14 
W. Hoey —Set Mahet. 
[Extra-No. 
Further, there is some reason to suppose that the kings of Kosala and 
Magadha had been rivals, for it seems that Prasenajit had once in 
Buddha’s lifetime inflicted a defeat on Bimbisara. When Prasenajit was 
deposed by his son, he retired to Rajagriha, the capital of Magadha, 
and when he died, Ajatasatru paid royal honours to his remains. What 
was more natural than that the Sakyas should appeal to Ajatasatru to 
avenge their cause? We do not actually find authority for supposing 
that Ajatasatru did come to their aid. Add to all this that Ajatasatru 
had become the firm friend and patron of Buddha, that Buddha is re¬ 
presented to have foretold the coming glory of Pataliputra, that Ajata¬ 
satru moved his capital to this point, thus bringing it to a place more 
central, if Kosala be added to Magadha, than Rajagriha was, and on 
the whole I am inclined to believe that, from the overthrow of Viru- 
dhaka, Kosala was merged in Magadha and that the latter probably 
included all the country which had fallen under the influence of 
Buddhism. 
Researches hitherto made have not unearthed any monuments at 
Sravasti distinctly referable to the age of Asoka, but Hwen Thsang’s 
narrative would lead us to refer the stone pillars at the east of the 
Jetavana (not yet found by the way) to this king. It is highly probable 
that he did erect some monuments, if not these pillars at Sravasti, for it 
can scarcely be conceived that he should leave a place so intimately 
connected with the Great Teacher’s career without some mark of his 
zealous attachment to the Dharmma. 
The dominance of the Magadha kings would seem to have conti¬ 
nued down to the period of the Brahmanist revival, which happened 
under some Vikramaditya, possibly him who laid out the city of Ajo- 
dhya, but it would be foolish for me to hazard any date for this event. 
With General Cuuningham this Vikramaditya of Ujjain is Chandra 
Gupta Vikramaditya whom he places as founder of the Gupta era in 166 
A. D. But, I think, I may well give some value to the traditions 
which ascribe the restoration, the foundation, of the present ‘ Ajudhiya * 
to that Vikramadtiya, whose era is current in Upper India, 57 B. 0. 
Hwen Thsang mentions a Vikramaditya who was king of Sravasti about 
half way between his time and the death of Buddha. Taking Hwen 
Thsang’s visit at 635 A D. and Buddha’s death at 477 B. 0., this 
would give us 79 A. D. But taking the known date of Hwen 
Thsang’s birth 603 A. D. and Buddha’s age at 80 years, we get 20 A. D. 
Now, allowing for the Chinese antedating Buddha’s birth and death, we 
should get well back to the Vikramaditya whose era is current in the 
North West and Oudh. I am inclined to believe that it was to him 
that Hwen Thsang referred as the sovereign of Sravasti. 
