Indian Antiquary Vol 43

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 123

JUNE, 1914.]
THE DATE OF MAHAVIRA
119
edition of the Kalpasutra and to the Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXII-works that mark a new epoch in the study of Jainism-established with undeniable evidence, at least very narrow limits for the age of Mahavira ;1 and so it might not be without some utility to take up the matter once again. As my materials are in much the same as those of Professor Jacobi, most of my article will consist in summing up and furcher developing what has been previously said by him. And it will be seen that the result of rur inquiry is in full agreement with the opinion on the date of Mahavira which he formed many years ago, but which seems not to have been taken up by scholars dealing with the matter since.
In important treatises dealing with Jainism, e.g., Hoernle,--Proc. A. S. B., 1898, p. 39 ff, or Guerinot Bibliographie Jaina, p. VII., we find the date of Mahavira's death fixed at 527 B.C.; and the later author calls it la date la plus accréditée,' it being in fact in agreement with almost the entire tradition of the Jains themselves. For it is well known, that the Svetâmbaras believe the death of their spiritual master to have occurred 470 and the Digambaras 605 years before Vikrama; and as the difference between these two dates is 135 years, or just the same as the interval between the Vikrama era (57 B. o.) and the Saka era, (A. D. 78), it is quite clear, as Professor Jacobi points out,—that the Digambaras have here confounded Vikrama and Salivahana, a confusion by no means of rare ocourrence. Now at first sight this seems to be fairly correct, but when we examine the matter a little more closely it will be seen as has many times been remarked by Jacobi and other scholarsthat this statement is based on very slight facts, if really on facts at all. There are two main points which should be considered in connexion with the date 527 B. C., viz. :
(1) The relations of the Jains concerning the 470 years between the Nirvana of Mahavira and the accession of Vikrama in 57 B. C., and
(2) The possibility or non-possibility of accepting 527 B. C., as the right year for Mahavira's death viewed from the certainly established fact of his being contemporary with Buddha, who died, according to my opinion (as I shall explain below) in 477 B.C.
Finally in the last part (III) of my paper I shall discuss the tradition represented by Hemachandra and the conclusions to be drawn frorn it.
The Jain Chronology and its Foundation. Merutuiga, a famous Jain author, composed in V. Sam 1361-1304 A. D. his work the Prabandhacinlimani and about two years later his Vicdrasreni, being according to Bhâu Dâjis A commentary on his Theravali. In this work he gives as a basis for an adjustment between the Vira and Vikrama eras the famous verses, first quoted by Bühler" and after him discussed by Jacobi -
jain rayanim kalagao. ariha titthamkaro Mahavira tai rayanim Avanti-vai
1 Older opinions concerning the date of Mahåvira are found in Rice Ante. III, 167; E. Thomas ind, VIII, 30 f.; Pathak ibd. XII, 21 f. eto. As all these discussions have been rendered obsolete by the works of Professor Jacobi, I need not dwell here upon them.
2 Kalpasatra, p. 7.
3 Vide J. B. Br. R.A.S. ix, 147; other works by Merutunga and references to modern literaturo concerning him are found in Wober's Cat. II, 1024 sq.
4 Ind. Ant, II, 362.