Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c18.17

c18.17

Jain story is also very valuable for the light it throws on the date of Chandragupta's accession to sovereignty. This point has been discussed in his Introduction (pp. xx-xxi) by Jacobi. In his *Pariśishtaparvan*, VIII. 339, Hemachandra states that "155 years after the *nirvāṇa* of Mahāvīra, Chandragupta became king (*nṛipa*)." This date is not accepted by Merutuṅga as being contradicted in his opinion by all other sources (*Vichāraśreṇī*, Memorial verses, 1-3). But it is not true. It is accepted by Bhadreśvara who, in his *Kahāvalī*, states: "And thus, on the extinction (*uchchhinna*) of the Nanda dynasty, and 155 years after the *nirvāṇa* of Mahāvīra, Chandragupta became King (*rāyā*)." Jacobi states: "The date 155 AV for Chandragupta's accession to the throne cannot be far wrong, since the Buddhists place that event in 162 AB. If we assume the earliest possible date, 322 B.C., as the beginning of Chandragupta's reign, the corrected date of Buddha's death comes out 484 B.C., and that of Mahāvīra 477 B.C. This result is at variance with a notice in several Buddhist canonical works" to the effect that Mahāvīra had pre-deceased Buddha. In the *Saṁgīti-Suttanta*, Sāriputta reports: "The Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta, friends, has *just* (*adhunā*) died at Pāvā." In the *Pāsādika-Suttanta*, it was Chuṇḍa who delivers the news of Mahāvīra's death to Ānanda at Sāmagāma in the Malla country. At this news, Ānanda exclaimed: "Friend Chuṇḍa, this is a worthy subject to bring before the Exalted One" [*Dialogues of the Buddha*, III. 203 f]. Jarl Charpentier holds [IA., 1914, p. 128] this statement in the Buddhist works to be founded on an error. From *Dīgha Nikāya* (III. 11 f.), it appears that the Buddhists thought that Pāvā where Mahāvīra died was the same Pāvā where the Buddha had stayed as the guest of Chuṇḍa the Smith on his way to Kusinārā where he died. But the place where Mahāvīra died was another Pāvā called Majjhimā Pāvā in the *Kalpasūtra*, now known as Pāvāpurī in Bihar Shariff in Patna district. In this view, there should be no objection to the revised dates for the Nirvāṇa of both Buddha and Mahāvīra at 484 and 477 B.C. respectively, especially as these lead to the acceptable date of 322 B.C. for Chandragupta Maurya's accession to sovereignty. For the other view, a reference may be made to my *Hindu Civilisation* (p. 230).