________________
Jainism Upto the Last Victor
183
resided inside the town on account of his illness) in the house of a ruler of the name of Hastipala (Hatthivala). This place is said to be the modern Pavapurl (Patna District). We are told that on the night of his death the kings of the two clans, the Mallas and the Lichchhavis, celebrated the lamp festival in his honour. 21
The date of Mahâvîra, like that of the Buddha, occupies a very important place in ancient Indian chronology. Generally speaking, two dates of Mahâvíra's death hold the field. They are (1) 527 B.C. (supported by Hoernle, Guerinot, etc.) and (2) 467 B.C. (accepted by Jacobi, Charpentier, etc.). The former is based on the tradition recorded by Merutunga, the famous Jaina author, who flourished in the fourteenth century. According to him Mahâvîra entered Nirvana 470 years before the commencement of the Vikrama era (that is in 57+470=527 B.C.).22 The second date, i.e. 467 B.C. is based on a tradition recorded by Hemachandra (1088-1172 A.D.), who says that 155 years after the liberation of Mahâvîra Chandragupta Maurya became king (Sthaviravalicharita, Parisishtaparvan, VIII. 339). However elsewhere we have given reasons to believe that Mahâvîra died three years earlier than Buddha's nirvana in 483 B.C. His death therefore took place in 486 B.C. and birth in 558 B.C. Jaina Tenents: Jiva and Ajiva Tattvas
From a study of the evolution of the Jaina Canon (infra, Ch. 9) it is obvious that not much of the discourses of Mahâvîra has survived in its original form. But the remarkable conservatism of Jainism makes it possible that the fundamentals of the creed, as it is found in the present Canon, "are very old indeed and essentially those of Mahâvîra.24 Like Buddhism, original Jainism believed in dukkhavada, theory of karman and samsara (transmigration). Further like Buddhism it rejected the authority of the Vedas and attached no importance to the cult of sacririces. But here the similarities between the two end (infra, p. 191 f.), for the detailed teachings of Mahâvîra follow the course of pluralistic realism. His religion was primarily a teaching of severe discipline, founded on the philosophical basis of the primordial duality and opposition of Jiva (spirit) and ajiva (matter). His philosophy might be summed up in one me sentence: The living and the non-living by coming into contact with each other, forge
