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of Dr. Charpentier in support of his own viewpoint, but it is remarkable that Dr. Jacobi has not accepted the date of Mahavira's and Buddha's Nirvana, proposed by Dr. Charpentier. Actually it seems that the date of Buddha's Nirvāna which was popularly accepted in the history at the time of Dr. Charpentier's writing was made by Charpentier the basis of his research work. Sixteen years after this, when Dr. Jacobi made his second approach, the historical view regarding the date of Buddha's Nirvana had undergone a change, and hence, Dr. Jacobi accepted the new date of Buddha's Nirvana, But we should not forget that Dr. Jacobi's second approach has become nearly thirtytwo years old, and that during this long period new views about the chronology of Mahāyira and Buddha, have come to light in the field of history. It is, therefore, necessary to reconsider the whole issue in the light of the new facts.
DR. K.P. JAYASWAL
A renowned historian and editor of the Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Dr. K.P. Jayaswal has made a remarkable effort to solve this problem (82). Dr. Jayaswal's view on the present subject, in short, can be summarised thus: The allusions about Mahāvira's death found in the Buddhist texts should not be neglected. According to the Samagama Sutta, Buddha had heard about Mahāvira's death in his life-time and the popular belief is that Buddha died two years after this event. According to the Southern Buddhists, Buddha died in 544 B.C. Therefore, Mahavira should have attained the Nirvāna in 546 B.C.
Mahāvira's Nirvāna and Vikramaditya
In order to reconcile this date (546 B.C.) of Mahavira's Nirvana Dr. Jayaswal has tried to give a new interpretation to the traditional belief that Vikramaditya flourished 470 years after Mahavira's Nirvana, Dr. Jayaswal's argument is (83): "The view of the Jain-traditional chronology that the interval between Mahavira's Nirvana and the Vikram era is 470 years, is, in reality the one, which is given in the Pattavali of Sravasti Gaccha, and which states the above period to be the interval between Mahāvira's Nirvana and the birth of Vikram, Vikrama's enthronement is stated to have taken place when he was 18 years old, and
