Contemporaneity and Chronology of Mahavira and Buddha

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

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Mahāvīra and Buddha
526 B.C. as the date of Mahāvīra's Nirvăna, Dr. Jacobi writes: “Khaluya Rohagutta of the Kaușika Gotra with whom originated the six schisms of the Jains, established Trairašika Matam in 544 A.V. (18 A.D.)”. Here too, we get 18 A.D. only after substracting 526 from 544. The Date of Buddha's Nirvāņa
Similarly Dr. Jacobi has not referred to any specific date about the birth or death of Buddha in these Introductions, but whatever he has written there, even though in different allusions, reflect his idea about the date of Buddha's Nirvāṇa. For instance, he writes quoting Max Müllar's extract that the lastest date of Buddhist canon at the time of the Second Council was 377 B.C.” It is an unanimously accepted fact that this Council was held at Vaiśāli, 100 years after the Nirvāņa of Buddha. It follows that 477 B.C. is the date of Buddha, Nirvāṇa in the opinion of Dr. Jocobi on the basis of his concept at that time. If these were the dates of the Nirvana of Mahāvīra and Buddha, Mahāvīra was 41 years older than Buddha.
1. S.B.E., Vol. XLV. Introduction, p. XXXVII, quoted from
S.B.E. Vol. X, p. XXXII ; S.B.E. Vol. XXII, p. XLII. 2. See Cullvagga II, 12-1-1; Buddha Carya by Rahul Sankrityayan,
p. 556 ; Political History of Ancient India, by H.C. Raychoudhuri (Sixth Edition) 1953. p. 228.