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OCTOBER, 1914.]
THE TRUE AND EXACT DAY OF BUDDHA'S DEATH.
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(6) Bishop Bigandet remarks in a footnote on p. 133 of Vol. II that the Kauzda Era was abolished on a certain Saturday which was the new moon of Tabaong (March) and that the Eetzana Era commenced next day Sunday the first after the same new moon. This of course is not correct, since the old era was abolished with effect from Phalguna (Tabaong) sukla 1 (See Vol. I p. 13), while the new era was brought into force with effect from sukļa 1 of the next month Chaitra (=Tagu).
On the other hand, while referring to the commencement of the New Religious Era (the era of Nirvana), Bigandet has made a mistake just the converse of the above. He says (foot note on the same p. 133 of Vol. II): "In the year 148, the first day of the month of Tagoo (April), which fell on a Sunday, was fixed as the beginning of the new computation, emphatically called the era of religion, 543 B. c." We need not concern ourselves with 543 B. c. (As a matter of fact, the first of the new moon of Chaitra or Tagoo in 543 B. C. was Wednesday, not Sunday.) But it will be seen from a comparison of this passage with those at p. 13 of Vol. I and p. 113 of Vol. II, (1) that where Bigandet affirms Phâlguna Su. 1 to have been the beginning of the Kauzda Era, he should have said this of Chaitra su. 1; and (2) that where he affirms Chaitra su. 1 to have been the beginning of the New Religious Era, he should have said this of Phalguna su. 1. So far, there may have been, on his part, a mere mistake of transposition of months, but in saying (in foot note to p. 133, Vol. II,) that Sunday was the beginning of the new religious era (Era of Buddha's death), he is backed by the calculations exhibited in my chart against the 8th date; and contradicted by his own statement in the text (p. 113 of Vol. II), that the New Religious Era began on a Monday. Should my conjecture that Sunday was the proper week-day in this case prove justified by a reference to the Burmese Manuscript used by Bigandet or to any other original text, then it will follow that "first of the waxing moon" throughout the chronicle translated by Bigandet means Sukla pratipada," and not the first heliacal rising of the moon.
7) In one or two instances, details of dates, not explicitly affirmed by Bigandet, have had to be supplied from other circumstances stated by him. Thus, as regards the birth of Buddha, we are told, in the first place (Vol. I, p. 28), that he entered the womb of his mother Mâyâ at a full moon under the Constellation Oottarathan" ("Uttara Ashadha"). Reference to the Eye-Tahle appended to my Indian Chronology" will show that this must have been the Full Moon of Sravana. As Buddha was born 9 months later under the constellation " Withaka (Visakha). (Vol. II, p. 71), the birth. as may be seen from the same table, must have taken place at the Vaisakha full moon. not 6 days after the same full moon, (as stated erroneously in the foot note to p 47 Vol. I), when Nakshatra "Vaisakha" would be an impossibility.
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Similarly, when we are told (Vol. I. pp. 62-64) that Buddha, preparatory to embracing the life of an ascetic, left Kapilavastu "at the full moon of "July" under the constellation " Oottarathan," we may infer that it was the full moon of Ashadha month, because elsewhere Bigandet has rendered the Burmese "Watso" (-Ashadha month) by "July" (see, for instance, Vol. I, p. 200). July is no doubt the English equivalent of Ashadha at the present time; but it was not so in Buddha's time when the equivalent of Watso or Ashadha was May-June. The reader has to be reminded that English months, in 477 B. c. meant, in comparison with Indian months, a time of the sidereal year more than one month in advance of what they now mean. This result is due (1) to the forward movement of the Indian sidereal, as compared with the European tropical, year, and (2) to the dropping of 10 days in the Gregorian Calendar. In support of my statement that the departure from Kapilavastu took place on a Sunday. I may refer to Vol. II, p. 72 where the next day when he entered into solitude is given as Monday.
