Historical Facts About Jainism

Author(s): Lala Lajpatrai
Publisher: Jain Associations of India Mumbai

Page 91

79
NOTE No. 11 E.
ON THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE JAINA TRADITION.
By
G. BUHLER.
In spite of the numerous arguments which, of late, have been brought forward in order to establish the proposition that the Jain sect is not a branch of the Buddhas, but an indepen dant religious community. founded at the same time as that of the latter, there is as yet no unanimity on this point among the competent scholars. Though professors OLDENBERG, KERN HOERNLE, PETERSON, and others have declared themselves in favour of the theory, started by Professor Jacobi and myself, some of the most. eminent Orientalists like Professor A. WEBER and Mr. A. BARTH are not yet satisfied of its truth and have given reasons for their dissent which deserve serious attention. Both admit that Nataputta, the chief of the Nigauthas, mentioned by the Buddhists whom Professor JACOBI and I have identified with Vardhaman Nayaputta, the last Tirthakara of the Jains or Niganthas, is a historical person. But both distrust the Jain tradition and consider it to be probable that the latter has been made up or, to use the proper word, has been forged according to the Buddhist scriptures. Professor WEBER