Contemporaneity and Chronology of Mahavira and Buddha

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

Page 139

Research and Conclusion
119 that it should be slightly wider than this. Therefore, it will be consistent to take the 4th rainy-season after enlightenment to be the year of Ajātaśatru's accession. This will allow a period of three years which is enough long, for the contemporaneity of Bimbīsāra with enlightened Buddha. Thus by taking the last alternative, we reach the final conclusion that :
1. Mahāvīra was 17 years older than Buddha.
2. Mahāvīra attained the Nirvāņa 25 years earlier than Buddha.
3. The total contemporaneity of their life was 55 years, the contemporaneity of their life as religious leaders was 20 years.
It should be borne in mind that the above conclusion is based only upon the life-events of Mahāvīra and Buddha. Even if we suppose them to have lived in any period of history, this conclusion will hold good. In order to accomplish our discussion, it is essential to think over it from the chronological point of view.
It has already been made clear that the chronology of Buddha is in itself quite uncertain. Also, it has been shown that the chronology of Mahāvīra in itself is almost unanimous and certain. Hence, on the basis of the unequivocal date of Mahāvīra, the above conclusion can be put in chronological terms. The date of Mahāvīra's Nirväņa is 527 B.C. Therefore, that of Buddha's Nirvāṇa should be 502 B.C. Now as we have found out the date of Nirvāṇa, we can easily compute the dates of the important events of his life as follows:
1. Dr. Radha Kumud Mukherjee has rightly remarked, “Chrono
logy is essential to biography. An individual cannot rank as a historical person, unless his life and work are placed in time". Candragupta Maurya and His Times, p. 2,