Contemporaneity and Chronology of Mahavira and Buddha

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

Page 59

Muni Kalyana Vijayaji
39
pretations can never be regarded as historical facts. To call the date of Buddha's Nirvāṇa decided by him (542 B.C.), to be coincident with the Ceylonese date of the Buddha's Nirvāņa (544 B.C.)1 is a good example of far-fetching technique used by him. There is a clear difference of two years, which can not be regarded negligible, as he has asked us to do so.2
One of the evidence, adduced by him to show Buddha's seniority to Mahāvīra, is3: "In the Buddhist texts, wherever the rival teachers of Buddha are enumerated, the name of Niggantha Nataputta (i.e. Mahāvīra) appears in the end of the lists. This has also happened, perhaps, because Mahāvīra was the youngest amongst the rivals of Buddha”. The weakness of argument is obvious. Even Mahavira's name appears in the end of the list of Buddha's rivals, it does not at all mean that Mahāvīra was younger than Buddha. On the contrary, such references clearly indicate that all the six rivals (including Mahāvīra) of Buddha had already earned fame and influence long before Buddha appeared on the stage. As a matter of fact, it is also not true, that Mahāvīra's name appears in the end everywhere in such lists, as argued by Muni Kalyana Vijayjai. We find several such references in the Buddhist texts where Niggantha Nataputta is not the last".
Mahāvīra Middle aged, Buddha-young
In order to support his view, Muni Kalyana Vijayaji
1. See, The date of Buddha's Nirvana. in Chapter VII of this book. 2. Op. cit. p. 160.
3. Ibid, p. 3.
4. For example, in the Samyukta Nikaya, Dahar Sutta, 3-1-1, the name of Niggantha Nataputta appears in the third place; in the Digha Nikaya Samanyaphala Sutta, 1-2, it occurs in the fifth place (See the Hindi translation by Rahul Sankrityayana, p. 21).