Contemporaneity and Chronology of Mahavira and Buddha

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

Page 89

Research and Conclusion
the whole incident of Mahāvīra's Nirvāṇa referred to above had happened in Pāvā, and hence, it is quite natural that on arriving at Pāvā, Sāriputta must have referred to it.
All the three allusions bear the description of the ideological split among the disciples of Mahāvīra after his Nirvāņa. Though the Jain tradition itself does not give any direct clue to such an event, the possibility of some mutual discussion over the issue of Mahāvīra's successorship, cannot be ruled out. For, Indrabhūti (Gautama Svāmi) was the first Gañadhara i.e. chief disciple in the charge of the sub-order (Gaña) and hence, in normal state of affairs, he should have been ordained as Mahāvīra's successor, but, as the traditional history informs us, Sudharmā Svāmi, the fifth Ganadhara was ordained as the successor of Mahāvīra and that too, under the rule that Kevalin (i.e. omniscent) can not succeed to the Tīrthankara and Gautma Svāmi was a Kevalin while, Sudharmā Svāmi was not Kevalin. Now it is plausible that this rule might have come into existence as a result of the above discussion. The possibility of a sort of dispute between the monks who were the disciples of Gautam Swāmi and the monks who were the disciples of Sudharmā Svāmi, can also not be wholly ruled out. The fact that the Svetāmbar a tradition of the Jains regards Sudharmā Svāmi as the first successor of Mahāvīra, while, the Digambara tradition of the Jains regards Gautama Svāmi as the first successor, also affords a slight hint towards the above possibility. Moreover the wordings...... 'The disciples of the Niganthas who were wearing white robes' used in the Buddhist allusions quoted above, also points out to the dispute between the white clothed' (i.e. Śyetāmbaras) and 'the unclothed (i.e, Digam