1836.] Buddhist Chronology. 527 



In the first dynasty, .. 21 Princes in 378 years, average 18 years. 



In the second dynasty, 6 ditto in 192 ditto, ditto 22 ditto, 8 months. 



In the third dynasty, 16 ditto in 433 ditto, ditto 43 ditto, 3| ditto. 



37 1003 general average 27 years, 1 month. 



If, instead of resting these adjustments on conjectural grounds, we 

 substitute the precise correction ascertained to be necessary in Hindu 

 chronology at the reign of Chandragupta, being about 1177 years, 

 we shall then bring the reign of Gonerda III. from B. C. 1182, 

 down to B. C. 5. The general average of the reigns of the 37 

 Kashmerian princes from Gonerda III. in B. C. 5 to the end of the 

 reign of Ba'laditiya in A. D. 615, will then give the satisfactory 

 result of 16 years and 9 months. The necessity of all further adjust- 

 ments of the Cashmirian table, subsequent to the age of Gonerda III. 

 will be thereby got rid of. The clumsy expedient of Kalha'na Pandit 

 for making those adjustments, by assigning preposterously protracted 

 terms, — in one instance of 300 years, — to the reigns of the princes of 

 the three subsequent " dynasties," may at once be rejected. His 

 chronology down to the reign of Gonerda III. will be rendered con- 

 sistent with the Puranas ; and our adjustments will be in accordance 

 with the anachronism ascertained to exist in the age of Chandra- 

 gupta. 



As regards the Buddhistical chronology, I have it in my power to 

 adduce dinect evidence, independent of hypothetical reasoning, in sup- 

 port of the proposition which I have advanced. 



It can hardly be necessary for me to bring forward proofs, beyond 

 those exhibited in the foregoing extracts from Professor Wilson's 

 Essay, to establish, that Aso'ka, " to whom the crown of Cashmir re- 

 verted on the demise of Sachinara without issue, was the Magadha 

 prince of that name, the grandson of Chandragupta and son of 

 Bindusa'ra, who became the great patron of Buddhism after his 

 accession to the supreme sovereignty of India. It is found in the 

 Attakathd on the Pitakataya (the commentaries on the Buddhistical 

 Scriptures) as well as in the Mahd JVanso*, that this prince admi- 

 nistered the government of Ujjeni, by the appointment of his father 

 Bindusa'ro, the emperor of India ; that he succeeded to the empire 



* Vide Ch. V. As Aso'ka's son, Mahindo, was born while his father "admi- 

 nistered the government of C/yewi," and as Mahindo is stated to have attained 

 his twentieth year in the seventh year of Aso'ka's rule in Magadha, Aso'ka 

 must have governed Vjjini, for his father Bimdusa'ro, at least fourteen years. 

 It is immaterial, as regards the foregoing computation, whether his accession to 

 Cashmir preceded or followed his accession to the Magadha empire, as my cal- 

 culations are based on the date of the " Third Convocation" in B. C. 307. 



