The History of Antiquity Volume Iv Part 30

[774] "Mahavanca," p. 22, 23, 35, 39.

[775] La.s.sen, "Ind. Alterth." 2^2, 241, _n._4, 245.

[776] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 246.

[777] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 1^2,649 and 2^2, 248 regards Aparantaka as the western border land of India.

[778] "Mahavanca," p. 78 ff.

[779] "Mahavanca," p. 26.

[780] "Ac.o.ka-avadana," in Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 415, 426; for these Aryas see above, p. 471.

[781] In opposition to Westergaard, who thinks it necessary to put Ac.o.ka's accession back to the year 272 B.C., I can only agree with Von Gutschmid that the statements of the Buddhists on the subject require at the most the year 265 B.C. "Zeitschrift D. M. G." 18, 373. On the other hand, from the reasons given above (p. 443), I cannot put Chandragupta's accession at Magadha before 315 B.C. If, therefore, the 52 years which the Buddhists give to Chandragupta and Vindusara are to be maintained, Ac.o.ka ascended the throne in 263 B.C. On the other hand, the Brahmans only allow 25 years to Varisara, as they call Vindusara; and according to this the accession of Ac.o.ka must have taken place in the year 266 B.C.

[782] Cunningham, "Survey," 1, 68 ff; 244 ff.

[783] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 281.

[784] "Raja Tarang." ed. Troyer, 1, 101 ff.

[785] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 272.

[786] Droysen, "h.e.l.lenismus," 2, 611.

[787] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 251.

[788] Inscriptions of Girnar, and Kapur-i-Giri, in La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 253.

[789] In Ptolemy [Greek: Kerobothres], La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 1^1, 188.

[790] The inscriptions of Ac.o.ka date from various years, or at any rate mention regulations from various years; they speak of the tenth, twelfth, thirteenth, nineteenth, twenty-third, twenty-sixth, and thirty-first years after the coronation. According to the Singhalese the coronation did not take place till the fourth year after Vindusara's death. The inscriptions in which the Greek kings are mentioned date from the thirteenth year after the coronation, _i.e._ from the sixteenth or seventeenth year of the reign. The festival of the complete adoption of the law of Buddha by Ac.o.ka would thus have taken place in the thirteenth year of the reign, _i.e._ 251 B.C. If the statement of the Singhalese ("Mahavanca," p. 22) were correct, that Ac.o.ka's consecration did not take place till the fourth year of his reign, which is quite contrary to Indian custom, and seems to have arisen from the desire to make the coronation synchronise with the conversion to Buddhism (according to the "Ac.o.ka-avadana," Ac.o.ka put on the royal head-dress at the moment when Vindusara died, Burnouf, _loc. cit._ 364), there would be a chronological difficulty. Alexander of Epirus died about the year 258 B.C.; Magas of Cyrene in that year; consequently both were dead in the thirteenth year after the coronation, the seventeenth year of Ac.o.ka, if he ascended the throne in the year 263. The Buddhists have already told us that Ac.o.ka showed himself favourable to their religion in the third year after his accession, though it was not till the year 254 or 251 that he formally went over. Hence, arrangements may have been made even earlier with the kings of the West in favour of the spread of Buddhism, and they may have been first mentioned in 251 or 247 B.C. Von Gutschmid, "Z. D. M. G." 18, 373. He might also mention kings of the distant West with whom he had had dealings, though they were dead, especially if he was without intelligence of their death.

[791] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 238.

[792] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 239.

[793] "Mahavanca," p. 38. Koppen, "Rel. des Buddha," s. 154 ff.

[794] Burnouf, "Lotus de la bonne loi," p. 725, 727. Cf. "Mahavanca,"

ed. Turnour, p. 251. A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 3, 172.

[795] Koppen, _loc. cit._ s. 182.

[796] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 238.

[797] Girnar, 6: in La.s.sen, 2^2, 267, _n._1.

[798] Girnar, 6: in La.s.sen, 2^2, 267, _n._1.

[799] Delhi, 2: in La.s.sen, 2^2, 268, _n._2.

[800] Delhi, 2: in La.s.sen, 2^2, 272, _n._5.

[801] Inscription at Delhi, La.s.sen, 2^2, 272.

[802] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 250.

[803] Inscriptions at Girnar, 6 and 8.

[804] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 270.

[805] Now Buddhagaya to the north-east of the modern Gaya; Cunningham, "Survey," 1, 6, 10 ff.

[806] Cunningham, _loc. cit._ 1, 40 ff.

[807] On the elephant pillars at Sankisa, Cunningham, _loc. cit._ 1, 271.

[808] Hiuan-Thsang, in La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 280.

[809] Cunningham, "J. R. As. Soc." 13, 108 ff.

[810] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 965.

[811] Burnouf, "Lotus de la bonne loi," p. 762. La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 276, 277.

[812] "Mahavanca," ed. Turnour, p. 72.^1

[813] Cunningham, "J. R. As. Soc." 13, 112 ff.

[814] _Supra_, p. 370, 371. In consequence of the difference explained above (p. 320, _n._) the Singhalese place his reign 62 years too early, from 307 to 267 B.C.

[815] Mutu Coomara Dathavanca. Koppen, "Rel. des Buddha," s. 517 ff.

[816] "Mahavanca," p. 171.

[817] Stan. Julien, "Hiuen-Thsang," p. 373.

CHAPTER X.

RETROSPECT.

The Arians in India at an early time developed important spheres of human nature into peculiar forms. In that tribal life, by no means feeble of its kind, which they lived in the land of the Panjab, they wors.h.i.+pped the spirits of fire, of light, of water; with deep religious feeling they invoked these helpers, protectors, and judges, with earnestness, zeal, and lively imagination. The movements of the emigration and conquest of the Ganges, the acquisition of extensive regions, led them forward on new paths. The emigrant tribes grew into nations; greater monarchies grew up in the conquered territories. The achievements of the forefathers were sung in heroic minstrelsy before the princes and their companions, the wealthy warriors, the priests, and the minstrels separated themselves from the peasants. The contrast between the new masters of the valley of the Ganges and the ancient population a.s.sisted in intensifying the distinction of orders among the Arians. The fear of the spirits of night and drought, the conception of the struggle of good and evil spirits, gave way before the abundance and fertility of these new possessions. In the land of the Ganges the sensuous perception of nature pa.s.sed into fantastic ideas; the climate inflamed the susceptible senses of the nation, while at the same time it checked bodily activity and invited to contemplativeness. In opposition to the mult.i.tude of the ancient divine forms and the gorgeous variety of the new impressions of nature, rose the impulse to find the unity of the divine essence, the need of combination. Abstraction reacted on imagination, the spirit on the senses. The spirit in prayer, the holy spirit, and the world-soul, that mighty breath which the Brahmans seemed to find behind the changing phenomena of nature, were amalgamated by the priesthood, and elevated to be the highest deity: Indra, Varuna, Mitra must give way to Brahman as the n.o.bles gave way to the priests. Together with the new deity, who was at the same time the order of the world, the Brahmans won for themselves the first position in the state.