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228 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA learn from the inscriptions of Darius. It is thus clear that Paushkarasārin and his contemporary Bimbisāra lived before B.C. 519. This accords with the chronology which places his accession and coronation in or about B.C. 545-44.
SUGGESTED CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
(APPROXIMATE DATES) Year B.C.
Event 565 Birth of the Buddha.
560 Birth of Bimbisāra. c. 553 Accession of Cyrus the Achaemenid. 545-44 Accession of Bimbisāra. Epoch of a Ceylonese Era.
536 The Great Renunciation (of the Buddha).
530 Enlightenment. 530-29 The Buddha's visit to Bimbisāra.
527 Traditional Epoch of the era of Mahāvira's Nirvana 522 Accession of Darius I. 493 Accession of Ajātasatru. 486 Cantonese date of the Parinirvāṇa of the Buddha. The
death of Darius I. Council of Rājagņiha. 461
Accession of Udãyibhadraka..
Foundation of Pāțaliputra (Kusumapura). 445 Aniruddha (Anuruddha) and Munda. 437 Nāga-Dāsaka (omitted in the Divyāvada na and Jaina texts). 413 Siśunāga. 395 Kālāsoka (Kākavarņa). 386 Council of Vaisāli. 367 Sons of Kālāsoka, and de facto rule of Mahāpadma Nanda. 345 End of the Saisunāga dynasty.
457
