According
to the traditional Hindu calender, the full-moon day in a month, is
known as 'Purnima.' For Buddhists of the world, the full-moon day of
the second Hindu calender month of Vaisakha is of special relevance
and importance. It may not be wrong even to say that it is the most
sacred day in the Buddhist calender, because it is connected to three
important events in the life of Shakyamuni Siddhaarth Goutam Buddha,
namely, his birth, his enlightenment and his Mahaparinirvana or
passsing away.
Different
schools of Buddhism have their independent systems of chronology,
when they refer to Buddha's life span. The full-moon day or 'Purnima'
of the month of May in the year 1956, was 2500th
anniversary of the Mahaparinirvana of Shakyamuni Siddhaarth Goutam
Buddha. This would mean that the year of the of Mahaparinirvana was
544 BCE. This date also matches with chronicles of to Theravada
Buddhism, which say that Buddha's Mahaparinirvana had occurred in 544
BC.
However,
if we decide to reconstruct the year of Mahaparinirvana from the
historical angle, we arrive at a year which is sixty one years later.
The Sri Lankan chronicles, the Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa, which are
considered as the primary sources for ancient South Asian chronology,
say that the consecration (abhisheka) of Emperor Asoka happened 218
years after the Mahaparinirvana. Since another famous Emperor
Chandragupta Mourya is believed to have ascended the throne 56 years
prior to this, it must have happened 162 years after the
Mahaparinirvana. The approximate date of Chandragupta's ascension is
known as 321 BCE (from Megasthenes). Hence the approximate date of
the Mahaparinirvana works out as 483 BCE. This is also the year
mentioned in the Mahayana texts.
We
therefore have two different Mahaparinirvana years, from two sects of
Buddhism. Buddha's Mahaparinirvana has been described in the
following words.
“ At
the age of eighty he was on his way to Kusinagara, the town in which
he passed into Parivartana. Taking leave of the pleasant city of
Vaisali with his favourite disciple Ananda. He rested on one of the
neighbouring hills and looked at the pleasant scenery with many
shrines and sanctuaries. On the banks of the river Hiranyavati in a
grove of Sal trees, the Buddha had a bed prepared for himself between
two trees. He entered supreme Nirvana here”
We can
infer from this, that since at the time of Mahaparinirvana, Buddha
was 80 years old. According to the Theravada texts therefore, year of
Buddha's birth works out as 624 BCE. Whereas, according to Mahayana
texts, the year of birth would work out as 563 BCE.
Buddha's
birth has been described as (Theravada chronicles dating):
“ It
was the seventh century before the Christian era. The civilized part
of India was divided into sixteen realms, eight of which were
kingdoms and the remaining republics. The little Sakya republic, in
modern Nepal was ruled by chief Suddhodana with his capital at
Kapilavastu. In the year 624 BCE his queen Mahamaya was travelling in
state from from kapilavastu to Devadadha, to her parents home. On her
way, the queen gave birth to a divine son in her tent in the Lumbini
grove between two Sal trees, then in their full spring blossoms.
Queen Mahamaya passed away seven days after birth of her child.”
This
means that there is no ambiguity whatsoever about the place where
Buddha was born but Buddhist chronicles differ about exact year of
his birth with Theravada sect claiming that he was born in seventh
century BCE and Mahayana sect believing that it was sixth century
BCE. Unfortunately for the Buddhist world, no proof of any kind is
however available anywhere for either of the dates.
About
two and half centuries after the death or Mahaparinirvana of Goutama
Buddha, Emperor Asoka of Medieval India, went on a pilgrimage to
visit all the places connected with the life of Goutama Buddha. One
of the places that he visited during his pilgrimage was the village
of 'Lumbini' located in the 'Terai' region of Nepal and which was
believed to be the birth place of Buddha. To mark his visit there,
Emperor Asoka put up a sandstone pillar with an inscription. Famous
Indian historian Sir Jadunath Sarkar has translated this inscription
as follows:
“Twenty
years after his coronation, King Priyadasi, the beloved of god,
visited Lumbini in person and offered worship there because the
Buddha, the sage of the Sakyas, was born there. He built a stonewall
around the place and erected the stone pillar to commemorate his
visit. Because Lord Buddha was born there, he made the village of
Lumbini free from taxes and subject to pay only one-eighth of the
produce as land revenue instead of the usual rate.”
The
stone pillar built by Asoka at Buddha’s birthplace, was lost over
centuries and was overgrown by a jungle. It was rediscovered in
1896, when the presence of a third century BCE pillar bearing
inscriptions allowed historians to identify its location as Lumbini.
Since then, it has been designated a UNESCO world heritage site,
visited by millions of Buddhists every year. A white temple stands
today on a gently sloping plateau at Lumbini, 20 miles from the
border with India.
New
evidence however has come to light at Lumbini, that claims to prove
that the seventh century year of birth as claimed by Theravada
Buddhists might be the correct one after all. The man behind this
new discovery is the Veteran Nepalese archaeologist Kosh Prasad
Acharya, formar director general of the department of archaeology,
Government of Nepal. Acharya had previously carried out excavations
in Lumbini before in the early 1990s. But after his retirement,
UNESCO asked him to co-direct an investigation of Lumbini’s
foundations, when he made this discovery.
Working
with Robin Coningham, Britain’s leading South Asian archaeologist
from Scotland's Durham University, Acharya found out a brick temple
located below the existing Asokan temple, and below that a sort of
void, opening up the possibility of something important existing
below. Over the next two years, archaeologists, geophysicists and
hired workmen from Nepal and Britain worked on the site, digging in
the presence of meditating monks and nuns.
The
archaeologists found holes, apparently meant to secure posts, in the
open void below the brick temple. The intact holes suggested that
whoever had built the brick temple had taken care not to damage the
ancient structure below, suggesting the site was always considered
holy. Lab tests confirmed the existence of roots within the void
below the brick structure, suggesting it may have been a shrine where
a tree once grew, possibly the hardwood Sal tree under which many
believe that the Buddha was born.
The
new excavations have uncovered evidence of a much earlier timber
shrine just below the brick structure that is below the present day
temple that is a UNESCO World Heritage site today. Dating fragments
of charcoal and grains of sand, researchers determined that the lower
structures were erected as early as in the sixth century B.C. The
international team of archaeologists said that the lower structures
were laid out on the same design as the more recent temple. The
timber shrine even had an open space in the center that suggested a
link to the Buddha’s nativity tradition. Deep tree roots in the
center space may even have been from the tree his mother presumably
held on to.
Buddhists
in Nepal and Sri Lanka, have always believed that the Buddha was
born around 623 BC. The new archaeological proof more or less
confirms that date.
9th
January 2013
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