CAPTAIJJ MAHONYS PAPER ON CEYLON. 531 



fore 1797 A. C. or 542 years before the birth of 

 Christ; and as their sacred era is reckoned from 

 this epoch, it may be esteemed deserving of credit. 

 It also corresponds, almost exactly, with the com- 

 putation ©f the same era in Siam^ as stated by Mr. 

 Marsden, in his tract on the chronology of the 

 Hindus; wherein, speaking of Siam, he observes, 

 'i the civil reckoning is by lunar years, consisting 

 " ordinarily of twelve months each, with an inter- 

 " calation of seven months in the period of nine- 

 " teen j^ars, and commencing with the new moon 

 '^ that precedes the winter solstice. This era is 

 '' computed from the supposed time of the intro- 

 " duction of tlieir religion by Summonacodom, 

 " 544 years before Christ; or in the year of the 

 " Julian period 4169." 



The real time at which Buddha, the son of 

 SuDiiODUN, (from whom he has the appellation 

 Soiidho-ddni, in the Amara-cosha,) propagated the 

 heterodox doctrines ascribed to him by his fol- 

 lowers, and for which they have been branded as 

 atheists, and persecuted as heretics, by the Brah- 

 mens, is, however, a desideratum which the learned 

 knowledge, and indefatigable research, of Sir W. 

 Jones have still left to be satisfactorily ascer- 

 tained. His usual candour induced him to ac- 

 knowledge his original error, in supposing this 

 Buddha to liave been the Woden of the Goths, 

 and genius of the planet Mercury*; and the pas- 

 sage" from the Bhagwatamrita, quoted in his dis- 

 sertation on the chronology of the Hindus, which 

 states that Buddha, (the ninth 'Avatar), " be- 

 " came visible the thousand and second year of the 



* Dissertation on the chronologj of the Hindus, Asiatic Re- 

 searches, Voluiue 11. 



M m 2 



