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15
THE DATE OF MAHÂVÎRA*
-P.C. Roy Choudhari
The date of Mahâvîra, like that of the Buddha, occupies a very important place in ancient Indian chronology; but it has not attracted as much attention of scholars as the date of the Buddha. Indeed, after Jarl Charpentier considered the problem in the Indian Antiquary of 1914 and the Cambridge History of India, Volume I, in 1922, H.C. Seth was the only scholar to take it up seriously in recent times and suggest a new date based on the Buddhist tradition. We intend to suggest here a new date for Mahâvîra, but it is not completely new in the sense that it is based on the Buddhist tradition. We shall put this date to suitable tests with a view to examining its correctness. These tests will also, however, be based mainly on the Buddhist tradition itself which has rightly come to be regarded as very reliable for ancient Indian history.
Generally speaking, two dates of Mahâvîra's death hold the field. They are:
(1) 527 B.C. (Hoernle, Guerinot), and (2) 467 B.C. (Jacobio, Charpentier“),
(A) The date 527 B.C. is based on the tradition recorded by Merutunga, a famous Jain author, who flourished in the fourteenth century. He gives as a basis for an adjustment between the Vira and Vikrama eras the famous verses, first quoted by Buhler and after him discussed by Jacobi. The English translation of the verses which is taken from Buhler, is as follows
'Palaka, the lord of Avanti. was anointed in that night in which Arhat and Tirthankara Mahâvîra entered Nirvana. (1)
“Sixty are (the years) of king Palaka, but one hundred and * History of Bihar, Bombay, 1967.
