Contemporaneity and Chronology of Mahavira and Buddha

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

Page 52

CHAPTER IV
Dr. K. P. JAYASWAL
A renowned historian and editor of the Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Dr. K.P. Jayaswal has made a remarkable effort to solve this problem. Dr. Jayaswal's view on the present subject, in short, can be summarised thus : The allusions about Mahāvīra's death found in the Buddhist texts should not be neglected. According to the Sāmagāma Sutta, Buddha had heard about Mahāvīra's death in his life-time and the popular belief is that Buddha died two years after this event. According to the Southern Buddhists, Buddha died in 544 B.C. Therefore, Mahāvīra should have attained the Nirvāņa in 546 B.C.
Mahāvīra's Nirvāṇa and Vikramāditya
In order to reconcile this date (546 B.C.) of Mahāvīra's Nirvaņā Dr. Jayaswal has tried to give a new interpretation to the traditional belief that Vikramāditya flourished 470 years after Mahāvīra's Nirvāņa. Dr. Jayaswal's argument is? : “The view of the Jain-traditional chronology that the interval between Mahāvīra's Nirvāṇa and the Vikram era is 470 years, is, in reality the one, which is given in the Pattāvali of Srāvasti Gaccha, and which states the above period to be the interval between Mahavira's Nirvāṇa and the birth of Vikrma. Vikrma's enthronement is stated to have
1. Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Society, XIII, pp. 240-246. 2. See, 'The Chronology of Mahäviru' in Chapter VII of this book. 3. Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Society, XIII, p. 246.