[world-vedic] VEDIC WORLD HISTORY PT 5

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Antiquity and Continuity ... (Part 5)

Prasad Gokhale <f0g1

 

 

 

Organization: University of New Brunswick

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Antiquity and Continuity of Indian History : Part 5

(From Swayambhuva Manu to Gupta Dynasty)

 

by Dr. Prasad Gokhale

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Index

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12. Chandragupta, the Sandrocottus

13. Ashoka Priyadarshi

14. Gautam Buddha

15. Mahaveer Jain

16. Aadi Shankara

 

 

12. Chandragupta, the Sandrocottus

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Modern history tends to put Buddha around 500 B.C. This date

apparently comes from the assumption that Chandragupta Maurya,

Sandrocottus of the Greek records, was the contemporary of

Alexander, who is known to invade India in 325 B.C. However, the

Greek chronicles are strangely silent on the names of Chanakya

(Chandragupta's Guru) who managed to install the Maurya on the

Magadha throne, Bindusar (his son) and even Ashoka (his grandson)

whose empire extended far wider than that of Chandragupta. The

empire of Chandragupta, also known as the Magadha empire, was very

powerful and had a long history but is nowhere mentioned by the

Greeks. Even Buddha bhikkus and the flourishing religion of the

Buddha are not mentioned in their literature. This imbroglio has

been challenged by various scholars and is precisely summarized by

K. Rajaram (in "A Peep into the Past History, Seminar Papers",

Madras, 1982), "There are difficulties in calculating the date of

the coronation of Asoka .. In the first instance, the very

identification of Sandrokotus with Chandragupta Maurya is

questioned. In the second one, the date of the death of the Buddha

has not been fixed accurately and therefore, the date of Asoka

based on it cannot be accurate." Indeed, the Sandrocottus of the

Greeks was not a Maurya.

 

The Greek records mention Xandramas and Sandrocyptus as the kings

immediately before and after Sandrocottus. These names in any way

are not phonetically similar to Mahapadma Nanda and Bindusar, who

were the predecessor and successor of Chandragupta Maurya,

respectively. However, if Sandrocottus refers to Chandragupta

"Gupta", the Xandramas reckons to be his predecessor Chandrashree

alias Chandramas and Sandrocyptus to be Samudragupta. The phonetic

similarity becomes quite apparent and also, with the assistance of

other evidence, confirms the identity of Sandrocottus to

Chandragupta Gupta.

 

In the Puranic and other literature, there is no allusion anywhere

to an invasion or inroad into India by foreign peoples upto the

time of Andhra kings; and the only person who bore the name similar

to Sandrocottus of the Greeks, and who flourished at the time of

Alexander, was Chandragupta of the Gupta dynasty, who established

a mighty empire on the ruins of the already decayed Andhra dynasty

and existing 2811 years after the Mahabharat War, i.e.,

corresponding to 328 B.C. His date is currently placed in the

fourth century A.D., which obviously does not stand. It is also

interesting to note that the accounts in the life of Sandrokotus of

the Greeks, and the political and social conditions in India at

that time, match to those of in the era Chandragupta Gupta. With

this observation, it is therefore that the Greek and Puranic

accounts unanimously agree on the issue of the identity

Chandragupta Gupta and Sandrocotus.

 

The ten kings of Shishunaga dynasty ruled for 360 years, beginning

from 1994 B.C. and ending with 1634 B.C. At this time, an

illegitimate son, Mahapadma-Nanda, of the last Shishunaga emperor,

Mahanandi, came to the throne of Magadha. The total regnal period

of this Nanda dynasty was 100 years. After this, with the

assistance of Arya Chaanakya, Chandragupta Maurya ascended the

throne of Magadha, and that is in year 1534 B.C. This date can be

arrived and confirmed using many independent accounts.

 

 

13. Ashoka Priyadarshi

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This misplaced identification of this Sandrocottus with

Chandragupta Maurya, which also is considered to be the "sheet

anchor" of Indian chronology, has led to further chronological

fallacies in the dating of Ashoka Maurya, the grandson of Maurya-

Chandragupta. This Ashoka supposedly became a Buddhist as is

confirmed from a variety of inscriptions and rock edicts found. It

is interesting to note that these edicts are summoned in the name

of one "Devanam Priyadarshi Raja" and the name Maurya Ashoka is

nowhere mentioned. This identification of "priyadarshin" with

Maurya Ashoka was entirely based upon Ceylonese Buddhist

chronicles. However, as admitted by Wheeler and V.A. Smith,

undeserved credit is given to ceylonese records which have been

nothing but a hinderance of ancient Indian history. Also, the

Buddhist histories recorded centuries later create a good deal of

confusion in the genealogies and family of Ashoka. It is therefore

very difficult to get a confirmed statement from these annals.

