Was Sakyamuni Budha born in 1807BC ?

Dear List Members

 

The article on the web site below claims Skayamuni Budha

( Gautam Budha) was born around 1800BC. This puts Budha's

birth back by 1200 years. Any comments?

 

http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET0003/ET14-5679.html

 

This article is as follows:

March 14, 2000 VNN5679 Comment on this story

 

The Vedic Buddha Date

 

 

----

BY VRIN PARKER

 

EDITORIAL, Mar 14 (VNN) — Below I have compiled a quick overview from

the writings of Prof Prasad Gokhale from the University of New

Brunswick, Canada, on the subject of the Vedic Date for Lord Buddha's

appearance. Also note that the British date of 800 AD for Adi

Shankaracharya is incorrect as is the date for Chanakya Pandit,

Chandragupta Maurya and the Gupta dynasty.

 

Two major sects of Vaidik Dharma, namely, that of Jaina and Buddha

(1800 B.C.), rose and assumed a large following during this period.

One of the greatest philosophers in Hindu history, and perhaps in

world history, Aadi Shankaracharya also flourished in this era (500

B.C.).

 

The rise of Arya Chanakya and Chandragupta of Maurya dynasty (1530

B.C.), and the historical evidence to the golden age of the Hindus

under the umbrella of the Gupta dynasty (325 B.C.) also occured

during this period.

 

... Evidence testifies that Buddha and Aadi Shankara lived 1800 B.C.

and 500 B.C respectively. The "golden age" in India was ushered with

the rise of the Gupta dynasty. It was Chandragupta of the Guptas, NOT

THE MAURYAS, who reigned over the Indian empire around 325 B.C., a

time when Macedonian Alexander had invaded India.

 

The currently established chronology of India initiates with the

invasion of the so-called aryan race in 1500 B.C., which ruthlessly

and forcefully subdued the original inhabitants of the land, imposing

upon them a alien language and culture. The invading hordes settled

down on the banks of river Sindhu (Indus), and within few centuries

(1200 B.C.), complied the Veda. Subsequently, the Brahmanas,

Samhitas, Puranas and numerous other scriptures were composed. Where

does the Ramayan and Mahabharat fit in? Some say that the Ramayan

follows Mahabharat and some opine otherwise. In all this anarchy of

Indian histography, the probable date of Mahabharat ranges between

1000 B.C.to 300 B.C.

 

The identification of Sandrocottus (325 B.C.) of the Greeks with

Chandragupta Maurya by Sir Jones was considered to the "sheet anchor"

and based on this assumption, a chronology of Indian history was

constructed. THE DATE WHEN GAUTAMA BUDDHA PROSPERED WAS CALCULATED

FROM THIS SHEET ANCHOR TO BE AROUND 500 BC, and the dateline of Aadi

Shankara was put in 800 A.D. The Gupta Dynasty, whose reign ushered a

Golden Age in India, were placed in the 4th century A.D.

 

Examination of the Rgved, Puraan and other texts provide dates of

events that took Indian history, at times, back to thousands of

years. However, since these dates contradicted the prevalent views of

Europeans historians, the saunskrut texts were academically attacked

in an attempt to disprove the authenticity of the annals. For

example, the European Indologist Maxmuller, tried the interpret the

astronomical evidences to prove that the observations recorded in the

Hindu scriptures are imaginary, "pious frauds" created by the cunning

Brahmanas. Numerous references which were anachronous to the

particular time-frames were either considered as unauthentic and

unreliable. No attempt was made to recheck and reevaluate the

presumptions and basis on which the chronological structure was built.

 

....Sage Buddha is also considered as yet another avataar, and the

time he prospered is determined below. However, to determine the age

when Buddha flourished requires finding dates of some other events in

the course of history. The datelines of Maurya Chandragupta and his

grandson, Maurya Ashoka, are considered in the following two sections.

 

14. Gautam Buddha - Modern history tends to inform readers that

Gautama was born around 550 B.C. and died after about 80 years.

Pandit Kota Venkatachalam, writes in his book "The Age of Buddha,

Milinda and King Amtiyoka and Yuga Purana" that, "Due to his wrong

identification of Maurya Chandragupta as the contemporary of

Alexander, the history of Bharat has been shifted by 12 centuries

(and) it is the Chandragupta of the Gupta dynasty who belongs to 327-

320 B.C." Thus, due to the confusion in pinpointing properly

the "sheet anchor" of Indian history, Lord Buddha's antiquity has

been underestimated by about 1200 years. Now that Chandragupta Maurya

reigned in 1550 B.C. (instead of 325 B.C.), the time when the latter

flourished can be calculation to be around 1850 B.C. (instead of 550

B.C.).

 

All the Puranas and another historical compilation titled Kaliyug-

rajavruttanta, profess to describe the Magadha royal dynasties

starting from the Bruhadratha to the Andhra lineages, after which the

Magadha empire disintegrated. It is known from the Bhagavad Puraan

that Buddha was 23rd in the Ikshwaku lineage. However, the list of

Ikshwaku kings are not available. In order to determine the date of

Siddharta (Buddha), it is necessary to find the contemporary kings in

the Magadha genealogy. According to different accounts, the Buddha

was a contemporary of Kshemajita, Bindusar and Ajatashatru, the 31st-

33rd kings of the Shishunaga dynasty. The Buddha was 72 years old

when the coronation of Ajatashatru took place, that is in 1814 B.C.

Going backwards, the date of Buddha's birth becomes 1887 B.C. Since

he lived for 80 years, the Buddha must have left the body in 1807 B.C.

 

This date can also be confirmed by purely referring to astronomical

calculations, and what is correctly and exactly obtained as the date

for Buddha's nirvana is 27-3-1807 (Sathe, Age of Buddha). This date

also explains the possibility of the existence of Buddhism in the

second millennium B.C., as was rejected earlier. The astronomical

computations of the indologist-astronomer Swami Sakhyananda suggests

that the Buddha belonged to the Kruttika period, i.e., in between

2621-1661 B.C. In his book "Chronology of Ancient Bharat"

(Part4.Chap2), Prof. K.Srinivasaraghavan states the approximate time

of Buddha to be 2259 years after the Bharata War (3138 B.C.). which

turns out to be 1880 B.C.

 

Thyagaraja Aiyer in his book "Indian Architecture" observes," Here

lies Indian Sramanacharya from Bodh Gaya, a Shakya monk taken to

Greece by his Greek pupils and the tomb marks his death about 1000

B.C." If the Buddhist monk went to Greece in 1000 B.C., then the

Buddha must have lived at least a few centuries earlier. Somayajulu

places Chandragupta Maurya in the 14th century B.C (ref: Dates in

Ancient History of India). This puts the Buddha three centuries

earlier, i.e., in the 17th century B.C. A brief chronology of the

events in Buddha's life:Born in 1887 B.C., Renunciation in 1858 B.C.,

Penance during 1858-52 B.C and Death in 1807 B.C.

 

There are various other calculations and evidences which point to the

1800 B.C. date. However, it is believed that, at least for this

article, the presentation made above suffices to convince and

ascertain the date of Buddha.

 

regds

Tushankur

 

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