Sramana 2016 04

Author(s): Shreeprakash Pandey, Rahulkumar Singh, Omprakash Singh
Publisher: Parshvanath Vidhyashram Varanasi

Page 59

52 : श्रमण, वर्ष 67, अंक 2, अप्रैल-जून, 2016
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Nirvana." This also confirms the theory of accepting the date of Mahāvīra's Nirvāṇa to be 467 B.C.
Again, in the Jaina tradition the contemporaneity of Arya Suhasti and the king Samprati is unanimously accepted. The historians have acknowledged the period of Samprati to be 231-221 B.C. (Tripathi: 1986; p. 139). According to the Jaina Paṭṭāvalīs, the period of Arya Suhasti as Yuga Pradhana Acārya was 245-291 V.N.S. If we base our calculation on the assumption that Vīra Nirvāṇa took place in 527 B.C., we will have to accept that Arya Suhasti became the Yuga Pradhana Acārya in 282 B.C. and died in 236 B.C. In this way, if we consider 527 B.C. to be the year of Vīra Nirvāṇa, then, in no way, the contemporaneity of Arya Suhasti and the king Samprati could be established. But, if we accept 467 B.C. to be the year of Vīra Nirvāṇa, then the period of Arya Suhasti as an Acārya starts from 222 B.C. (467-245-222), on this basis the contemporaneity is established, but the reign of Samprati extends to only one year during the Acaryaship of Arya Suhasti. Arya Suhasti had come in contact with Samprati when he was a prince and the ruler of Avanti, and may be at that time Arya Suhasti was an influential Muni in spite of not being a Yuga Pradhana Acarya of the Samgha. It is remarkable that Arya Suhasti was initiated by Sthūlibhadra. According to the Paṭṭāvalis, Sthūlibhadra was initiated in 146 V.N.S. and died in 215 V.N.S. It can be derived from this fact that 9 years before Candragupta Maurya's accession, and during the last Nanda king (Nava Nanda), Arya Sthūlibhadra had already been initiated. If, according to the Paṭṭāvalīs, the total life of Arya Suhasti is considered to be 100 years and his age at the time of initiation to be 30 years, then he must have been initiated in 221 V.N.S. i.e. 246 B.C. (assuming the date of Vīra Nirvāṇa in 467 B.C.) It does prove the contemporaneity of Arya Suhasti with Samprati, but then, there is a difference of 6 years, if he is accepted to have been initiated by Sthūlibhadra himself because 6 years before he got initiated, in 215 V.N.S., Sthulibhadra has already died. It is also possible that Suhasti may have got initiated at the age of 23 or 24, and not at the age of 30. Even then, it is certain that on the basis of the references made