A short note on the date of Buddhanirv@%a using planetarium software

B. N. Narahari Achar

Abstract

It is shown that a unique date results for the Buddhanirv@%a when the

astronomical events that occurred during the last months in the life of Buddha are

examined with planetarium software. After his arrival at ^r@vasti, there occurred the

winter solstice. There was a lunar eclipse followed by a solar eclipse before his final

passage on vai^@khap#r%ima. It is shown using planetarium software that this sequence

of events leads to a unique date of 1807 BCE, in surprising agreement with Kota

Venkatachelam.

Introduction

Before the reader exclaims with ‘oh, another paper on the date of Buddha!’, the

author requests the reader’s patience, and pleads that this is a very short note and has

some surprising results. As is well known, the literature on this topic is extensive1. Most

of the modern scholars prefer a date of 554 BCE, or 483 BCE or even later date for

Buddha’snirv@%a.On the other hand, many Indian scholars such as Kota

Venkatachelam2, Sathe3, Sethna4, and Bhattacharjya5 and some Western scholars such as

Parker6 and Knapp7 have advocated much earlier dates.

Buddhawas the son of King ^uddhodana who was the 23rd king of the Ik&v@ku

dynasty and Pur@%ic­records point to 1807 BCE as the date of attaining nirv@%a by

Buddha. Kota Venkatachelam has determined that Buddha’snirv@%a occurred on the

1 Bechert, Heinz, (ed) (1996). When did the Buddha live? The controversy on the Dating of the Historical Buddha. Sri Satguru publications, Delhi 2 Venkatachelam, K,, (1953),The plot in Indian Chronology, Vijayavadaa 3 Sathe, S., (1987) Dates of the Buddha,Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Samiti, Hyderabad 4 Sethna, K. D., (1987), Ancient India in a New Light, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi. 5 Bhattacharjya, S.K.,(2008) “The ‘Dotted Record’ and its impact on ancient Indian chronology, including the antiquity of the Vedas and of the Bhagavadgita”, 7th Int. Conf. WAVES, June 27-29, Orlando. 6 Parker, Vrin, (2000), “The Vedic Buddha”, Vaishnava News 7 Knapp, S., (2007) “Reestablishing the Datae of Lord Buddha”, http://www.stephen-knapp.com

vai^@khaP#r%im@,on March 27, 1807 BCE. Support for this date is derived from an

independent Buddhist source, sa>yuttanik@ya. For about three months before his death,

Buddha was staying in ^r@vasti. During this time several devaputta­s visit him. This

included kassapa,candim@ and s#riyo. Both candim@and s#riyo were seized by r@hu

and they both pray Buddhato release them from the grips of r@hu.Sengupta8 assumed

kassapato denote praj@pati and devaputta­s to denote the deities, the @ditya­s, who are

the lords of the months. He therefore interpreted the visits to mean thatthere occurred the

winter solstice, a lunar eclipse, followed by a solar eclipse. Sengupta tried to confirm the

usually accepted dates of 544 BCE or 483 BCE for the event of Buddhanirv@%a. He

found that two eclipses as mentioned in the sa>yuttanik@ya would be possible in 560

BCE, however this would match neither of the dates 544 BCE and 483 BCE which have

been touted as possible dates of Buddha’snirv@%a.He argued that since 544 BCE is

closer to 560 BCE, 544 could be accepted.

Simulations with planetarium software.

Accepting Sengupta’s interpretation, a search was made from 1900 BCE to 400

BCE for the sequence of events: winter solstice, lunar eclipse, solar eclipse, followed by

vai^@khap#r%ima,the full moon day of Buddhanirv@%a. It is found that there are only

14 dates possible for this sequence of events to occur:1807 BCE, 1694 BCE, 1659 BCE,

1510 BCE, 1250 BCE, 1192 BCE, 1138 BCE, 1119 BCE, 1062 BCE, 1007 BCE, 765

BCE, 690 BCE and 560 BCE. If a time limit of about three months (the time that Buddha

spends in ^r@vasti before attaining his nnirv@%a ) is imposed, then the time interval

between winter solstice and vi^@khap#r%imamust be less than 90 days and that vi^@kha

p#r%ima should occur before the vernal equinox, as winter solstice occurred after his

arrival at ^r@vasti.With this restriction, most of the dates do not qualify, leaving only two

dates 1807 BCE and 1510 BCE as possible dates. It is interesting to note that the

