The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c29.40

v1.c29.40

According to the Ceylon tradition the coronation of Açoka took place 218 years (i.e. in the 219th year) after the death of Buddha, and the Council in the 236th year. The tradition of Khotan on the other hand, as reported in Tibetan books², places the 50th year (out of 55) in the reign at an interval of 234 years from the *Parinirvāṇa*. The Chinese and Sanskrit reckonings are, as is well known, vitiated by confusion with another Açoka, Kālāçoka or Kākavarṇa of the Çiçunāga dynasty, who is placed one century after Buddha. The number 218 may very well be deserving of credit as a genuine tradition³; but it is of value for the determination rather of the date of Buddha than that of Açoka. A much discussed number 256 in the earliest edict has no bearing upon chronology⁴.