1836.] Notes on the Buddhas from Ceyhnese authorities. 325 



allowing 20 years as the length of each reign of the thirty-six so- 

 vereigns from Ra'ma up to Icshwaca, would give the dateB. C. 3107 

 as the time of Icshwaca, and confirm the above passage regarding 

 Buddha being contemporaneous with this monarch ; and a similarity 

 of sound, as well as coincidence of date, tempts me to suggest the 

 possible identity of Icshwaca with Kshema or Kshemaka, who is 

 described as being the royal patron of Kakusanda Buddha*. 



To explain why I have fixed the era of Ra'ma, B. C. 2387. The 

 Rajawalia states that from the time of Rawena until the era of 

 Gautama Buddha (at which time a connected Cingalese history com- 

 mences!) 1844 years had elapsed. In several Cingalese worksj the 

 partial submerging of Ceylon is mentioned as having occurred im- 

 mediately after the death of Rawena ; and the consequent decrease in 

 the circumference of the island is stated to have been 133 yoduns or 

 2128 miles§. It was in this visitation that the splendid capital Sri 

 Lanka-pura (which was situated to the north-west of the present 

 island) is said to have been overwhelmed, and 



™ Towers and temples through the closing wave 

 A glimmering ray of ancient splendour gave." 

 Of Konagamma, 

 The second Buddha of the present dispensation, B. C. 2099. 

 At a time when long continued draught had caused scarcity and sick- 

 ness in Ceylon, Konagamma Buddha appeared|| ; and seasonable 

 rains having fallen, the consequent prosperity of the country was at- 

 tributed to his power and presence. At this time the island was 

 called Wara-dwipa, and the peak on which he, according to the cus- 

 tom of his predecessors, commenced his ministry in Ceylon, was 



* Thupa Wansae, Buddha Wansae, Mahawansae, Saddhama Sumana, Raja- 

 walia, Rajakatnaikara. 



t Translated and arranged by Mr. Turnour, from B. C. 543 to A. C. 1815. 



X Rajawalia, Kadaimpota, Lanka Wistrie. The Kadaimpota also records a 

 similar calamity as having reduced Lanka, to its present size, B. C. 267. 



§ In Gutzlaff's History of China, the following near coincidence of dates 

 with regard to the deluge occurs. " We are now arrived at a period which Con- 

 fucius himself has delineated." 



" Yaou began to reign B. C. 2337." "There is an extraordinary catastro- 

 phe mentioned in the reign of Yaou, which is one of the greatest events in the 

 history of mankind, the deluge. Mang-tze (Mencius) in speaking of the same 

 event, remarks, that at the time of Yaou the deluge had not yet entirely sub- 

 sided. During the reign of Yaou,yu commenced the draining of the waters^ 

 and the confining of the rivers to their beds." 



II Kanaka-muni, Asiatic Journal, 1834, p. 220. 



