Contemporaneity and Chronology of Mahavira and Buddha

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

Page 37

Dr. Jacobi's Second Approach
17 Mahāvīra's Nirvāṇa', and this can be more true only with regard to the Pāvā, situated in the North of the Ganges, since their kingdom lay stretched towards the North side, while the Pāvā situated in the South of the Ganges (near Rājagļha), lay entirely in the land of their enemy Ajātšatru, the king of Magadha. How could they be expected to be present in the land of their sworn enemy ? Many thinkers and historians such as Pt. Rahul Sankrityayana, Dr. Rajbali Pandey,3 M.A. D. Litt, Nathuram Premi, Dr. Nalinakṣa Dutt, Shri Ranjan Suri Deo, Shri Shrichand Rampuria? Acharya Vijyendra Suri, etc. have confirmed this fact. All of them agree to the fact that Mahāvīra had died in the Pāvā of Mallas, that this Pāvā should be on the North of the Ganges and that the Pāvā situated in the South of the Ganges (near Rājagțha in Patna district) and tradi
1. Kalpa Sūtra, 128 ; cf, S.B.E. Vol. XXII. 2. Darína Digdarśana, p 444n. 3. Bhagwāna Mahāvīra ki Nirvana Bhumi Pāvā ki Sthiti, an artical
In Mahāvīra commemoration volume, Vol I 1948–49, pp 45–9, and Bhārtiya Itihāsa ki Bhūmikā (Prācīn Bhārata), part I, p. 83.
Jain Sahitya Aura Itihāsa, p. 189. 5. Uttara Pradeśa Mem Buddha Dharma kā Vikāsa, p. 10. 6. Sramaņa, Vol. XIII, no. VI. p. 26. 7. Jaina Bhārati, Vol. Jan. 1951 p. 17. 8. Vaišali, pp. 85-87.
Pt. Rahul Sankrityanaya identifies it with the present Papahura, a village near Ramkola Rly. station in Gorakhapur Distt. (Loc. cit.); Cuuningham identifies it with Padarauna in Devaria Distt; while Dr. Rajbali Pandey (cf. op. cit. pp. 47-8) and Acharya Vijayendra Suri (cf. op cit. pp. 85-7) refute both these views on the basis of the geographical reasons and identify Pāvā, the place of Nirvana with the ruins of Sathiyāmva Fazilanagara, 9 miles south east of Kuśīnagara in Meveria District. They have corroborated their views by quoting an archaeologist named Karlayle. who, on the basis of his archaeological Survey, had identified Pāvā with the above place.