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MISHRA : THE DATE OF MAHAVIRA
153
"Palaka, the lord of Avanti, was anointed in that night in which Arhat and Tirthankara Mahavira entered nirvana. (1)
"Sixty are (the years) of king Palaka, but one hundred and fiftyfive are (the years) of the Nandas; one hundred and eight those of the Mauryas, and thirty those of Pusamitta (Pusyamitra]. (2)
"Sixty (years) ruled Balamitra and Bhanumitra, forty Nabhovahana. Thirteen years likewise (lasted) the rule of Gardabhilla, and four are (the years) of Saka. (3)"
Thus there was a gap of 60 + 155+108+30+60+40+13+4-470 years between the death of Mahavira and the end of Saka rule (i.e., victory of Vikrama).
This date (or 528 B.C. according to those authorities who regard 58 B.C. as the starting point of the Vikrama era) is wholly rejected by Charpentier on the following grounds6 :
1. "The Jainas themselves have preserved chronological records
concerning Mahavira and the succeeding pontiffs of the Jaina church, which may have been begun at a comparatively early date. But it seems quite clear that, at the time when these lists were put into their present form, the real date of Mahavira had already either been forgotten or was at least doubtful." (p. 155)
2.
"The traditional date of Mahavira's death on which the Jainas base their chronological calculations corresponds to the year 470 before the foundation of the Vikrama era in 58 B.C. This reckoning is based mainly on a list of kings and dynasties, who are supposed to have reigned between 528 and 58 B.C.; but
(a) the list is absolutely valueless, as it confuses rulers of Ujjain,
Magadha and other kingdoms; and (b) some of these may perhaps have been contemporary, and
not successive as they are represented.” (p. 15) 3. "Moreover, if we adopt the year 528 B.C. it would exclude every
possibility of Mahavira having preached his doctrine at the same time as Buddha, as the Buddhist texts assert; for there is now a general agreement among scholars that Buddha died within a few years of 480 B.C." (pp. 155-156)
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, pp. 155-156. (These points are found in a developed form in Ind. Ant. 1914.)
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