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Ajitanatha, the son of King Jitasatru and Queen Vijaya of the kingdom known as Vinita, succeeded Rsabha. These two Tirthankaras were said to have lived somewhere between the proto- and early pre-historic periods.'
The pre-historic period witnessed a flourishing Indus Valley Civilization, and the birth of Sambhavanatha, the third Tirthankara. In the succeeding periods, the births of seven Tirthankaras from Abhinandana to Sitalanatha have been reported. According to scholars the time of Sitalanatha saw the rise of the Aryans. In the subsequent eras of Tirthankara Sreyanisa to that of Munisubrata, the full growth of the Vedic culture occurred. Munisubrata was a contemporary of Dasaratha and Rama, who were said to be responsible for bringing about reconciliation between the Jainistic (Sramanic) and Vedic
systems.
The historic period of sub-continent India begins with Tirthankara Naminatha whose date has been assigned to circa 1400-1200 B.C.E., a period considered as the formative years of the Upanisads. The next Tirthankara Aristanemi has been assigned to circa 1200-1000 B.C.E. This era has also been considered as the period of the middle or later Upanisads, Parsvanatha lived from 877-777 B.C.E., and Mahavira lived from 599-527 B.C.E. 1.2 The Ganadharas and Systemization of Scriptural Knowledge
The Sacred Scriptures of the Jainas are called the Agamas. Tradition attributes their origin to the times of Rṣabha, and states that the Agamic knowledge had been continuously developed up to the times of Mahavira and that teaching of the Tirthankars were formalized into doctrional theories by the ganadharas. That the ancient Agamic literature existed prior to the times of Mahavira is supported. According to scholars, ancient Jaina records reveal that the ganadharas of Parsvanatha and Mahavira had systemized the doctrinal theories of their Masters with a structural scheme and a definite form to the Agamas by importing and systemizing the Agamas by means of stringing them into suttas (Prakrit, SK. sutras.)".
One of the names of the ganadharas, Prabhara, disciple of Mahavira, has been reported from an archaeological site excavated at Vaddamanu in the southern state of Andhra. The inscription occurred in the archaeological stratum dating to circa 300 B.C.E. It mentions the name of one Prabhara. The hagiographic record reports that Prabhara was one of the eleven disciples of Mahavira. According to Dr. T.V.G. Sastri, Prabhasa (573-533 B.C.E.) name occuring at Vaddamanu has been Sanskritized to 'Prabhara as found in the posterior caves of Udayagiri on Orissa. To date this is the first archacological evidence supporting the hagiographic data of the names of the ganadharas of Mahavira.
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