Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/55

Rh plotter and wicked schismatic, but ecclesiastical rancour may be suspected of the responsibility for this accusation. Devadatta certainly refused to accept the teaching of Gautama, and, preferring that of "the former Buddhas," became the founder and head of a rival sect, which still survived in the seventh century

Schism has always been esteemed by the orthodox a deadly sin, and in all ages the unsuccessful heretic has been branded as a villain by the winning sect. Such, probably, is the origin of the numerous tales concerning the villainies of the Devadatta, including the supposed incitement of his princely patron to commit the crime of parricide.

There seems to be no doubt that both Vardhamana Mahavira, the founder of the system known as Jainism, and Gautama, the last Buddha, the founder of Buddhism as known to later ages, were preaching in Magadha during the reign of Bimbisara.

The Jain saint, who was a near relative of Bimbisara 's queen, the mother of Ajatasatru, probably passed away very soon after the close of Bimbisara 's reign, and early in that of Ajatasatru, while the death of Gautama Buddha occurred not much later. There is reason to believe that the latter event took place in or about the year 487

Gautama Buddha was certainly an old man when Ajatasatru, or Kunika, as the Jains call him, came to the throne about 495 or 490, and he had at least one interview with that king.