Jain Journal 2001 04

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

Page 10

154
JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXV, No. 4 April 2001 4. “Finally, both Mahavira and Buddha were contemporaries with
a king of Magadha whom the Jainas call Kunika, and the Buddhists Ajatasatru; and he began his reign only eight years before Buddha's death. Therefore, if Mahavira died in 528 B.C., he could not have lived in the reign of Kunika." (p. 156)
H.C. Raychaudhuri? furnishes some additional arguments for rejecting this date :
1. "In the first place, it is at variance with the testimony of
Hemacandra, who places Mahavira's nirvana only 155 years before Candragupta Maurya." (p. 85)
2. “Again some Jaina texts place the nirvana 470 years before the
birth of Vikrama and not his accession, and as this event, according to the Jainas, did not coincide with the foundation of the era of 58 B.C. attributed to Vikrama, the date 528 B.C. for Mahavira's death can hardly be accepted as representing a
unanimous tradition." (p. 85) If we study the details of the list of kings and dynasties provided by Merutunga, we find the following irregularities as well :
1. The reign-periods of certain dynasties and kings are completely
unacceptable, e.g., a total of 155 years has never been allowed to the Nandas by any tradition. With a view to defending the Jaina tradition, it may be argued that possibly the list indicates the reign periods of kings and dynasties who ruled over Ujjain and not Magadha. But even in that case, such a long period for the Nandas cannot be defended. 8
2. The Great Satrap Nahapana, who is usually identified with
Nabhovahana of the tradition, flourished after Vikrama according to competent authorities. Inclusion of such a postVikrama figure in this Jaina tradition renders it all the more valueless.
Majumdar, Raychaudhuri and Datta, An Advanced History of India, 2nd Ed. (London, 1950), Part I, Chapter 6 by H.C. Raychaudhuri, esp. pp. 85-86. "Not only is the number of years (155) allotted in the gathas to the reign of the Nandas unduly great, but also the introduction of Palaka, lord of Avanti, in the chronology of the Magadha kings looks very suspicious." (Jacobi, Kalpa Sutra of Bhadrabahu, p. 8).