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Sutta is not very much posterior. The ideas, language and style of the two are also expressive of their nearness in time. In the matter of rhetoric and exaggerations, there is much common ground between the two.
The account of Mahavira's liberation appears to be scrappy and somewhat disconnected, but no one gets the impression that some of the events have been later additions. Many of the events have been narrated in general terms as 'it so happened during that night'. The account of the Buddha's liberation is more consistent and more elaborate too.
The account of the liberation of Mahāvira and the Buddha are given in this Chapter one after the other. Although the representation has had to be concise, care has, however, been taken to make it correspond to the original. Kalpa Sūtra is of course the principal work on Mahāvira's liberation which has been used in the preparation of the present Chapter, but other sources utilised are the Bhagavati, Jambu-dvia Pannatti, Saubhagya-pancamya di Parva Katha-Sangraha, Mahavira Cariyam and many others. For the counter part of the Buddha story, the exclusive source used has been the Mahāpa rinivvānna Sutta. In both the cases, the original text of the main assertions has been given in the commentary.
Liberation of Mahāvira
Starting from Rājagrha, Mahāvira came to Apāpā (Päväpuri). People assembled. In the course of his sermon, Mahavira said in part, as follows:
"In the presence of a Tirthankara, this land of Bhārata is like a heaven full of wealth and grains, dotted with villages and towns all over. In such a period (when a Tirthankara is alive), villages are prosperous as towns, towns as heavens, common folks as kings, and kings as Kuvera (the god of wealth) himself. In such a period, the Acārya is like the Indra, the parents are like the gods, the mother-in-law is like one's own mother and the father-in-law is like one's own father. In such a period, people know the distinction between the pious and the impious;
