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Jaina Tirthamkaras and antiquity of Jainism
Rgvedic period has been a subject of much controversy. Max Muller proposed in 1859 that the Aryans arrived in India around 1500 BC, and that the Rgveda was composed between 1200-1000 BC.464 His theory was stoutly opposed by scholars like Winternitz, Buhler, Macdonell, Muir, etc., and scholars like Winternitz, Whitney, Pargiter and Goldstucker protested against this arbitrary fixation. 465 Winternitz assigned the composition of the Rgveda to 2500 BC. 466 But the bulk of eminent historians holds that the Rgvedic period began about 2000 BC.467 It may, thus, be assumed that Rşabha lived sometime in the Rgvedic period, which began around 2000 Bc or 2500 BC.
According to the Jaina tradition, Neminātha was a cousin of Krsna. In other words, Neminātha lived in the Mahābhārata period. There is no unanimity among historians and archaeologists regarding the date of the Bhārata War. But it is generally accepted that this war was fought between 1400 BC and 1000 BC. 468 Neminātha must have lived at some period between these two dates. The Kalpasūtra gives the life of only four tīrthařkaras – Rşabha, Neminātha, Pārsvanātha and Mahāvīra – and, merely provides a list of the remaining twenty tīrthamkaras. 469 According to the Kalpasūtra, the remaining twenty tīrthamkaras lived between the ages of Rsabha and Neminātha.470
Therefore, the first twenty-two tirthamkaras — from the first tirthamkara Rsabha to the twenty-second tirthamkara Neminātha - must have lived in quick succession to one another during 2500 BC and 1000 BC. The historicity
464. Historical Archaeology of India, A Dialogue between Archaeologists and Historians,
ed. Amit Ray and Samir Mukherjee, 1990, p. 29 465. Ibid., p. 29. 466. D.R. Bhandarkar, Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Culture, 1940, p. 2. 467. R.C. Dutt, Early Hindu Civilisation, 1927, p. 1; B.N. Puri, Indian History, A Review,
1960, p. 10; H.G. Rawlinson, India - A Short Cultural History, 1952, p. 19; P.N. Bose,
Epochs of Civilisation, 1913, p. 113. 468. AOIU, p. 251. 469. A.K. Coomaraswamy, Notes on Jaina Art, Peckham, pp. 2-5. 470. Ibid.
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