirvāna
Dr. Jacobi regards 477 B.C. as the date of Mahāvira's Nirvana and 484 B.C. as that of Buddha's Nirvana.