________________
488 B.C. as the Date of Mahavira Nirvana
total of 260 years for these two dynasties, which is very near 263 years (155-108) assigned to these two dynasties, in the traditions recorded in Tapagachha Pattavali as well as in Merutunga's Vicarsreni. If we take 263 years of these Jain traditions as the correct total for these two dynasties, whether we assign 155 years to the Nandas and 108 years to the Mauryas or 160 to the Mauryas and the remaining 103 years to the Nandas, it will not affect our enquiry regarding the date of Mahâvîra Nirvana.
After the Mauryas the Jain traditions assign 30 years to Pusyamitra, and after him some traditions assign 60 years to his son and grandson, Agnimitra and Vasumitra, others, Assign these 60 years to Balamitra and Bhanumitra, who also, as suggested above, appear to belong to the Sunga dynasty. Against the 90 years assigned to the Sungas in the Jain tradition, the Puranas assign a total reign-period of 112 years to this dynasty. This discrepancy between the Jain and the Pauranic total for this dynasty may be due to the fact that the Jain traditions give its reign-period in Central and Western India, whereas the Puranic traditions record the total reign-period of this dynasty in Magadha. As suggested by the rise of the Andhras, the influence of the Sungas ceased earlier in Central and Western India than perhaps in Magadha and Eastern India. The Sanchi inscriptions of the Andhra king Satakarni21 may indicate that the influence of this dynasty had reached Central India in the first century B.C. On the other hand its indeed doubtful if the Andhras ever ruled in Magadha”. 22 Ninety years of the reign-period in Central and Western India assigned to the Sungas in the Jain records may be a correct tradition.
So far from Palaka down to the end of the Sungas the dynastic succession list, apart from differing reign-period in certain cases, is the same in all the Jain traditions. It is after this that serious discrepancy appears amongst the various Jain traditions. The Svetambara traditions quoted above from Merutunga's Vicarsreni, Tapagachha Pattavali and Titthagolipainnaya place 40 years of Nahavana after Balamitra and Bhanumitra. After Nahavana Tappagaccha Pattavali and Vicarsreni assign 13 years to Gardabhila and 4 to the Sakas. Then comes Vikramaditya. Vikramaditya, according to the Jain
