8 joukkaLj e.a.s. (ceylon). [Vol. VI1L 



was 37 when he became king, we must conclude that the 

 statement as to his being married at 20 is correct. In this 

 case the birth of his son Mutasfwa may have occurred 

 when he was 21. Pandukabhaya was therefore born about 

 345 B.C., and ascended the throne in 308 B.C. It is 

 evident (MaL, pp. 65-67) that he reigned many years. 

 Practically, he built the city of Anuradhapura, which 

 doubtless previously resembled a large irregular village, or 

 a cluster of hamlets, rather than a town fit to be the capital 

 of a kingdom. This was after he had " tranquillized" the 

 country, and fixed the village boundaries throughout the 

 Island, which alone occupied 10 or 12 years of his reign. 

 Altogether, the length of his whole reign cannot have been 

 much less than 30 years from 308 to 278 B.C., and pos- 

 sibly it might be a few more. 



Abhaya succeeded to the throne at the birth of Pandu- 

 kabhaya, that is, in 345 B.C. 



Panduwasa Dewa is said to have reigned 30 years (Mak., 

 p. 58), that is, from 375 to 345 B.C. ; and as there 

 are no data for correcting this period, it must be accepted 

 as accurate. He was unmarried when he assumed the 

 sovereignty (MaL, pp. 54-55), so that we may presume 

 his eldest son, Abhaya, to have been born about 

 373 B.C. 



Upatissa held the sovereignty, as provisional ruler, for 

 one year previous to Panduwasa Dewa's arrival — from 376 

 to 375 B.C. 



Wijaya is stated to have reigned 38 years ; this will bring 

 the date of his landing in Ceylon to 414 B.C. {Mah., p. 53). 

 While this event cannot be considered to have occurred 

 before 420 B.C., it may very possibly have happened some 

 years later— between 400 and 420 B.C. In view of the 

 Simhalese tradition that Wijaya landed in Ceylon at the 

 time of the Buddha's death, I would invite special attention 

 to Professor Rhys Davids' reasoning by which the date 

 412 B.C. is arrived at for the commencement of the 

 Buddhist era. ( Coins and Measures of Ceylon, p. 65.J 



Regarding the time of the accession ofDewanampiya Tissa, 

 we have the statement in the Dipavamsa (XL, 14) that 

 6 when seventeen years of that king (that is, Asoka) and six 

 months of the next year had elapsed, in the second month 



