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almost coincide with that to which the testimony of Hemacandra leads us and place the accession of Candragupta Maruya in 323 B.C. which cannot be far from truth. But the result in respect of Mahăvira himself is at variance with the clear evidence of the Buddhist canonical texts, which make the Buddha survive his Jnatrika rival. The Jain statement that their Tirthankara dies some sixteen years after the accession of Konika (Ajātasatru) can be reconciled with the Buddhist tradition about the death of the same teacher before the eighth year of Ajātasatru, if we assume that the Jain, who refer to Konika as the rule of Campa, begun their reckoning from the accession of the prince to the the Viceregal throne of Campa while the Buddhist make the accession of Ajātas atru to the royal throne of Rajagrha the basis of their calculation.
Expressing their views on the date of Buddha's Nir - vana; the learned historians observe (137). "The date of his great decease (Par inirvana ) is a subject of keen controversy". If, the Ceylonese tradition, that 218 years intervened between the Par inirvana and the consecration of Priyadarsana (Asoka) has any value, the day cannot be far removed from 486 B.C., the starting point of the famous 'dotted record' at Canton".
A Critique
The most remarkable thing in the above view of the renowned historians is that they have given no place to the date of Buddha's Nirvana proposed by Dr. Jacobi, and Dr. Charpentier. As pointed out before, the main reason behind this is that during the long period that has passed since the publication of the view of Dr. Jacobi and Dr. Charpentier, new conceptions have emerged in the field of history, concerning the pre-christian period. With regard to the date of Mahāvira's Nirvana, these historians have given importance to two fundamental facts and have insisted on their complete inviolation, while unravelling the present problem. The first is that out of the three dates, which are in vogue, 528 B.C. is the most veracious one. The second fact concerns the allusion of the Buddhist Pitakas regarding the death of Mahāvira. Dr. R.C. Majumdar and his colleagues have definitely accepted the veracity of the Pitakas'. statement that Mahavira predeceased Buddha. They have
| SR No. | 022804 |
| Book Title | Agama And Tripitaka Comparative Study |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Nagaraj Muni |
| Publisher | Today and Tomorrows Printers and Publishers |
| Publication Year | 1986 |
| Total Pages | 804 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 19 MB |