the period of the Third Synod, says that the religion
was perpetuated from Upáli to Mogaliputra, "what-
ever the interval might be."* This expression clearly
shows that there was a difference of opinion even in
his day (A. D. 420) regarding the exact date of the
death of Buddha. But as Buddhaghoso was a
Magadha Brahman, he must have known the Indian
date of Sákya's nirvâna, and as this date coincides
with that of the Burmese and Ceylonese chronicles,
I do not well see how it can be set aside. It is a
curious fact also that the mean of the dates, obtained
by Hwan-Thsang, agrees within one year of the
Burmese and Ceylonese dates.
Thus the average

interval which elapsed from Sákya's death to Hwan-
Thsang's visit, is 1,180 years, from which, deducting
636, the mean period of Hwan-Thsang's travels, we
obtain B. C. 544 for the death of Buddha. The coin-
cidence is remarkable.

5. In this work I have made use of the generally received date of B. C. 543, as it appears to me to be sufficiently well established. In adopting this date, I am aware that a correction will be necessary for the Buddhistical date of Asoka's succession in the 218th year after the Nirvâna. But as the exact amount of this correction can be obtained from a source independent of the Buddhist annals, I think that every reliance may be placed upon its accuracy. Both Buddhaghoso and Mahánámo agree in making the accession of Nanda, King of Magadha, in the

* Turnour's Annals, in Prinsep's Journal, vi. 727.

118th year after the Nirvana, or in B. C. 425; and they assign to him, and to his successors, the nine Nandas, a joint period of only forty-four years. Now all the Brahmanical Purânas, in their accounts of the kings of Magadha, agree in stating that the Nandas reigned one hundred years. By using this amount as the correct one, we obtain Anno Buddha 218, or B. C. 325, as the date of Chandra Gupta's accession; thus making him a contemporary of Alexander the Great and Seleukos Nikator; a fact which has long since been proved by several passages from the Greek historians. The happy identification of Chandra Gupta with the Sandrocottos, or Sandrokuptos of the Greeks was first made by Sir William Jones, and its accuracy has since been generally admitted for the identification depends fully as much upon the similarity of their personal histories as upon the positive identity of their names.

6. It would be difficult, and, perhaps, impossible, to ascertain the real origin of this error of sixtysix years in the Buddhist annals; but I may hazard a guess that the pious and enthusiastic Buddhists of Asoka's age may in the first instance have adopted the date of his conversion as that of the true foundation of the Mauryan Dynasty, by omitting the Brahmanical reigns of his father and grandfather, as well as the first four years of his own reign before his acknowledgment of Buddhism. Under this supposition, his inauguration would have been antedated

* ZavoρокUTтos is the spelling of Athenæus.

by sixty-six years, which is the exact amount of
difference between the Buddhist and Bráhmanical
lengths of reigns, as well as the precise amount of
correction required to make the Buddhist chronology
harmonise with that of the Greeks. In after times,
when Buddhaghoso composed his commentaries on
the Singhalese Annals, I suppose that the date of
Asoka's inauguration was assumed to be correct, and
that the duration of his father's and grandfather's
reigns, and the first four years of his own reign,
were deducted from the one hundred years of the
Nandas. This supposition is rendered more probable
by the valuable opinion of Mr. Turnour,* the learned
translator of the Mahawanso, who points to the
difference between the Bráhmanical and Buddhistical
authorities, and more particularly to "some confusion
in the durations assigned to the reigns of the ten
Nandas," as the most likely causes of error.
He was
unable to account for the error himself; but he did
66 not despair of seeing the discrepancy accounted for
in due course of time." He adopted the same fixed
points, as I have done; namely, the Buddhist era of
Sákya's death, in B. C. 543; and the Greek age
of Sandrocottos, about 325 B. C.; but he was in-
clined to believe that the anachronism was the result
of design and not of accident.

* See Prinsep's Journal, vi. 725.

1

1

CHAPTER VI.

SECOND SYNOD.

1. Having thus adjusted the chronology, I can proceed with confidence to the historical account of the progress of Buddhism. I have already given the proceedings of the First Synod, and some brief details of the manner of life and strict observances of the different grades of the Bauddha community. But these observances, which the early Buddhists practised with enthusiastic zeal, were found irksome by many of their successors. At the end of the first century after Sákya's death, a numerous fraternity of monks at Vaisáli asserted the lawfulness of the following indulgences:

1st. "The preservation of salt in horn for any period is lawful," instead of the seven days allowed by Sákya.

2nd. "The allowance of two inches in length of the shadow of the declining sun, to partake of food," which Sákya had prohibited after midday.

* See Mahawanso, p. 15; and Turnour's Páli Annals, in Prinsep's Journal, vi. 728, 729.

3rd. "In villages it is allowable to partake of indulgences" forbidden in the monasteries.

4th. "Ceremonies in their own houses may be performed by the monks," instead of in the public hall.

5th. "Obtaining subsequent consent is allowable for the performance of any act;" whereas, consent should always precede it.

6th. "Conformity to example is allowable," that is, they might act as their superiors did; whereas no example was admitted as an excuse if the act was forbidden.

7th. "The drinking of whey is allowable after midday," which whey, as a component part of milk, had hitherto been forbidden.

8th. "The drinking of toddy is allowable because it looks like water:" whereas all fermented beverages were forbidden.

9th. "Cloth-covered seats are allowable."

10th. "Gold and silver may be accepted in alms:" whereas the very use of the precious metals was prohibited; and more especially the begging for money.

2. When the tidings of this formidable heresy reached the revered Yasa, son of Kákandaka, he repaired to Vaisáli; and, in the midst of the assembled monks, he denounced the asking for money as unlawful. On this he was subjected to various indignities by the schismatic monks, from whose vengeance he escaped with difficulty to