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the basis of fact No. 2, Buddha could not have attained the enlightenment prior to this. At the most, he could have attained it in the same year. If we suppose so, Buddha would be 35 and Mahāvira 42 at that time. Therefore, the minimum possible seniority of Mahavira could be 7 years and the minimum possible interval between their Nirvana could be 15 years.
Thus Mahāvira's seniority to Buddha lies between 21 and 7 years, and the interval between their Nirvanas lies between 29 and 15 years.
We get another way to reach a more definite period within the possible range stated above. The Atthakatha of Anguttara Nika ya supplies us a complete chronological list of the places where Buddha passed his rainy seasons after his enlightenment (230). According to the above work, inRajagrha, Buddha spent his 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 17th and 20th rainy seasons after the enlightenment(231). Now according to the Sammannyaphala Sutta of Digha Nikaya, the event of Ajātasatru's only call upon Buddha, during which the king Ajātasatru asked Buddha a question about the fruitfulness of monkhood and repented for murdering his father, took place during one of the rainy seasons passed by Buddha at Rajagrha (232). Again, this event should have happened in the first year of Ajātasatru's reign, in as much as soon after his accession, he had transferred his capital to Campa, on account of the great sorrow he felt over his father's death. Now, if we suppose that the above event recorded by the Sammann yaphala Sutta had taken place in the 17th or 20th rainy-season after Buddha's enlightenment, the fact No.2(stated above) is violated. For, as shown before(233), Ajātasatru's accession took place in the 13th year after Mahavira's attainment of omniscience. So the possibility of the above event taking place in 17th or 20th rainy-season is ruled out. Consequently the event should have taken place either in the 2nd or 3rd or the 4th rainyseason after Buddha's enlightenment.
Thus it was the 13th year after Mahavira's omnisci. ence and the 2nd, the 3rd, or the futur year after Buddha's enlightenment. This means that Malayira was, at that time 55 years old, and Buddha either 36, 37 or 38. In other words Mahāyira was 19, 18 0 17 years older than
