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Lord Mahavira
The success of Mahâvîra's work is indicated by the statement of the Kalpasutra that he gathered "an excellent community of 14,000 Sramanas with Indrabhuti at their head; 36,000 nuns with Chandana at their head; 159,000 lay votaries with Sankhasataka at their head; 318,000 female lay votaries with Sulasa and Revati at their head. "48 The four groups here designated, namely monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen, constitute the four orders or Tirtha of Jainism. Associated with Gautama Indrabhuti (as his full name was) in the leadership of the monks were ten other Ganadharas or chief disciples, Agnibhuti, Vayubhuti, Akampita, Arya Vyakta, Arya Sudharma, Manditaputra, Mauryaputra, Acalabhrata, Metarya and Prabhasa. All of the disciples who had wholly severed their connections with the world, that is both the monks and the nuns, were known as Nirgranthas (Niganthas) meaning "without any ties," a designation which had perhaps already been borne by Parsva's followers."49
The Dates of Mahâvîra and Parsva
The death of Mahâvîra, or in the language of religious faith his Nirvana, is the basic point in Jaina chronology. According to the tradition of the Svetambaras this took place four hundred and seventy years before the beginning of the Vikrama Era (58) 57 B.C.); and according to the Digambaras it was six hundred and five years before the beginning of the Saka Era (A.D. 78).50 By either mode of calculation the date was therefore 527 B.C. Since at death the Tîrthankara had attained the age of seventytwo, his birth must have been around 599 B.C. To date the life of Mahâvîra around 599-527 B.C. is to make him a slightly elder contemporary of Gautama Buddha who probably lived about 567-487 B.C. This is substantiated by Buddhist sources, in which there are many references to Nataputta and the Niganthas, meaning Mahâvîra and the Jains; although in the Jaina canonical books there seem to be no corresponding notices of Gautama and the Buddhists. Three passages in the Buddhist canon refer specifically to the death of Nataputta the Nigrantha at Pava at a time when the Buddha was still engaged in his work of teaching. 51 Once while the lord was staying among the Sakyans at Samagama,” it is written, “Nataputta the Nigantha had died
