A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c8.s3.65

Language: English

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But if in this manner the starting point of the Northern Buddhist chronology turns out to be merely hypothetical, based as it is on a prophecy of Buddha, it will be difficult to avoid the same conclusion with regard to the date assigned to Buddha's death by the Buddhists of Ceylon and of Burmah and other countries which received their canonical books from Ceylon. The Ceylonese possess a trustworthy and intelligible chronology beginning with the year 161 B.C.³ Before that time their chronology is traditional, and full of absurdities. According to Professor Lassen, we ought to suppose that the Ceylonese, by some means or other, were in possession of the right date of Buddha's death; and as there was a prophecy of Buddha that Vijaya should land in Ceylon on the same day on which Buddha entered the Nirvâṇa,¹ we are further asked to believe that the Ceylonese historians placed the founder of the Vijayan dynasty of Ceylon in the year 543, in accordance with their sacred chronology. We are not told, however, through what channel the Ceylonese could have received their information as to the exact date of Buddha's death, and although Professor Lassen's hypothesis would be extremely convenient, and has been acquiesced in by most Sanskrit scholars, it would not be honest were we to conceal from ourselves or from others that the first and most important link in the Ceylonese, as well as in the Chinese chronology, is extremely weak.

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All we know for certain is, that the Ceylonese had an historical chronology after the year 161 B.C., that is to say, long before the Brahmans or Buddhists of the North can show anything but tradition. If, then, the exact Ceylonese chronology begins with 161 B.C., it is but reasonable to suppose that there existed in Ceylon a traditional native chronology extending beyond that date; and that, at all events, the first conquest of Ceylon, the establishment of the first dynasty, had some date, whether true or false, assigned to it in the annals of the country. Vijaya, the founder of the first dynasty, means Conquest, and such a person most likely never existed. But his name and fame belong to Ceylon; and even the latest traditions have never connected him with the Buddhist dynasties of India. He is called in the Mahâvańsa, the son of Sinhabâhu, the sovereign of Lâla (supposed to be a subdivision of Magadha, near the Gandakî river), and he is connected by a miraculous genealogy with the kings of Banga (Bengal) and Kalinga (Northern Circars), but not with the Buddhist dynasties of Magadha. The only trace of Buddhism that can be discovered in the legends of Vijaya consists in the fact that his head, and the heads of his seven hundred companions, were shaved when they were sent adrift in a ship that was ultimately to bring them to Ceylon.

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But the author of the Mahâvańsa takes care to say that this shaving of their heads was part of the punishment inflicted on Vijaya by his father, who, when asked by the people to execute his own son for numberless acts of fraud and violence, preferred to send him and his companions adrift on the ocean, after their heads had been shaved. Supposing then that before Dushtagâmani, *i. e.* before 161 B.C., the Ceylonese possessed a number of royal names, and that by assigning to each of them a more or less fabulous reign, they had arrived at the year 543 as the probable date of the Conquest, we can well understand how, under the influence of the later Buddhists, exactly the same thing took place in Ceylon which took place in China. Various temples in Ceylon had their legends, by which their first foundation was ascribed to Buddha himself. Hence the Mahâvańsa begins with relating three miraculous visits which Buddha, during his lifetime, paid to Ceylon. At that time, however, it is said that Ceylon was still inhabited by Yakshas. If thus the very earliest history of the island had been brought in connection with Buddha, it is but natural that some sanction of a similar kind should have been thought necessary with regard to the Conquest. A prophecy was, therefore, invented.

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“The ruler of the world, Buddha,” so says the Mahâvańsa, “having conferred blessings on the whole world, and attained the exalted, unchangeable Nirvâṇa, seated on the throne on which Nirvâṇa is achieved, in the midst of a great assembly of devatâs, the great divine sage addressed this celebrated injunction to Śakra, who stood near him: ‘One Vijaya, the son of Sinhabâhu, king of the land of Lâla, together with seven hundred officers of state, has landed on Laṅkâ. Lord of Devas! my religion will be established in Laṅkâ. On that account thoroughly protect, together with his retinue, him and Laṅkâ.’ The devoted King of Devas having heard these injunctions of the successor (of former Buddhas), assigned the protection of Laṅkâ to the Deva Utpalavarṇa (Vishṇu). He, in conformity to the command of Śakra, instantly repaired to Laṅkâ, and in the character of a parivrâjaka (devotee) took his station at the foot of a tree.