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M. GOVIND PAI
ponty of Mahīvira. And further siace Buddha is not only said to have been an ascetic, but has also been described in exactly the same terms as Mahāvīra, as having an assembly of Bhikous and a crowd of followers, having been a well-known teacher, a famous leader, and having been considered crcellent by the multitude, nay he has been clearly designated Bhagacă = Blessed one, which designation came to be invariably applied to him only after lie had attained Bodhr or perfect knowledge, it goes without saying that at that time Buddha had already attained enlightenment
Again in the Sāmagama Sutla of the Majjhima Nikāya as well as in the Pasõdika Sultanta of the Digha Nikāya, it is said —
एक समय भगवो सकेस विहरति...तेन खो पन समयेन निगण्ठो नातपुत्तो पावाय अधुना कालकतो होति।
i. c. wbcn once Buddha was staying with the Sākyas..., Nigantha Nātaputta i c. Maládira liad just departed his life in Pāva. From this statement it is manifest that Mahāvīri attained Nirvana during the lifetime of Buddha, of course after the latter had attained enlightenment
In Bigandet's Life of Gaudand the chief events in Buddha's life have been chronicled in the era, said to have been founded by Eetzana, which is Burmese for Añjana, the Sakya king of Dewaha, which 18 Burmese for DTvadaha Country, and the maternal grandfather 18 well of Buddha, and the tithis i.e. the lunar days, the week-days as well as the constellations with which the moon was in combination on those days, have been recorded with seference to the different years of that era, which would seem to have been current at that ancient time In a paper which I have contributed elsewhere in Kapaada," I have formed out the exact equivalent English dates corresponding to each of those events The chronological data as given in Bigandet's work as well as the corresponding English dates as I have found out,' are as follow&
(1) Friday the fullmoon day of the month Katson, which is Burmese for the Indian lunar month Vaisakha, combined with the constellation Withaka. which ra Burmese for the 16th lunar mansion Vilākhā, in the 68th year of the Eetzana era, on which Buddha was born=Friday the 30th of March 581 B.C.
(2) Monday the fullmoon day 11 the month of July 1. e. Āsādha,
3 Prabuddha Karnataka, Kannada Qarterly published by the Mysore University, Vol. XXVII ( 1945-46), no. 1 pp 92-93
4. Me English article on the date of the Part-norväga of Buddha is yet to be published.
5. Bigandet II, pp. 71-72,
