Indian Epigraphy c15.s2.t3: 3. Jain Nirvāṇa Era

Indian Epigraphy c15.s2.t3

Language: English

3. Jain Nirvāṇa Era

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¹ V.A. Smith, E. Hist. Ind., 1924, p.49 and notes 2-3; Ojha, Bhāratīya Prācin Lipimālā, p. 163.

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A reckoning from the date of the Nirvāṇa or salvation of the last Jain Tīrthaṅkara, Vardhamāna Mahāvīra (or Vīra), is prevalent among the Jains and is called the Jina-kāla or Vīra-nirvāṇa-saṃvat.

The Vicāraśreṇī (c. 1310 A.D.) of the Śvetāmbara author Merutuṅga gives the difference between the Vīra-nirvāṇa and Vikrama eras as 470 years² while another Śvetāmbara writer named Nemicandra, disciple of Ambadeva and author of the Prakrit poem entitled Mahāviracariam (1084 A.D.), quotes 605 years and 5 months as the intervening period between Mahāvīra’s Nirvāṇa and [the beginning of the rule of] the Śaka king, i.e. the beginning of the Śaka era.³ The same difference between the Vīra-nirvāṇa and Śaka eras is given also in Digambara works like Nemicandra’s Trilokasāra (11th century A.D.)⁴ as well as in the Harivaṃśa Purāṇa and Meghanandin’s Śrāvakācāra.⁵ But there are discrepancies in the traditional dates of Mahāvīra.⁶

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² Cf. Vikkama-ṇajj-ārambhā paraū siri-Vīra-nivvuī bhaṇiyā | sunne-muni-vea-juto Vikkama-kālaū Jina-kālo || Jina-kālaḥ śūnya-muni-veda-yuktaḥ catvāri śatāni saptaty-adhika-varṣāṇi śrī-Mahāvīra-Vikramādityayor = antaram--ity = arthaḥ ||

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³ Cf. Chahim vāsāṇa sachim paṃcahim vāsehim paṃca-māsehim | ṇuma nivvāṇa-gayassa u uppajissai Sago rāyā ||

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⁴ Cf. verse 848 : paṇachas-saya-vassam paṇa-māsa-judam gamia Vīra-nibbuido Saga-rājo.

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⁵ See Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, p. 22.

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⁶ See Smith, E. Hist. Ind., 1924, p. 49, note 3.

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Mādhavacandra, commentator on Nemicandra’s Trilokasāra, understood by the expression Śaka-rāja the Śaka king named Vikramāṅka (Vikramāditya).⁷ This makes the difference between the Vīra-nirvāṇa and Vikrama eras 605 years and 5 months and therefore gives 740 years between the Vīranirvāṇa and Śaka eras. Some other Digambara writers have also followed this tradition.¹ Certain authors of the Digambara sect have moreover given various durations of the intervening period between the Vīra-nirvāṇa and the Śaka eras, such as 461, 9795 and 149793 years.² These conflicting traditions clearly show that the era was fabricated at a much later date. There is no literary or epigraphic record of the first millennium after Mahāvīra’s nirvāṇa, which uses the era. The era was never a popular reckoning in regular use.

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⁷ Cf. śrī-Vīra-nātha-nirvṛtteḥ sakāśāt pañc-ottara-ṣaṭ-chata-varṣāṇi pañca-māsa-yutāni gatvā paścād=Vikramāṅka-Śaka-rājo=jāyata.

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¹ See the Sravanabelgola inscription equating the Vīra-nirvāṇa year 2493 with Vikrama 1888 and Śaka 1752 (Ind. Ant., Vol. XXV, p. 346).

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² Cf. Trilokaprajñapti quoted by Ojha, op. cit., p. 163, note 6.

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Some scholars have accepted the Śvetāmbara tradition giving the difference between the Vīra-nirvāṇa era on the one hand and the Vikrama and Śaka eras on the other as 470 years and 605 and 5 months respectively and suggesting the beginning of the era in 527 or 528 B.C. But this is untenable since, as now accepted by most historians, Mahāvīra, who was a contemporary of the Buddha, must have died in the first half of the 5th century B.C.³

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³ In the Camb. Hist. Ind., Vol. I, p. 696, the probable period of Mahāvīra is given as 540-468 B. C.

Linked texts (3)

Harivaṃśapurāṇa — Jinasena (Punnāṭa), Sanskrit
Tiloyasāra — Nemicandra Siddhāntacakravartin, Śaurasenī Prakrit
Sāvayadhammadohā — Devasena, Apabhraṃśa