Contemporaneity and Chronology of Mahavira and Buddha

Author(s): Nagrajmuni, Mahendramuni
Publisher: Today and Tomorrows Book Agency

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Mahāvīra and Buddha
logy is that it shows a great discrepancy with the Purāņic and the Jain chronologies. Reconstruction of chronology
We have already reached a definite conclusion about the following dates : Birth of Mahāvīra
599 B.C. Accession of Ajātaśatru
544 B.C. Death of Gośālaka
543 B.C. Nirvāṇa of Mahāvīra
527 B.C. Accession of Candragupta (at Magadha) 322 B.C. Accession of Candragupta (at Avanti) 313 B.C.
Now, we should try to reconstruct the whole chronology from the king Siśunāga, the founder of the Sri Sunga dynasty to the end of Nandas rule. As we have seen, the Jain sources assign 60 years to the rule of Pālaka dynasty and 155 years to that of Nanda dynasty over the kingdom of Avanti, after the death of Mahāvīra in 527 B.C. Thus in Avanti, the Palaka dynasty rule from 527 B.C. to 467 B.C., and the Nanda dynasty ruled from 467 B.C. to 312 B.C.
Now regarding the chronology of Magadha, we find that after the Nirvāṇa of Mahāvīra, the Sjśunaga dynasty
1.
It is to be noted that the Buddhist tradition runs counter to the Brahmaņical and Jain traditions.
Candragupta Maurya and His Time by Dr. Radha Kumud Mukherjee, p. 20. Muni Kalyan Vijayaji (op. cit. pp. 25-29) and Dr. Tribhuvandas Laherchand Shah (Prācīna Bhārata Varsa) have on the basis of a comparative study of the Jain, Puriņic and Buddhist traditions, computed the regnal period of the kings of Sisunāga and Nanda dynasties. We refer our readers to these sources for the detailed discussion of the topic.