Book of Indian Eras, with Tables for Calculating Indian Dates c13.3

c13.3

In Northern India the true date of the Nirvâna was lost at a very early period. Thus, in the time of Hwen Thsang, A. D. 630—645, the Buddhist schools held widely different opinions, varying from 900 and 1000 years up to 1200, 1300 and even 1500 years prior to that date,* which would place the Nirvâna of Buddha either in 250, or 350, or 550 or 650 and 850 B.C. The same extravagant antiquity was also asserted in the time of FaHian, who places the Nirvâna during the reign of Ping-Wang, Emperor of China, in B.C. 770—719.† A similar antiquity was still claimed as late as the Twelfth Century A. D., during the reign of Asoka who compare them with the Hebrew and Roman months.* Clinton gives an extract from Cardinal Norisius, who quotes Hieronymus to show that in Antioch and other Syrian cities the year began with Hyperberetæus :— “In quarto mense qui apud nos vocatur Januarius, apud Orientales enim populos, October erat primus mensis, et Januarius quartus Est (Shebat) in acerrimo hyemis, qui ab Ægyptüs Mechir, à Macedonibus Περιτιος, à Romanis Februarius appellatur.” So also Corsini and Scaliger make Hyperberetæus the first month. The following are the names of the months with the corresponding months of the Jewish Calendar as found in Josephus and other authors—