No. 27.— -1884.] ti s s am ah a k a ma archeology. 



7 



whatever climate, and it is quite plain that this chronology 

 has been deliberately falsified ; probably, as Tumour pointed 

 out, to make the period of Wijaya's landing in the Island 

 coincide with the date adopted as the beginning of the 

 Buddhist era. Except that Saddhatissa seems to have 

 lived to a suspiciously great age, and Eiara to have beeu 

 too old to engage in single combat, even on an elephant, 

 with Dutthaganiini, there are no data by which to prove 

 that any inaccuracy exists subsequent to the reign of 

 Asela. 



Taking, therefore, the date of Elara's accession as the 

 foundation on which to build up a less impossible chrono- 

 logical table, and accepting the periods of the Mahavaihsa 

 only when in accordance with probabilities, we have first 

 the fact that Asela died a violent death about 205 B.O. 

 (Mak.y p. 128.) He was the ninth son of Mutasi'wa, Kira 

 being the youngest son. As, apparently, all his brothers, 

 except Suratissa, had previously died natural deaths, Asela 

 appears to have reached an advanced age when Elara seized 

 the throne. If he was 75 years old when he was killed (an 

 age attained by few monarchs),— he was born in 280 B.C. 

 Thus, his youngest brother, Kira, cannot have been born 

 earlier than 279 B.C. Considering that, as above stated, all 

 Mutasiwa's children were the issue of one mother, it is 

 most improbable that this king was more than 45 years 

 old when his youngest son, Kira, was born. This will 

 bring the date of Mutasiwa's birth to 324 B.C. It might 

 occur later, but it can hardly be assigned to an earlier 

 date. 



Panduwasa Dewadied at the time of Patidukabhaya's birth 

 ( MaL y p. 58), and his son Abhaya reigned 20 years before 

 Pandukabhaya, having made Suwannapali his queen, took 

 the field with his troops in the 17 years' fighting, which 

 was ended by his acquiring the sovereignty. There are 

 some discrepancies in the account of this desultory war given 

 in the Mahavaihsa (pp. 60-64), but as it is distinctly 

 stated, both in that history (p. 67), and in the Dlpavamsa 

 (ed. Oldenberg, p. 164), that the campaigns lasted 17 years, 

 that Pandukbahaya was 16 when he came under the 

 guardianship of Pandala, under whom he remained while 

 his education was being perfected (Ma/i. } p. 60), and that he 



