Vol. ill, No. 1,] The Matirya Inscription at SarnaiU, 7 



IN.S.] 



^ 



nothing. But I can produce a coincidence to show that my 

 hypothesis is not hopelessly barred at the outset by limits of 

 chronology. For this pui^pose I take two dates which are beyond 

 suspicion in the sense that neither is the result of a calculation 

 based on the evidence of the R.-S.-B. edict itself. I find 480 B.C. 

 and 269 b.c. among the many dates respectively assigned to the 

 Death of Buddha and the Coronation of Asoka. These dates I 

 manipulate thus : 



B.C. 480 ... Buddha's Death according to tradition 



... Lensrth of his life accordinsr to tradition. 



+ 



80 



B.C. 



560 

 35 



B.C. 



525 

 256 



■ * 



* ■ 



?5 '9 » 



>9 ■) J) 



< « 



His Birth 

 Intervening period 



His Illumination. 



Number of years lapsed, accord i ng to 

 R.-S.-B. Edict. 



B.C. 269 ... Asoka^s Coronation, 



This arithmetic proves nothing ; and, in the words of Max 

 Miiller, I am quite aware of the danger of unexpected confirnia- 

 X- s ._ _» views. But the coincidence as I term it is not 



own 



without significance. I really base my chronological table on the 

 date 2t)9 b.c, for Asoka*s coronation. And this date Mr. Vincent 

 Smith has placed beyond reasonable doubt (J.R.A.S. 1901). If 

 then Mr. Vincent Smith's evidence for the date 269 B.C. is, as 

 I understand it is, independent of Buddhist traditional dates for 

 the events of Buddha's life, and also of the R.-S.-B. edict itself, 

 it must be held to lend support to the tradition and to my 

 hypothesis of an Asoka era (to use a phrase) dating from the 

 Illumination, so far of course as these may accord with that evi- 

 dence. On the other hand, the hypothesis may stand even if 

 these two dates are proved incorrect in the end. It certainly falls 

 to the ground, if any clear and distinct statement in the inscrip- 

 tions of Asoka can be found to prove that the events in his life, 

 which are recorded in the Rupnath-Sahasram-Brahmagiri Edict, 

 took place after his coronation. Be this as it inay, the verbal 



Samath 



still demand elucidation. 



