]iha are
just the places named, where he founded the largest communities. It is
also told of the inhabitants of Vai['s]ali that many turned to his
doctrine. Many legends are told of his intercourse and friendship with
Bimbisara or ['S]re[n.]ika, king of Videha, also of the murder of the
latter by his son Ajata['s]atru, who, tortured with remorse, afterwards
approached Buddha; mention is also made of his brother Abhayakumara,
likewise Makkhali Gosala is mentioned among Buddha's opponents and rivals.
It is thus clear that the oldest Jaina legend makes Vardhamana a fellow
countryman and contemporary of Buddha, and search might be suggested in
the writings of the Buddhists for confirmation of these assumptions. Such
indeed are to be found in no small number.
Even the oldest works of the Singalese Canon,--which date apparently from
the beginning of the second century after Buddha's death, or the fourth
century B.C., and which at any rate had their final edition in the
third,--frequently mention an opposing sect of ascetics, the
Niga[n.][t.]ha, which the northern texts, written in Sanskrit, recognise
among the opponents of Buddha, under the name Nirgrantha, whom an old
_Sutra_ [Footnote: The _Mahaparinibba[n.]a Sutta_, in
_S.B.E_. Vol. XI, p. 106.] describes as "heads of companies of
disciples and students, teachers of students, well known, renowned,
founders of schools of doctrine, esteemed as good men by the multitude".
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