p. 1142

            The Chinese pilgrim  Fa-Hian  after  leaving  Chang'an
        took five years to arrive at Mid-India. He  resided  there
        for six years,  and  it was  three  years more  before  he
        arrived at Tsing-chow (Beal,  Buddhist  Records,  vol. i,
        p. Ixxxiii). Of these last three years he spent two  years
        in Ceylon (loc.cit., p.lxxix), and  about 337 days on his
        adventurous  voyage  home  from  that island to Tsing-chow
        (loc. cit., pp. lxxx seqq.). His  arrival  in  Ceylon  may
        therefore  be placed shortly after 411 A.D., since he left
        Chang'an in 399 A.D. (loc.cit., p.xii).

            Unfortunately he does not  tell us  the  name  of  the
        reigning  king  of Ceylon, but we may be able  to identify
        him satisfactorily  from  Fa-Hian's  description  of a few
        notable events which took place during his stay

                                 p. 1143

        there. He tells us  that  the  "tooth-relic"  was  always
        brought out in the middle of the third  month, and  after
        being  carried  in  procession to the Abhaya-vihara it was
        there exhibited to the people for ninety days, after which
        time it was replaced in its receptacle in the city (loc.
        cit., pp. lxxv-vi).

            This is the first point of importance. Fa-Hian was in
        the island  after  the tooth-relic  had been brought  over
        from  India, in the  ninth  year  of King  Sri  Maghavarna
        according   to  the   Mahavamsa   (Wijesingha,  Mahavamsa,
        p.154).The  pilgrim  goes on to tell us that "Forty  li to
        the east of the Abhaya-vihara  is a mountain, on which  is
        built a chapel  called Po-ti (Bodhi);  there are about two
        thousand   priests   in  it.   Amongst   them  is  a  very
        distinguished  Shaman called  Ta-mo-kiu-ti.  The people of
        this country greatly respect and reverence him. He resides
        in a cell, where he has lived for about forty years.By the
        constant practice of benevolence  he has been able to tame
        the serpents  and mice, so that they stop together  in one
        cell, and do not hurt  one another"  (Beal, loc.  cit., p.
        lxxvi).

            This is the second fact, and is of greater importance
        than the former, since we read  in  the  Mahavamsa --" In
        the reign of this raja [i.e. Buddhadasa] a certain priest
        by  name  Maha Dhammakathi,  translated  the  Suttas  (of
        the Pitakattaya) into the Sihala  language"  (Wijesingha,
        loc. cit., p.158, with his correction of  note 7).  It is
        very probable that Ta-mo-kiu-ti is to be identified  with
        Dhammakathi.   This  identification  has  already  been
        noticed by Mr. Wickremasinghe (Ep. Zeyl., vol.i, pt.iii,
        p. 83)  but  he  has made no use of it in his note on the
        Sinhalese chronology (Ep. Zeyl.).

            Lastly,  Fa-Hian,  talking about the Mahavihara, says
        that whilst  he was in Ceylon  ("at this  time")  the king
        "desired to build a new vihara for this congregation  of
        priests" and he describes the ploughing of the

                                 p. 1144

        boundaries  and the presentation  of the land to the monks
        (Beal, loc. cit., p.  Ixxvii). The Mahavamsa (p. 158) says
        that  Buddhadasa  "built  at the  Mahavihara  the parivena
        called Mora" and provided for it in every way. We thus see
        that Fa-Hian's visit to Ceylon is probably to be placed in
        the reign  of Buddhadasa;  that  is, of course, if we find
        that the dates of that monarch's  reign inclued  the years
        411-13 A.D. Dr. Fleet has shown (JRAS., 1909, p. 351) that
        the accession of Buddhadasa is placed by the author of the
        Mahavamsa  at 870 years 3 months 10 days after the Nirvana
        of Buddha.

            If we take the date 544 B.C. as the initial point for
        this part of the Mahavamsa, we get the  date  328-57 A.D.
        for his reign of twenty-nine years. This does  not  agree
        with Fa-Hian's date at all.

            On the other hand, if we  accept  Dr. Fleet's  theory
        (loc. cit. supra, pp.323  seqq.)  that  483  B.C.  is the
        initial date, we get 389-418 A.D., which suits  the  date
        of the pilgrim. I therefore think  that  we  may  assume
        on  good grounds that the Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hian visited
        Ceylon during  the last years of King Buddhadasa, for
        whom we may accept the date of 389-418 A.D.  until we
        have definite  proof to the contrary.  More important
        still is the additional evidence which we thus obtain
        that, for the earlier part of the Mahavamsa, the date
        of 483 B.C. is to be regarded as the date of Buddha's
        Nirvana.