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488 B.C. as the Date of Mahâvîra Nirvâna
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has also been surmised that Vakradeva of Kharavela's dynasty may be the famous Vikramaditya, who drove the Sakas out of Ujjain.2
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After the Gardhavas or Rasabhas (Gardabhilas) these Digambara Jain traditions place Nahavana, whom they call as Narvahana, and these traditions also like the Svetambara ones assign him 40 years. After Nahavana comes Bhathatthanas, then the Guptas, and after the Guptas comes Kalki. These traditions count 1000 years between the death of Mahâvîra and that of Kalki. It is interesting to note that these Digambar chronological traditions unlike the Svetambara ones do not refer to Vikramaditya. They are preoccupied chiefly in establishing a chronology to show a difference of 1000 years between Mahâvîra Nirvana and Kalki. The Svetambara chronological traditions on the other hand are chiefly concerned with the Saka King who is placed 605 years after Mahâvîra Nirvana. They are not concerned with Kalki and do not carry the chronological list beyond the Saka King. But the most important difference between the Digambara and the Svetambara Jain chronological traditions is that in the former Nahavana is placed after and in the latter before the Gardabhilas.
Nahavana is undoubtedly, as is generally believed by modern historians, the same as Nahapana, the Mahakshatrap of Kshaharata family, who is mentioned in serveral inscriptions, an.! a large number of whose coins is also discovered. The Nasir inscription of the Queen Gotami Balasri, mother of Gautamiputra Satakarni, informs us that her son Gautamiputra Satakarni rooted out the Khakharata (Kshaharata) family and restored the glory of the Satavahanas.26 As pointed out by Jayaswal2" according to the Jain traditions preserved in Avagyaka-sutra-niryukti it was Nahavana or Nahapana who was defeated and killed by the Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakarni. This is also borne out by the fact that Gautamiputra Satakarni restruck the coins of Nahapana. The modern historical researches put Nahapana in the period after the comencement of the Vikrama era. Most of the scholars assign him to the end of the first and the beginning of the second century A.D. It seems that the Digambara chronological traditions are more correct in putting Nahavana or Nahapana
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