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VAISHALI RESEARCH BULLETIN No. 3"
Here is a convenient summary of the data known either from the inscriptions of Asoka or by calculation or by a judicious combination of both. (A) Period of inactivity
... 15 months (B. 1) Early exertion period
... 8 months (i) Sangha-upagamana, an event, and
also a starting point, of the period
of exertion (ii) Sambodhi-yātrā, and event of this
period, falling in 10th regnal
year (iii) Showing of Piety to the people
starting in 10th regnal year (B. 2) Later exertion period (Vivāsa period)
... 257 days (i) Vivāsa starting with
or Buddha-relics
8 months installation on platform
and
21 days (ii) Issue of a śrāvana and
first Dharmalipi, while still on tour of pilgrimage (vivās z), falling in 12th regnal year
Total 32 months (More than two years and a half")
APPLICATION OF DATA We may now use these data to find out the desired result. Of course, we shall have recourse to the process of elimination first.
The total period of upāsakatva is about 32 months which is less than 3 years. This period must touch the 10th and 12th regnal years of Asoka due to the mention of the Sambodhi-yātrā and the starting of the Dharmalipi programme in those years respectively. Could we fit in the period in these three years (equivalent to 36 months)? If we try to do so, the period of inactivity which lasts for 15 months, would come up to a point somewhere in the second quarter of the 11th regnal year and the Sambodhi-yātrā would be placed in the second or third quarter of that year. But it actually took place sometime in the 10th year and is thus excluded in this scheme. Hence we reject this.
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