“On emploie ordinairement les ères de Sri Harscha, de Vicramaditya, de Saca, de Ballabha, et des Gouptas.” “D’après cela, en s’en tenant à l’an 400 de l’ère de Yezderdjed, on se trouve sous l’année 1488 de l’ère de Sri Harscha—l’an 1088 de l’ère de Vicramaditya—l’an 953 de l’ère de Saca—l’an 712 de l’ère de Ballabha, et de celle des Gouptas (A.D. 1032).”—‘Journal Asiatique,’ series iv. vol. iv. pp. 280, 286.

The Sri Harsha era, exactly 400 years before that of Vicramaditya, was avowedly conventional, and seems never to have come into use, and no further mention is made of it afterwards.

If this view of the matter can be sustained, the advantage will be not only that the date of the battle of Korûr, and of the expulsion of the Sakas, Hunas, Yavanas, &c., from India will be fixed with mathematical precision in 544, but that one of the greatest mysteries connected with the history of the period will be cleared up, and the revival of the Hindu religion relegated to a much later period. If, on the other hand, it can be shown that this view of the matter is not tenable, we shall lose these advantages, but it will require a great deal more than that to prove that Vicramaditya, or any Hindu king, reigned in the first century B.C. Buddhism was then in its palmiest state, and there is no trace of the Hindu religion then existing, and the expulsion of Sakas, Yavanas, and Hunas did not take place for long afterwards.

Be this as it may, having now cursorily run through the whole chronology, in so far as it admits of controversy, I feel very confident, on a calm review of the whole, that none of the important dates quoted above can be disturbed to a greater extent than say ten, or at the utmost twenty years—except, perhaps, that of Kanishka. From the Anjana epoch, 691 B.C., to the death of Lalitaditya, A.D. 761, all seems now tolerably clear and fixed, and, with a very little industry, minor blemishes might easily be swept away. If this were done, the chronology of mediæval India for the Buddhist period might be considered as fixed on a secure and immoveable basis of ascertained facts. The advantages of this being done can hardly be over-estimated for improving our knowledge of India generally, while, among other things, it would give a precision and solidity to all our speculations about that country, which, for want of it, have hitherto been generally so vague and unsatisfactory.

APPENDIX B.

The following are the last of the twenty-four Buddhas, beginning with Dipankara I., who appeared to instruct and enlighten mankind, and to whom Sakya Muni succeeds in the present Kalpa:

22.Kakusanda, born at Khémawatinagara. His Bo-tree the Sirisia (Sirisa accasia).
23.Kanagamma, born at Sobhawatinagara. His Bo-tree the Udambara (Ficus glomerata).
24.Kassyapa, born at Baranasi-nagara, Benares. His Bo-tree the Nigrodha (Ficus Indica).
Gautama, born 623 B.C., at Kapilawasta. His Bo-tree Pipphala (Ficus religiosa). [752]

APPENDIX C.
THE TWENTY-FOUR TIRTHANKARAS OF THE JAINS.

Name. Distinctive Sign. Born. Died.
1 Adinatha or Vrishabha Bull Ayodhya Gujerat
2 Ajitanatha Elephant ” Mt. Sikhar, Chodri
3 Sambhunatha Horse Sawanta ” Parisnath
4 Abhainandanatha Monkey Ayodhya ”
5 Sumatinatha Chakwa (Red Goose) ” ”
6 Supadmanatha Lotus Kausambhi ”
7 Suparswanatha Swastika Benares ”
8 Chandraprabha Crescent Moon Chandripur ”
9 Pushpadanta Crocodile Kakendrapur ”
10 Sitalanatha Tree or Flower Bhadalpur ”
11 Sri Ansanatha Rhinoceros Sindh ”
12 Vasupadya Buffalo Champapuri Champapuri
13 Vimalanatha Boar Kumpatapuri Mt. Sikhar
14 Anantanatha Porcupine Ayodhya ”
15 Dharmmanatha Thunderbolt Ratanpuri ”
16 Santanetha Antelope Hastinapura ”
17 Kunthanatha Goat ” ”
18 Aranatha Fish ” ”
19 Mallinatha Pinnacle Mithila ”
20 Munisuvrata Tortoise Rajgriha ”
21 Naminatha Lotus, with stalk Mithila ”
22 Neminatha Shell Dwarika Mt. Girnara
23 Parswanatha Snake Benares Mt. Sikhar
24 Vardhamana or Mahavira Lion Chitrakot Pawapuri