1836.] Buddhist Chronology. 525 



with any propriety be applied." It is not a little remarkable, there- 

 fore, that Professor Wilson, after having thus recognized the correct- 

 ness of the date assigned to Sa'kya Sinha's death, and availed him- 

 self of an event connected with Buddhistical history to correct the 

 chronology of the Raja Tarangini, sho\ud have entirely lost sight of 

 these circumstances, and been led, in analyzing the Tibetan works, to 

 say that " any thing like chronology is, if possible, more unknown in 

 Buddhistical than Brahminical writings, and it is in vain to expect 

 any satisfactory specification of the date at which Buddha Sakya 

 flourished." 



The object, however, which I have more immediately in view at 

 present, is to point out, that the correction adopted by Professor 

 Wilson in this table, which reduces the date of the reign of Gonerda 

 III. from B. C. 1182 to B. C. 388, invites criticism and reconsidera- 

 tion, as being apparently inconsistent with the most approved data 

 previously established, in both the Brahminical and Buddhistical 

 chronologies ; and also to endeavour to prove that the imperfection of 

 the adjustment proceeds from the omission of a single letter in the 

 passage of the Sanscrit text quoted in his appendix. Whether the 

 omission of this single letter has arisen from Kalhana Pandit having 

 misunderstood the Buddhistical authority, from which his informa- 

 tion was derived ; or from the inaccuracy of some transcriber of his 

 work, will not, perhaps, ever be ascertained ; unless, indeed, some 

 copy of this history be hereafter found, exempt from this minute 

 inaccuracy, the discovery of which would fix the erratum on the 

 transcriber. 



Before I explain the grounds on which I justify the addition of 

 " d" to the numeral " Sdrdhdn warsha safari," it will be proper to 

 notice, why the adjustment, made according to the present reading 

 of that numeral, is inconsistent with " the present most approved 

 data of both the Brahminical and Buddhistical chi-onologies." 



According to the Brahminical chronology developed in the Purdnas, 

 as analyzed by Sir W. Jones, Colonel Wilford, and other oriental 

 scholars, the date assigned to the reign of Chandragupta is B. C. 

 1502 ; and whether we regard him as the contemporary of Alexan- 

 der the Great, or of Seleucus Nicator, the Brahminical date 

 assigned to his reign will have to be reduced to about B. C. 325 ; 

 making an adjustment of about 1177 years ; in comparison with which 

 the foregoing adjustment of 794 years at the reign of Gonerda 

 III. is deficient to the extent of 383 years, and to that extent, 

 therefore, it is at variance with the present cardinal point of Brahmi- 

 nical chronology, the age of Chandragupta. On a careful comparison 



