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128
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(JULY, 1914.
Pava, while Buddha stayed at Samagama in the land of the Sakyas. It has been concluded from this, that Mahavira died a very short time after the interview with Upali.36 I cannot here dwell upon the Buddhist record of Mahavira's death, which I shall discuss later on; but I wish here to lay stress on two facts in connexion with the tale of Upali, and the death of his former teacher. The first is that, although the place where Mahavira is nowadays said to have died is a small village called Pâpapuri, about 3 miles from Giriyak in the Bihar part of the Patna district, 30 it is quite clear from D. N. III, 117 sq. &o., that the Buddhists thought it to be identical with the town Pâvâ, in which Buddha stayed in the house of Cunda on his way to Kusinara; for it is said to have been in the land of the Sakyas, and this is at a considerable distance from Rajagrha, where Mahavira had his interview with Upáli. It will have been rather far to walk, if Mahavira had really been so ill as to die soon afterwards. And as, according to the Kalpasitra $$ 122-123, Mahavira spent the whole of his last rainy season, nearly four months, in "King Hastipalas office of the writers "at Pâvâ, he must have lived at least nearly half a year after the interview with Upali, if we could trust the story that he died as a consequence of it. And for the second, we are told absolutely the same story of hot blood gushing forth from the mouth concerning Devadatta in C. V. VII, 4, 3, and that at an occasion when he like Mahavira had real reason to be very excited. And in the old texts it is nowhere stated, that he died as a consequence of it, although later reports used by Spence Hardy and Bigandet seem to think so.37 From this I venture to draw the conclusion, that Mahavira's death stood originally in no connexion with, and was by no means a consequence of his interview with, his apostate follower Upáli.
In the Abhayakumarasutta (M.N.I., 392 sq.) it is stated that prince Abhaya was asked in Rajagrha by Nigantha Nataputta to go to Buddha, and put to him the question, whether it was advisable or not to speak words agreeable to other people. By this a trap was to be laid out for him ; for if he answered 'no' he would, of course, be wrong, and if he answered * yes,' Abhaya ought to ask, why he had in such fierce terms denounced Devadatta and his apostasy. I admit, that too much weight should not be attached to this passage, as another closely similar instance occurs elsewhere in the Pâli Canon38 ; but, as it can, by no means, be proved to be worthless, it seems to involve the conclusion, that Mahâvîra was still alive after the apostasy of Devadatta. This event is probably with justice thought by Professor Rhys Davids 39 to have taken place about ten years before the death of Buddha himself.
Professor Jacoblo has called attention to the fact, that Buddha and his followers are not mentioned in old Jain scriptures, which is rather strange, the heads of both churches being
pan.
35 That Nataputta diod shortly after the dispute with Upali is expressly stated by Spence Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, p. 280 but from late sources. Cp. Jacobl Kalpas, p. 6.
36 Comp. Imp. Gaz. of India, Vol. XX, p. 381.
57 of. SBE. XX, 259 n. Another instance proving the same fact is afforded by the history of Seijaya, the teacher of Sâriputta and Mogallâna ; in the Mahavagga I, 24, 3, he is said to have vomited hot blood, when his disciples abandoned him, but nothing is told about his death, which cannot have ocourred then, if I am right in my suggestion that he was the same person as the teacher S. Belatthiputta. But Boal and Bigandet tell us, that he died immediately afterwards, which is, however, directly contradicted by Spenoo Hardy, Manual p. 202. Op. 8. B. E. XIII, 149 n. 1.
» Vis., in Samy Nik. IV., 322 eq. where we are told that Buddha and Nataputta were staying in NalandA at the same time during a severe famine; when the latter asked his lay-follower the squire (gamani) Asibandhakaputta (cf. ibd. p. 317. sq.) to go to Buddha and ask him, whether he deemed it right to have all bis monks there at that time devouring the food of the poor people. 39 Vide Hastings Encyclopaedia Vol. IV, p. 676.
40 Kalpas, p. 4