‘traditionally’ accepted dates, 544 BCE, or 483 BCE, or any of the recently revised dates

do not fit the picture. One additional piece of astronomical information is needed to fix

the date. We follow the suggestion of Sengupta. 8 Sengupta, P. C.,(1947), Ancient Indian Chronology,University of Calcutta

The sa>yutta nik@ya, Part I, Sug@tha­Vagga,Book II, Chapter I, Devaputta­

sa>yuttam,sutta­s contain ten units in all, two of them to relate to kassapa. The others are

devaputta­s who visit Buddha. Sengupta identifies kassapa with praj@pati and hence

with winter solstice. He regards the other deities as @ditya­s The first devaputtato visit is

to be taken as the lord of the month of the lunar eclipse. We take a hint from a listing of

the sons of aditi in taittir$yaara%yaka:“dh@t@@ryam@n….”. If we assume as Sengupta

did, kassapa as “dh@ta@” or ‘praj@pati’, his visit would indicate the arrival of winter

solstice. “@ryam@n”would be the first ‘devaputta’to visit as the deity of the month, i.e.,

the presiding deity of the nak&atra of the full moon, where the lunar eclipse occurs.

In 1510 BCE, as shown in Figure 1, the lunar eclipse occurs at uttaraph@lgu%$,whose

deity is bhaga. In 1807 BCE, the lunar eclipse occurs at p#rvaph@lgu%$, with @ryam@nas

the deity. So we choose 1807 BCE as the year.

Simulations show that the winter solstice occurred on January 5, 1807 BCE.

There was a lunar eclipse on January 26, 1807 BCE, which was followed by a solar

eclipse on February 10, 1807 BCE, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. It can also be seen from

Figure 3 that winter solstice would have occurred earlier when the Sun was near

dhani&{ha(the position which corresponds to 270° along the ecliptic). Buddha’snirv@%a

occurs on vai^@khap#r%ima shown in Figure 4.This is exactly as recorded9 in sa>yutta

nik@ya,Part I, Sug@tha­Vagga,Book II, Chapter I, Devaputta­sa>yuttam,sutta­s 9, and

10.

Discussion

If the arguments based on the astronomical interpretation suggested by Sengupta

for the verses in samyuttanik@ya can be believed, then the information of a unique date

for the nirv@%a appears to have been preserved in the Buddhist scriptures. The date is

9 Athakhobhagav@ca<dima>devaputta>@rabhar@hu>asuri<da>g@thay@ajjabh@si || that@gata>araha<ta> |ca<dim@sara%a>gato || r@huca<da>pamu~cassu |Buddhalok@nuka>pak@ti|| SN (I. ii . 1. 9.3) || Athakhobhagav@suria>devaputta>@rabhar@hu>asuri<da>g@thay@ajjabh@si || that@gata>araha<ta> |suriya>sara%a>gato || r@hupamu~casuriya> |Buddh@lok@nuka>pak@ti|| SN (I. ii . 1. 10.3) ||

1807 BCE and is in perfect agreement with the tradition as shown by Kota

Venkatachelam, Knapp and others.

Figure 1 Lunar eclipse in 1510 BCE occurs at uttaraph@lgu%$

Figure 2. Lunar Eclipse on January 26, 1807 BCE at p#rvaph@lgu%$

Figure 3. Solar Eclipse on February 10, 1807 BCE

Figure 4. Star Map for March 27, 1807 BCE: Full Moon at vi^@kha;Buddha’snirv@%a

It is also easy to demonstrate that if the legend that Buddha spent about the last

three months of his life in ^r@vasti , where he arrived before the winter solstice and

attained nirv@%aon the full moon day of vai^@kha is true, then 544 BCE, 483 BCE or

any of the later dates cannot be the date of nirv@%a. Since the interval between winter

solstice and vernal equinox is three months, and Buddha had arrived at ^r@vasti before

winter solstice, his nirv@%a on vai^@khap#r%imashould occur before the vernal

equinox. For this to occur, Sun should be near bhara%i(or, past bhara%itowards k=ttika)

at winter solstice. However, for all years after 1000 BCE, the Sun will be near a&hvini

(and moving towards revati because of precession) at winter solstice, making it

impossible to satisfy the criterion set earlier, that vai^@khap#r%imashould occur before

the vernal equinox. The occurrence of the lunar eclipse followed by a solar eclipse within

the time interval fixes the date uniquely at 1807 BCE. This is also the date according to

Puranic records as well as r@jatara<gi%i

Conclusion The date of Buddhanirv@%a is 1807 BCE