[world-vedic] The Vedic Buddha Date

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"dino" <dea- wrote:

original article:vediculture/?start=468

> Vrin Davan,

>

> Could you explain the logic behind your dating of the Buddha avatar

as being

> 4000 years old?

>

> Dharmapada Dasa/Dean De Lucia

>

 

Dear Dharmapada,

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.

Sincerely, Vrin Parker

 

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 Chaanakya 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.