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Research and Conclusion
83
Chronology of Mahāvīra : In the foregoing chapter it has already been elucidated that the most unequivocal date of Mahāvīra's Nirvāṇa is 527 B.C. This date is substantiated by an extraordinary evidence: History accepts 322 B.C. as the date of the accession of Candragupta Maurya to the sovereignty of Magadha.? The historians call this date a 'light house' in that dark period of Indian history. They decide the chronology of hundred of years, posterior and prior to this period, on the basis of this unanimously accepted and definitely verified date. According to the chronology adopted by some ancient Jain traditional works, such as Titthogali Painnaya, Titthodhara Prakraņa. Merutunga's Vicāra-śreņi, etc., the event of Mahāyīra's death had taken place 215 years before Candragupta's accession. It should also be remarked here that the above works speak of Candra
1. Many an authoritative historians and scholars have approved
this date; see for example, (a) Mahāma hopadhyāya Raya Bahādura Gouri Sankara Oyra,
Jain-Satya Parakāśa Vol. II, Nos. IV-V, pp. 217-81. )) Dr. Baladeva Upadhyāya, Dharma Aura Darśana, p. 89. (c) Dr. Vasudeva Sharan Agraval, 7'īrtharikara Mahāvīra. Vol. II,
preface, p. XIX. (d) Dr. Hira Lal Jain, Tattva Samuccaya, p. 6. (e) Mahāmahopādhyāya Pt. Vishveshar Nath Rey, Bhārata ke
Prācina Rājavaṁśa, Part II, p. 436. 2. Candragupta Maurya and His Times, by Dr. Radha Kumud
Mukherjee, pp. 44-46; Bhārata kā Brhata Itihasa part 1, (Prācīna
Bhārata), by Shrinetra Pandeya, 4th Edition, p. 242. 3. To these sources, Indian history is also indebted for what has
been called 'the Sheet-anchor' of its choronology, for the startingpoint of Indian chronology is the date of Candraguptā's accession to sovereignity. --Candragupta Maurya and His Times, by Dr. Radha Kumud Mukherjee, p. 3. Also, see, Ancient India, by Rapson, pp. 20-21.
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