Jain Journal 1972 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 48

OCTOBER, 1972
almost certainly existed as a real person, and that consequently the main points of the original doctrine may have been codified long before Mahavira."20_Jarl Charpentier.
"The first twenty-two of them are, however, unknown to history and reasonable doubts may be entertained regarding the existence of most of them. But the twenty-third Tirthankara Parsva seems to have had a real existence. His death may be placed in the 8th century B.C.”21.R. C. Majumdar.
"They (the Jainas) believe in a great number of prophets of their faith anterior to Nataputta (Mahavira Vardhamana) and pay special reverence to the last of these, Parsva or Parsvanatha. Herein they are correct, in so far as the 'latter personality is more than mythical. He was indeed the royal founder of Jainism (778 B.C.) while his successor, Mahavira, was younger by many generations and can be considered only as a reformer. As early as the time of Gotama, the religious confraternity founded by Parsva, and known as the Nirgrantha, was firmly established sect."22.-Harmsworth.
"It is generally believed that there were Jaina monks before Mahavira, belonging to the order founded by Parsvanatha: They had also their own cait yas."23_R. P. Chanda.
"Before the advent of Mahavira, the faith of which he was the last exponent seems to have been prevalent in Vaisali and the surrounding country in some earlier form. It appears that the religion as fixed and established by Parsvanatha was followed by some at least of the Ksatriya peoples of North-eastern India, specially amongst the residents of Vaisali. We learn from the Açārānga Sutra that Mahavira's parents were worshippers of Parsva and followers of the Sramanas.”24_B. C. Law.
"The Jainas have been an organised community all through the history of India from before the rise of Buddhism."25_-Rhys Davids.
20 Uttaradhyayana Sutra (Upasala Ed), Intr., p. 21.
Outlines of Ancient Indian History and Civilisation, p. 216 ; An Advanced History of India, p. 86.
History of the World, Vol ii, p. 1198. 23 ‘Mediaeval Sculpture in Eastern India', J.D.L., Vol iii, 1920, pp. 225-246.
'Vaisali, Mahavira's Birthplace', Jaina Antiquery, Vol x, part i, p. 16. 35 Buddhist India, (2nd ed., London, 1903), p. 318.