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Jainism Before Mahâvîra
Parsvanatha as an historical Figure and the Real Founder of Jainism
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Hermann Jacobi and others have tried to prove both on the authority of Buddhist and Jaina records that Parsva was an historical personage, and the real founder of Jaina religion. Their arguments are as follows:
1. In the Samannaphala Sutta of the Dîghanikâya, there is a reference to the four vows (Châturyâma Dharma) in contradiction to the five vows of Mahâvîra. The four vows of Parsva were not to take life, not to tell a lie, not to steal and not to own property. To these Mahâvîra was forced to add the vow of chastity when the abuses had crept into the Jaina church. The Buddhists could not have used the term Chaturyama Dharma for the Nirgranthas unless they had heard it from the followers of Parsva. This is the proof the correctness of the Jaina tradition that the followers of parsva actually existed at the time of Mahâvîra.
2. This sect of the Nirgranthas was an important sect at the rise of Buddhism. This may be inferred from the fact that they are frequently mentioned in the pitaka as opponents of Buddha and his disciples. This conclusion is further supported by another fact. Maukkhali Gosala, a contemporary of Buddha and Mahâvîra, divided mankind into six classes, of these the third class; contained the Nirgranthas. Gosala probably would not have ranked them as a separate class of mankind if they had recently come into existence. He must have regarded them as a very important and at the same time an old sect.
The Majjhima Nikaya records a dispute between Buddha and Sakdal, the son of a Nirgrantha. Sakdal is not himself a Nirgrantha. Now when a famous controversialist whose father was a Nirgrantha, was a contemporary of the Buddha, the Nirgrantha can scarcely have been a sect founded during Buddhas's life.
Parsva and his disciples are referred to in various Jaina canons. The Uttarâdhyana Sûtra24 a meeting between Gautama Indrabhuti, the disciple of Mahâvîra and Kesi Kumara, the disciple of Parsva at Sravasti brought about the union of the old branch of the Jaina Church and the new one. The Bhagavati25 records the discussion that took place between Mahâvîra and the Samara
