Jinamanjari 1999 09 No 20

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 13

to 11 November of the year 570 B.C.E.). Thereafter, he spent the next twelve years, six months and fifteen days as a mendicant, traveling far and wide. He visited many countries: Anga, Magadha, Vaisali, Videha, Kosala, Ladha, Kalinga, Kosambi, Ujjai and even as south as the Krishna river. He is said to have traveled to Tosali in Orissa and from there to Mosali, the modern Masulipatnam in Andhra. 11
Again according to the tradition, he followed severe selfmortification, and meditating under the śāla tree on the north bank of the river Ujjavaliyā near Jambhiya-grāma, and attained kevalajñāna -- enlightenment -- on the 10th day of bright half of Vaisāka month (corresponding to 26 April of the year 557 B.C.E.). The Jaina kevalajñāna is known as bodhi in Buddhism. 12
Three months later he gave his samosaraņa (Skt. samavasarana - first sermon) at Rajgir on the 1st day of the dark half of Srāvana month, (corresponding to 1 August of the year 557 B.C.E.).13 On the elemental aspect of samosarana, Folkert notes that it has two parallel elements that express two polarities, one is the Jain path as a-dharmic, a-social, anti-worldly; the other is the dharmic, social and worldly community that sustains the tradition.14 It may be said, therefore, that it is a key to an additional vital dimension of the Tīrthankaras, exemplifying the transcendence of the world and providing the focal point around which the world is constituted. 15
Mahāvīra preached the Law for nearly thirty years and attained nirvana at the age of seventy-two on the 15th day of the dark half of the month of Kārtika ( corresponding to 15th October of the year 527 B.C.E. ) in Pāvā. Prof. P.C. Chopra suggests that on this night of nirvana Haley's comet appeared with the meteoritic shower of 'heavenly fire works' from midnight to day-break, and probably this explains the nirvāņostava which starts from midnight. 16
Mahavira in Buddhist and Brahmanical Literature
The Buddhist literature mentions Rşabha, Padma, Canda, Puspadanta, Vimala, Dharma and Ariștanemi, the Jaina Tīrthankaras. As regards Mahavira, the Pāli literature refers to Niganța Nātaputta as an heretical teacher. However, it does not mention anything about his early life.17
The Sutta Pițaka which comprises five Nikāya collections, three of them the Digha, Majjhima, and Anguttara, make reference to Niganța Nātaputta and his teachings and to the Nigranthas. It is