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JANUARY, 1974
137
enrich the life of anyone, no matter whether he is a follower of the Jaina path, or of any other. With his message of aņuvrata, the Acarya walked through the length and breadth of the country and has given an alternative that may still make life worth-living. As the author has written in conclusion, “... the significance of the anuvrata movement as a cure for the evils of the present day lies ... in its approach to the whole problem of peace and unity by suggesting that the immense potentialities that each individual has for promoting social unity can be actualised by developing inner harmony and regulated spiritual evolution."
2. Arising out of an unfortunate controversy as to the exact place of liberation (nirvāņa) of Bhagavan Mahavira, B. L. Nahata's booklet is intended to refute the claim of a village named Sathiano in Deoria as being the place where Bhagavan Mahavira passed away) and to reiterate that Majjhima Pava of the Jaina scriptures is the same as the present Pava near Nalanda in Bihar Sarif. As it should appear, the claim made by the author is strictly in conformity with the Jaina tradition which not even the self-appointed supporters of Sathiano can deny. In that way, its publication is timely and should help to remove the wrong impression that is being created by some interested persons.
-K. C. Lalwani
Note: The point at issue in this controversy as to Pava is whether Bhagavan Mahavira passed away at the Pava of the Jaina tradition which is near Nalanda in Magadha or the Pava of the Buddhist tradition which was not far from Kusinara. The point was initially raised by the Western Orientalists who for a fairly long time held that Jainism was a branch of Buddhism and who pressed the point that Mahavira must have passed away at the Buddhist Pava which was near Kusinara. The supporting logic was two-fold, viz., that had it been the Jaina Pava, then the news of Mahavira's death would not have reached the Buddha So soon, and that the Mallas who are stated to have been present when
1 See Saraogi, Kanhaiyalal, Pava-Samiksa with a foreward by Dr. Jogendra Mishra, Head of the Dept. of History, Patna, University, and a Preface by Muni Nagraj, Muni Mahendra Kumar Pratham' and Muni Mahendra Kumar 'Dvitiya' of the Terapanthi Sect.
? The story of Mahavira's death which reached the Buddha' so soon might have originated in this way. Mahavira was staying at one time at Sravasti, the principal region of the Buddha's activities, when Gosalaka, his former disciple and now the leader of the Ajivakas, came to him and after some altercation, he applied tejolesya on him. Due to it, Mahavira had an attack of severe dysentery. It seems that interested persons spread the rumour that Mahavira had died and that there was a quarrel in the Sangha after his death and this might have reached the Buddha so soon. But Mahavira lived 16 years more after the incident.
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