Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

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Sec. II]
STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SUTRA
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Lord Buddha along with the other five teachers, viz. Pūraņa Kassapa, Makkhali Gosāla, Ajitakesakambali, Pakudha Kaccāyana and Sanjaya Belațțhiputta, as it is evidenced by the fact that Upālī and Simha, the general, were converted by Lord Buddha to his faith.
The kings, Seniya-Bimbisāra, Kūņika-Ajātasatry and Prasenjit were also associated with both the teachers.
Moreover, the Majjhima Nikāyal records the demise of Niggantha Nāta putta as taking place at Pāvā and being followed by a serious confusion and quarrelling among his folfowers in the life time of Lord Buddha.
When this message was conveyed by one of his disciples to him, he apprehended the same fate of his order after his death,
These evidences of the BhS, the other Jaina texts and Buddhist works show the synchronism between Lord Mahāvīra and the above mentioned kings, Gośāla Mańkhaliputra and Lord Buddha in the sixth-fifth Century B. C.
Now, according to the Buddhist records Lord Mahāvīra predeceased Lord Buddha, while the study of the references to the two great political events, viz. Mahasilåkanţaka-Sangrāma and Rathamusala-Sangrāma as recorded in the Bhs and a complete silence of the Pāli canons about them suggests that the latter predeceased the former who was alive at the time of the occurrences of these two wars and was associated with the court of Magadha, as it is evidenced in the Nirayāvaliya Sutta.
But it is to be observed that the evil designs of king Kūnika-Ajātsatry on Vaisali and the Vaijs were well known to Lord Buddha as pointed out in the first section of the third chapter. Besides these facts, there is a gap of some years between
1 Majjhima Nikaya-1. Samagama Sutta.
Vide ‘Mahāvīra— His Life and teachings' Dr. B.C. Law, pp. 6-7. ? Majjhima Nikaya--II, pp. 243 ff, 8 Ib, II, 243; Patika Sutta, Digha. N. III. * Nirayavaliya Sutta-1.
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