Page:The Mahāvaṃsa or the Great Chronicle of Ceylon.djvu/36

Introduction in the third month Jettha (April May), 1 and in fact, as we know, in the 219th year after the Nirvana.

According 1 to the tradition prevailing in Ceylon 2 the Buddha died on the full-moon day of the second month of the year Vesakha (March- April), according to our reckoning : of the year 483 B. c. Thus on the same day 265 B. c. the year 218 A.B. would have come to an end. A month later, roughly speaking, Asoka would be consecrated. In the month Vesakha, 247 B.C. the year 236 A.B. came to an end. In the autumn of the same year the first coronation of Devanampiyatissa took place. A second coronation 3 of this king was celebrated in the following Vesakha (March- April), 246 B.C.

But there are certain statements which are not in agree- ment with this reckoning. In a passage in the Dip. 4 it is said that Mahinda came to Ceylon 236 years after the Nirvana. And it is said expressly that this arrival took place on the full-moon day of the third month Jettha (April-May). 5 But a new Buddha-year had begun in the preceding month. Thus if Tissa's first consecration falls in the 237th year A.B., then Mahinda's arrival falls in the 238th, that is, not 236 but 237 years had elapsed since the Nirvana.

This contradiction was discovered by FLEET 6 who made an ingenious attempt to explain it.

The full-moon day of Vesakha as the day of the Buddha's death is open to doubt. This day recurs only too frequently in the Buddha's life. On the other hand FLEET points out

1 On the names of the months in the Indian calendar see our transl., note to 1. 12.

2 Mah. 3. 2 ; Buddhaghosa in Sum. I. 6 10 and Smp. 2833, *. Cf. Dip. 5. 1 foil, for the same results.

3 Dip. 11. 39; Mah. 11.42.

4 Dip. 15. 71 : dve vassasata honti chattimsa ca vassa tafcha Mahindo nama namena jotayissati sasanam.

5 Dip. 12. 44; 17. 88 (thirty days after the second consecration !) ; Mah. 13. 18. At Dip. 11. 40 read tato masam atikkamma. See OLDENBERG, note on this passage.

6 'The Day on which Buddha died. 1 J.E.A.S. 1909, p. 1 foil.; particularly 6, 11, 31.