 

The names of kings found on Ashokan inscriptions namely, Amtiyoka,

Tulamaya, etc. are ascribed to distant lands (Syria, Egypt, etc.).

It is known that the kings mentioned bordered Ashoka's own lands.

These alien kings are definitely not what they are construed to be.

According to Agarwal, "In the Piyadassi inscriptions, the five

names which are believed to the of the Greek kings are of the Jana-

rajyas of the very country beyond the Indus." (Age of Bharata War,

Delhi, 1979). Amtiyoka was a Bharatiya prince ruling Afghanistan

around 1475 B.C., which then appears to be the approximate date of

Priyadarshi Ashoka: the grandson of Maurya Chandragupta. It should

also be noted that there is also no evidence of the time when these

edicts were inscribed.

 

Maurya Ashoka is known be respectful and supportive of Brahmana and

Shramana, equally alike and favoured none, as known from the Girnar

rock edicts. Also, he is not recorded to have become a follower of

Buddha, and nowhere it appears that he erected great stupas and

vihar. Then the question of the Ashoka who had embraced Buddha's

path arises. Kalhan's Rajatarangini (1.101-102) provides details of

one Ashoka of the Kashmiri Gonanda dynasty who is said to have

freed himself from sins by embracing the faith of Gotama Buddha and

by constructing numerous Vihar and Stupa and by building the town

Shrinagari with its 96 lakhs of houses resplendent with wealth. He

was a peaceful ruler who had lost all his land and wealth because

of his innate pacifism. This description of Gonandiya Ashoka

matches with one of the inscriptional Ashoka.

 

However, according to Hultzsuch opinion, the major rock and pillar

edicts differ in tone and message from those of the 8 minor rock

inscriptions. Strangely enough, all 26 inscriptions appear to be

carved out during the same period. If studied and analyzed

carefully, a compelling inference needs to be drawn. The edicts

with the proclamations in morality belong to Maurya Ashoka (1482-

1446 B.C.) and those on the conversion of Buddhism are those of

Gonanada Ashoka (1448-1400 B.C.).

 

Now that the correct identifications of Sandrocottus of the Greeks

and Ashoka of the inscriptions are determined, it is therefore

possible to bring about the datelines of Lord Buddha's life.

 

 

14. Gautam Buddha

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Modern history tends to inform readers that Gautama was born around

550 B.C. and died after about 80 years. 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. After determining these dates, the

time location of yet another savant of ancient India, Mahaveer,

becomes easy.

 

 

15. Mahaveer Jain

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The chronological frame of the last theerthankar of the Jainas is

a matter of debate among scholars since only a few arbitrary

references are available. The Jaina tradition holds that Mahaveer

left this world 15 years after the death of Bhagawan Buddha (1807

B.C.), i.e., in 1792 B.C., and since Mahaveer lived for a span of

72 years, he must have been born in 1864 B.C. The Pauranic and

other traditions also give dates that are somewhat nearer to the

above date. The Buddha and Jaina Mahaveer were, perhaps, the last

of the teerthankaar's of their respective sects. Indeed, there is

much confusion among their traditional accounts on the dating of

all these earlier prophets and any convincing datelines could not

be asserted.

 

Incidently, the Buddha and Jaina, the great Kashtriyas, have been

all along considered to be separate religions contradicting in

thought and character from the main body of Vedic or Hindu

philosophies. This has led to an historical analysis proposing a

confrontation, in words as well as on the battle-field, between the

relevant sects and Vedic peoples. However, this is totally

incorrect. Buddha never found any new religion nor his teachings,

in the form of arya-ashtangamarga or the eight-fold path, were in

antithesis to the Hindu thought. What Buddha or Mahaveer preached

was existent for ages before their time. They attempted to stop the

killing of animals being wantonly sacrificed in rituals. Buddha was

born a Hindu, lived as a Hindu and left the mortal coil as a Hindu.

The extent of the Vedic culture is broad enough to accept, maintain

and cultivate on itself different thought and modes of worship.

