The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c24.68

v1.c24.68

The Brāhman and Buddhist books record the length of the reigns of Bimbisāra and Ajātaçatru; but they are not in agreement with one another, and moreover the Brāhman accounts are not consistent. In the present corrupt condition of the text the various MSS. of the Purāṇas attribute a reign of either 28 or 38 years to Bimbisāra, and one of 25, 27, or 28 years to Ajātaçatru (*Kali Age*, p. 21). Until the text has been restored by critical editing the authentic tradition of the Brāhmans cannot be ascertained. In contrast with this discrepancy the Buddhist chronicles of Ceylon, the Dīpavaṃsa and the Mahāvaṃsa, offer a consistent and more detailed account of these reigns and of certain important events in the lifetime of Siddhārtha, the Çākya prince who became the Buddha. Whether this tradition is to be accepted as correct in preference to the other may be questioned; but it affords the best working hypothesis which has yet been discovered. The chronology as determined by Prof. Geiger in the introduction to his translation of the Mahāvaṃsa (pp. xl–xlvi) may be tabulated as follows: