English
The list of the thirty-three Buddhist patriarchs, first published by K^musat (Melanges Asiatiques, i. p. 113), gives the date of their deaths from Chakia-mouni, who died 950 B.C., to Soui-neng, who died 713 a.d., and bears, like everything Chinese, the character of the most exact chronological accuracy. The first link, 1 Lassen, ii. 52. Foucaux, Bgya Tcher Bol Pa, p. xl. ' Foucaux, 1. c. note communicated hj Stan. Julien. > Neumann, Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes, ii. 1 17 ; Lassen, ii. 54. * Foucaux, 1. c. According to Klaproth Matouanlin places Buddha 688 to 609. A Csoma, Tibetan Grammar, p. 199—201. They are: 2422, 2148, 2139, 2135, 1310, 1060, 884, 882, 880, 837, 752, 653, 576, 546. ^^ CHBONOLOGY. lo^we^v^ex*, x^z^ ^fctkis loog chain of patriarclis Ib of clc ^ixY obax^fito-t^^^^Kr , and the lifetime of Buddha, from I bo 9 50, Tre^-fc.^ on his own prophecy, that a MiUoxix ^w-OTxld elg^^i^ir^^^ from his death to the coxivex^io OMxina. X:C*^ therefore, Buddha was a true proph< xxx\3ist lua^^v^^ Tl^iired about 1000 B.C., and this date ^^tahlisY^e^-^L ^ everything else had to give ^way b i-fe. Tlcxxjt^ Tt^llga.rjuna, called by the Chinese ] ZKHoshia^-rxcfc..^ <z:>Tr Loung-chou, is placed in their oi?vt:i t -tional cvk:^-r<z:^::xology, w^hich they borrowed from the ^31^ist^s 5.:e^ Tt^^'orthernlndia, 400 years after the Nirv ■^;j7J^3 TiJlo^^fcc^xiB assign the same date to him.^ I] Xist of* -fcV^^:^ patriarchs, however, he occupies the fc^entti. x>^^^-^®' ^^^ ^^^^ '^^^ y^^ after Buddha. t^^^^Gl^^Yrm^ -|g>i.*riarch, Manrng (Deva Bodhisatva), ig cai*iox:i.^^ii>^ placed by the Chinese 300 yeaii Bucicit^^^a,- III the list of the patriarchs he dies .^-r^ -^^^^,^trr the Nirv&na. yea,: if" j^^^ - i^ tjis manner the starting point ol Vox-fcl^^^^^^ :Buddhist chronology turns out to be m -^ -B^-^_ ,^-fcmoal, based as it is on a prophecv r^^ T^ ,^f>o> fc:_^ <3ifficult to avoid the ^me coL^o.f ' — ^^^ ^^ the date assigned to BuddhaWeath K ^^*3^of Ceylon and of Burmah .^a ^Tht ^ - ^i-ob received their canonical books froL ^^ Oeylonese possess a trustworthv I^^ - ^X^ronology beginning with the year ?i' ,^j^a,t time their chronology is tradi+T , ^l^snrdities. According to pl^^ ""^^^^ ^* to suppose that ^^^ t^Z^^Tly'^ ^^&nna ought to be about 4^ ^^^^ Suddh ► **" *'**™^'tion of tbo Ptoii T J ^t.e Asiatic Society of Bengal, li p" 7^2**/**'*^ ^ i-t^ CHRONOLOGY. 267 means or other, were in possession of the right date of Buddha's death ; and as there was a prophecy of Buddha that Yijaya should land in Ceylon on the same day on which Buddha entered the Nirv&na,^ we are further asked to believe that the Ceylonese historians placed the founder of the Yijayan dynasty of Ceylon in the year 543, in accordance with their sacred chronology. We are not told, however, through what channel the Ceylonese could have re- ceived their information as to the exact date of Buddha's death, and although Professor Lassen's hy- pothesis would be extremely convenient, and has been acquiesced in by most Sanskrit scholars, it would not be honest were we to conceal from our- selves or from others that the first and most impor- tant link in the Ceylonese, as well as in the Chinese chronology, is extremely weak. All we know for certain is, that the Ceylonese had an historical chro- ^ Mah&vanso, p. 46. The MahavanSa was written in P&li bj Mahanama. He was a priest and uncle of king Dasenkelleja or Dh&tusenay who reigned fh>m ad. 469 to 477. Mahftn&ma made use of earlier histories, and mentions among them the IXpaTanib. This work, also called MahAvani&a, and written in Pali, is supposed to be still in existence, and carries the history to the reign of Mahasena, who died A. d. 302. Mahanama, though he lived more than a hundred years after Mah&sena's death, does not seem to have carried the history much further. His work ends with the account of Mahasena's reign. It terminates with the 48th verse of the 37th chapter of what is now known as the MahavanM, and it is only from conjecture that Tumour, the editor and translator of the first 88 chapters of the Mah&van^a, ascribes the end of the 37th, and the whole of the 88th chapter, to the pen of Ma- han^a. Mahanama's wo^ was afterwards continued by dif- ferent writers. It now consists of 100 chapters, and carries the history of Ceylon to the middle of the 18th centory. He is likewise the author of a commentary on his own work, which commentary ends at the 48th verse of the S7th chapter. 