Contemporaneity and Chronology of Mahavira and Buddha

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

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Dr. K.P. Jayaswal
that Mahāvīra was older than Buddha.1 In order to support his view, Dr. K.P. Jain has tried to falsify a Buddhist allusion that Buddha was younger than Mahāvīra, by interpreting it as an 'irony'2. But his effort is a good example of far-fetched and unnatural interpretation. Also he has taken no account of other explicit references3, found in the Buddhist texts, showing Buddha's juniority to Mahavira.
Dharmananda Kausambi
A well-known
Buddhist scholar, Dharmananda Kausāmbi has discussed the contemporaneity of Mahāvīra and Buddha in some of his books. It is his belief that Buddha was definitely the yougest amongst the seven religious teachers of his time, and, that his order (Samgha) was the smallest of all. Śrī Kauśāmbi has, however, neglected the chronological aspect of the problem. His argument is": "Even if Buddha's birth-date is taken back or forth by a few years, it would not deteriorate his character. The importance should be given not to the date of his birth, but to the circumstances existing before his birth, and to how he found out a new path in them."
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The main reason of his neglecting the chronology seems to be that it is too equivocal to be determined.
Dr. Hoernle and Muni Jina Vijayji
Dr. Hoernle has also discussed this problem in the
1. Bhagavana Mahāvīra Aura Mahātmā Buddha, pp, 110-115. 2. Ibid, pp. 114, 115.
3. See, 'The Seniority of Mahāvīra' in Chapter VII of this book. 4. Bhagavana Buddha, pp. 33, 155.
5. Ibid., preface, p. XII.