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54
History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathurā
of Pārsva, the twenty-third tirthamkara, and Mahāvīra, the twenty-fourth tīrthařkara, is beyond doubt. The life span of Pārsvanātha has been calculated as 877-777 BC,471 i.e., he lived in the ninth-eighth century BC. It is, thus, clear that there is no huge interval of time between Neminātha, the twenty-second tīrthaṁkara, and Pārsvanātha, the twenty-third tirthamkara. According to the Jaina tradition, Mahāvīra died two hundred fifty years after Pārsvanātha's nirvāna, 472 i.e., in 527 BC.473 The foregoing account makes it clear that probably the twenty-four Jaina tīrthamkaras lived between 2500 BC and 527 BC.
Very little infomation exists regarding the life of the tirthamkaras who followed Rsabha except Pārsvanātha and Mahāvīra.474 But there is nothing unbelievable in the Jaina belief in twenty-four tīrthamkaras. 475 Probably, the influence of the first twenty-two tīrthaskaras was confined to a small number of followers. 476 The followers preserved the names of these tīrthamkaras, but failed to maintain a complete record of their life.477 It is certain that the Jaina tradition of twenty-four tīrthamkaras is an ancient one.478 Archaeological excavations conducted at Kankālī Tīlā, Mathurā in late nineteenth century have brought to light immense archaeological material, including inscriptions and images of many tīrthamkaras. It proves that as early as the first second century AD, the Jainas not only believed in the historicity of Rsabha and some other jinas, but also worshipped them in concrete form. We shall deal with this in detail when we take up the history of Jainism in Mathurā later in this book.
471. JOLR, p. 14; JAA, I, p. 16. 472. CHI, I, p. 153;CUHI, I, p. 185;JAA, I, p. 16; JOLR, p. 14; SIJA, p.40;AOIU, p. 411; JSAI,
p. 32. 473. JSAI, p. 35; JAA, I, p. 16; JSS, p. 22; CUHI, I, pp. 220-1; JI, p. 89; ACHI, p. 101. 474. Hira Lal Jain, op. cit., p. 19. 475. JOLR, pp. 16-17, p. 17 fn 1. 476. CHAI, III, p. 274. 477. Ibid. 478. ROAI, p. 112.
