Contemporaneity and Chronology of Mahavira and Buddha

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

Page 27

CHAPTER III
DR. JACOBI'S SECOND APPROACH
Dr. Jacobi had made another approach to the problem in his essay entitled as "The Nirvana of Mahā vīra and Buddha published in the 26th issue of a German research magazine in the year 1930. Its Gujrati rendering was published in Bhartiya Vidya1 and subsequently its Hindi translation, collected by Shri Kastur Chand Banthia, appeared in Śramaņa2, a monthly Hindi Magazine.
The conclusion of this essay is that Buddha died in 484 B.C. and Mahavira in 477 B.C. It means that Mahāvīra died 7 years after the death of Buddha and the former was fifteen years younger than the latter.
The Last Essay
4
According to Sri Kastura Chand Banthia, it was the last essay written by Dr. Jacobi and he has expressed an altered opinion therein. What astounds us is Dr. Jacobi's complete reticence, in this comprehensive essay, about his earlier view and the view he propounded later on, and the reasons that led him to change his opinion. The only thing he says while introducing the essay is: One school of thought says that, in accordance with the historical view passed on to us by tradition and stabilized by evidences,
1. Bhartiya Vidya, Vol. III, No. I, July, 1944.
2. Śramana Vol. XIII, No. VI-VII. 1962.
3. Ibid. Vol. XIII. No. VII, p. 10.
4. Ibid. Vol, XIII, No. VII, preface to the essay of Dr. Jacobi, p. 9.
5. Op. cit., pp. 9-10.