 

Buddhism had reached a very decadent stage in the next 1000 years,

that is, during the time when Aadi Shankara was born. Shankara

refers to the Buddhist thought in his commentaries of the Brahma

Sootra only to refute them by elaborate arguments. The date of

Shankara, as per the current chronology, is maintained to be 788-

820 A.D. However, since the "sheet-anchor" is displaced backwards

by about 12 centuries, it is apparent that the date of Shankara

would be recalculated to be around 600 B.C.

 

 

16. Aadi Shankara

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The current date of Shankara, i.e, 788-820 A.D. was first derived

from a manuscript found at Belgaum. This date also was agreed with

the internal evidence evinced from the works of Shankara himself.

However, as years rolled on, a variety of dates were calculated.

The verse found in the manuscript of Belgaum also appears in the

treatise Shankara Digvijaya Sara (SDS), a summary of Brihat Shakara

Vijaya (BSV), written by Sadananda. Although, BSV gives a date of

509 B.C., SDS mentions a date of 788 A.D. It is therefore clear

that Sadananda gives Shankara's date relying on some other source.

Since the verse in both the Belgaum manuscript and SDS appears to

come from the same source, which itself could be unreliable. Also,

the date of 788 A.D. is in conflict with traditional dates, that

is, those held by the Mathas found by Shankara himself. However,

the 788 A.D. dateline was accepted, since all traditional accounts

of Indian history, including the Puraan, were conveniently

considered to be worthless of any historical content, and were

ignored.

 

Numerous compositions with the title "Shankara Vijaya" describing

the exploits of Shri Shankara are available, five of which confirm

one date, four do not mention any date at all and only one gives

the date of 788 A.D.(Antarkar's thesis, BORI). One written by

Chitsukhacharya, a childhood companion of Shankara from the age of

5, can be considered to be authorative. M.R.Bodas in his

"Shankaracharya aani tyancha sampradaaya" published in 1923 gives

the date of Chitsukhacharya as 514-416 B.C. As he was 5 years elder

to Shankara, the latter's date comes to be (514 - 5) 509 B.C.

Chitsukhacharya's "Brihat Shankara Vijaya" states that Shankara was

born Vaishakha Shukla Panchami in the constellation and lagna of

Dhanu, in the year Nandana of 2593 Kali, i.e, (3102 - 2593) in 509

B.C. This date was also calculated by Prof. Upadhya in his book

"Sri Shankaracharya". This tallies with the dates assigned and

maintained in the lists of Aacharyas maintained in the

establishments at Dwaraka (490 B.C.) , Jyotirmath (485 B.C.), Puri

(484 B.C.) and Sringeri (483 B.C).

 

On the basis of "Shankara Satpatha", the late Narayana Shastri of

Madras wrote a book titled "Acharya Kaala" in which the date 509

B.C. has been derived to be Shankara's date of birth. The Keraliya

Shankara Vijaya also provides a verse with astronomical details of

Shankara's birth. This verse also verifies the unmistakable 509

B.C. dateline. A chronogram relating to Aadi Shankara and appearing

in Prachina Shankara Vijaya is quoted by Atma Bodha gives the 509

B.C. date. This chronogram is supported and corroborated by Jina

Vijaya, a Jain scripture, even though it is outspokenly hostile to

Shankara. Jina Vijaya gives the date of Kumarila Bhatta (557 B.C.),

who was senior contemporary to Shankara by 48 years.

 

It is stated in the Nepal Rajavamshavali that "Aadi Shankara came

from the South and destroyed the Buddha faith" and this occurred

during the reign of Vrishadeva Varma (Kali 2615 to 2654), i.e.,

during 487 B.C. to 448 B.C. (Chronology of Nepal History,

K.Venkatachalam). The date of Vrishadeva is again confirmed

relating Harsha Shaka (457 B.C.) from Alberuni's accounts. In his

"Short History of Kashmir", Pt. Gavshalal writes, "The 70th ruler

in the list of Kashmir Kings, Gopaditya (417-357 B.C.) founded

agraharas and built temples of Jyeteshwara and Shankaracharya".

That Shankara must have visited Kashmir before 417 B.C. then

becomes quite obvious.

 

The observations and references stated above sufficiently and

unmistakably prove that Aadi Shankara was born in 509 B.C. His

life-span of 32 years was that of a superhuman in which he

travelled to all parts of Bharatvarsha, spreading the thought and

philosophies of Vedic wisdom and strength. He removed the

confrontations existing between the followers of different modes of

worship presenting a message of unity among all - finally departing

from his earthly abode in 477 B.C.

 

[ Continued in Part 6 ]

 

 

 

 

 

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