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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
8
Kalpasútra.
would date 177 B.C. 1). The reigns of Pâlaka (60) and of the nine Nandas (155), in sum 215 years, make up the interval between Candragupta and the Nirvâna; adding 215 to 312 B.C., we arrive at 527 B.C. as the epoch of Mahâvîra's Nirvâna, differing by sixteen years from the Nirvana of Buddha, according to the chronology of Ceylon, or 543 B.C.
There is also a different statement of the interval between the Nirvana and Candragupta's coronation. For Hemacandra says in the Pariçishtaparvan VIII, 341
evam ca çrî Mahâvîre mukte. varshaçate gate | pañcapañcâçadadhike Candragupto 'bhavan nṛipaḥ ||
"And thus 155 years after the liberation of Mahâvîra, Candragupta became king".
Adding 155 to 312 B.C. we find that the Nirvana of Mahâvîra would fall 467 B.C.
The gâthâs assign just as many years to the reign of the Nandas, as Hemacandra allots to the whole interval between Candragupta and the Nirvana. Hence it would appear that he has taken no account of the 60 years of Pâlaka's reign. It is difficult to believe that Hemacandra should have made such a gross blunder. I, therefore, think it more probable that the tradition he followed, differed from that incorporated in the chronological gâthâs, which latter deserves, in my opinion, less credit. Not only is the number of years (155) allotted in the gâthâs to the reign of the Nandas unduly great, but also the introduction of Pâlaka, lord of Avanti, in the chronology of the Magadha kings looks very suspicious. Neither the Bauddhas nor the Brahimins mention a prince of that name. There is a Pâlaka amongst the kings of Magadha, but he belongs to the Pradyota line which preceded the Çaiçunâgas, princes of which dynasty were the contemporaries of Mahâvira. There is another Pâlaka mentioned in the Mricchakatikâ, who was king of Ujjayinî or Avantî, and is said to have been dethroned by Aryaka. This Pâlaka is perhaps the same as the Pâlaka, mentioned, in the Kathâsaritsagara, as brother-in-law of Udayana, the fabulous king of Vatsa. That king was, perhaps, mistaken for Udâyin, son of Kûnika, and thus Pâlaka, king of Avanti, came, perhaps, to be mistaken for the Prâdyota of the same name, and was then made the contemporary of Mahâvîra. However this may have been, Pâlaka had, most
1) I call attention to the fact that this date of Candragupta's abhisheka coincides with the beginning of the Seleucidan Era. Mr. Ed. Thomas (Records of the Gupta Dynasty in India p. 17, 18) believes that the Seleucidan Era maintained for a long time its ground in Upper India and exerted much influence upon the chronological records of the succeeding dynasties. If the correctness of Mr. Thomas' theory could be demonstrated by direct proof, it would be easy to account for the rather puzzling fact that the Jaina date of Candragupta's abhisheka comes so near the truth.
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