268 CHBONOLOGT. nology after the year 161 B.C., that is to say, long before the Brahmans or Buddhists of the North can show anything but tradition. If, then, the exact Ceylonese chronology begins with 161 B.C., it is but reasonable to suppose that there existed in Ceylon a traditional native chronology extending beyond that date ; and that, at all events, the first conquest of Ceylon, the establishment of the first dynasty, had some date, whether true or false, assigned to it in the annals of the country. Vijayuy the founder of the first dynasty, means Conquest^ and such a person most likely never existed. But his name and fame belong to Ceylon ; and even the latest traditions have never connected him with the Buddhist dynasties of India. He is called in the Mah&van^a, the son of Sinhab&hu, the sovereign of Lfila (supposed to be a subdivision of Magadha, near the Gandaki river), and he is connected by a miraculous genealogy with the kings of Banga (Bengal) and Kalinga (Northern Circars), but not with the Buddhist dynasties of Magadha. The only trace of Buddhism that can be discovered in the legends of Vijaya consists in the fact that his head, and the heads of his seven hundred companions, were shaved when they were sent adrift in a ship that was ultimately to bring them to Ceylon. But the author of the Mahd.van6a takes care to say that this shaving of their heads was part of the pun- ishment inflicted on Vijaya by his father, who, when asked by the people to execute his own son for num- berless acts of fraud and violence, preferred to send him and his companions adrift on the ocean, after their heads had been shaved. Supposing then that before Dushtagfi^mani, i. e. before 161 B.C., the Ceylonese possessed a number of royal names, and that by as- CHBONOLOGT. 269 signing to each of them a more or less fabulous reign, they had arrived at the year 543 as the probable date of the Conquest, we can well understand how, under the influence of the later Buddhists, exactly the same thing took place in Ceylon which took place in China. Various temples in Ceylon had their le- gends, by which their first foundation was ascribed to Buddha himsel£ Hence the Mahllvan&a begins with relating three miraculous visits which Buddha, during his lifetime, paid to Ceylon. At that time, however, it is said that Ceylon was still inhabited by Yakshas. If thus the very earliest history of the island had been brought in connection with Buddha, it is but natural that some sanction of a similar kind should have been thought necessary with regard to the Conquest. A prophecy was, therefore, invented. " The ruler of the world, Buddha," so says the Mahll- van^ "having conferred blessings on the whole world, and attained the exalted, unchangeable Nir- vana, seated on the throne on which Nirv&na is achieved, in the midst of a great assembly of devat&s, the great divine sage addressed this celebrated in- junction to idakra, who stood near him : * One Vijaya, the son of Sinhab&hu, king of the land of LSla, to- gether with seven hundred officers of state, has landed on Lankll. Lord of Devas ! my religion will be established in Lankd.. On that account thoroughly protect, together with his retinue, him and Lankft.' The devoted King of Devas having heard these in- junctions of the successor (of former Buddbas), as- signed the protection of Lankfi, to the Deva Utpala- varna (Vishnu). He, in conformity to the command of Sakra, instantly repaired to Lankfi,, and in the character of a parivr&jaka (devotee) took his station at the foot of a tree. 270 CHRONOLOGT. " With Vijajra at their head the whole party ap- proaching him, inqaired, * Pray, devotee, what land is this ? ' he replied, ^ The land Lankd..