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Research and Conclusion Buddhist canons are eloquent about Mahāvīra. possible reasons thereof are as follows.
The
A budding religious leader generally speaks much about his senior rivals. He has psychologically a feeling of equating himself with his senior rivals, and, hence, he endeavours to show himself superior and his rivals inferior. Consequently, he refers every now and then to the weak points of his rivals. This very process is reflected in the Buddhist canons which are replete with the allusions about Nigantha Nātaputta (and also other five religious teachers) and the doctrines of the Niganthas (i.e. the Jains)'. On the contrary the Jain canons do not mention even the name of Buddha as the sponsor of Buddhism. This also signifies the same fact that those who have already earned the name and fame and become dignifying and dominating figures, shrink from giving an importance to the rival budding power all of a sudden.
Another possible reason is that the teachings of Mahāvīra had already been complied in the form of 12 Arigas, comprising the most original portion of the Jain canonical literature, by the eleven Gañadharas soon after Mahāvīra's attainment of omniscence. Now because Buddha's advent was not even 'in the air' at that time, how could we expect to find allusions in those canons about the life of Buddha ? Also, on the other hand, if Buddha were really a senior contemporary of Mahāvīra, how the Jain canons could
1. See, for the detailed discussion of these allusions the author's
article titled Päli Värnaya Mem Ehagavāna Mahüviru in Bhik suSmrti Grantha, part II, pp. 6-10.
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