DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0737
APPENDIX.
713
If this view can be sustained, the events which are described in
the llamayana—not of course the poem, which is comparatively mo-
dem—took place about 2000 years before Christ, Adhering to the
above average, we gather that the events described in the ' Mahabha-
rata,' in like manner, occurred 900 years before Chandragupta, or 122"),
or more precisely, according to the Puranic chronology, thus—
which may probably be taken as very near the true date.
It must for the present remain an open question whether the dates
just quoted can be so established as to stand the test of the exigencies of
modern critical acumen. It would be very satisfactory if this could
be so accomplished. In the first place, because it would afford a firm
basis for all our reasoning regarding the ancient history and ethno-
graphy of India, but also because it would prove that the Puranas do
contain the germs of truths which, when properly investigated, may
lead to the most important deductions. My own impression is entirely
in favour of the existence of the requisite materials for the purpose;
but the fashion has been lately to pooh-pooh the whole thing, and no
attempt has been made—so far as I know—by any competent scholar,
to investigate the matter on scientific principles.
Be this as it may, when we come to the Anjana era, G91 B.C.,1 and
the life of Buddha, we tread on surer ground; and it is fortunate for
our purposes that it is so, as with the life of Buddha the mediaeval
history of India may be said to commence, and unless his date and
that of his successors can be established with at least approximate
certainty, the history of architecture in India must remain unintel-
ligible. In this instance, however, the materials, I believe, exist in
abundance. They have not, it is true, been as yet investigated to
such an extent as to render any point certain, but the difficulties
are daily disappearing, and as every point gained adds materially
in throwing light on others that have hitherto been considered
unsettled, we may hope before long to see the whole satisfactorily
resolved.
There is perhaps no single point in the whole earl}' history of
India on which the chronicles of Ceylon and Further India are so
distinct and unanimous than that Buddha died—as they express it,
B.O.
Chandragupta.....
Sisunagas, 360 years.....
Sunakas ........
Sah&devB to Bipnnjaya, 23 reigns at IS yean .
325
360
128
414
1227
1 Crawfurd's ' Embassy to Ava,' vol. ii. p, 274.
713
If this view can be sustained, the events which are described in
the llamayana—not of course the poem, which is comparatively mo-
dem—took place about 2000 years before Christ, Adhering to the
above average, we gather that the events described in the ' Mahabha-
rata,' in like manner, occurred 900 years before Chandragupta, or 122"),
or more precisely, according to the Puranic chronology, thus—
which may probably be taken as very near the true date.
It must for the present remain an open question whether the dates
just quoted can be so established as to stand the test of the exigencies of
modern critical acumen. It would be very satisfactory if this could
be so accomplished. In the first place, because it would afford a firm
basis for all our reasoning regarding the ancient history and ethno-
graphy of India, but also because it would prove that the Puranas do
contain the germs of truths which, when properly investigated, may
lead to the most important deductions. My own impression is entirely
in favour of the existence of the requisite materials for the purpose;
but the fashion has been lately to pooh-pooh the whole thing, and no
attempt has been made—so far as I know—by any competent scholar,
to investigate the matter on scientific principles.
Be this as it may, when we come to the Anjana era, G91 B.C.,1 and
the life of Buddha, we tread on surer ground; and it is fortunate for
our purposes that it is so, as with the life of Buddha the mediaeval
history of India may be said to commence, and unless his date and
that of his successors can be established with at least approximate
certainty, the history of architecture in India must remain unintel-
ligible. In this instance, however, the materials, I believe, exist in
abundance. They have not, it is true, been as yet investigated to
such an extent as to render any point certain, but the difficulties
are daily disappearing, and as every point gained adds materially
in throwing light on others that have hitherto been considered
unsettled, we may hope before long to see the whole satisfactorily
resolved.
There is perhaps no single point in the whole earl}' history of
India on which the chronicles of Ceylon and Further India are so
distinct and unanimous than that Buddha died—as they express it,
B.O.
Chandragupta.....
Sisunagas, 360 years.....
Sunakas ........
Sah&devB to Bipnnjaya, 23 reigns at IS yean .
325
360
128
414
1227
1 Crawfurd's ' Embassy to Ava,' vol. ii. p, 274.