subject, like a monstrous jumble of unwarranted and insane speculations.  Therefore, notwithstanding Greek chronology and Chandragupta—­whose date is represented as ’the sheet-anchor of Indian chronology’ that ’nothing will ever shake’—­it is to be feared that as regards India, the chronological ship of the Sanskritists has already broken from her moorings and gone adrift with all her precious freight of conjectures and hypotheses.  She is drifting into danger.  We are at the end of a cycle—­geological and other—­and at the beginning of another.  Cataclysm is to follow cataclysm.  The pent-up forces are bursting out in many quarters; and not only will men be swallowed up or slain by thousands, ‘new’ land appear and ‘old’ subside, volcanic eruptions and tidal waves appal; but secrets of an unsuspected past will be uncovered to the dismay of Western theorists and the humiliation of an imperious science.  This drifting ship, if watched, may be seen to ground upon the upheaved vestiges of ancient civilizations, and fall to pieces.  We are not emulous of the prophet’s honours:  but still, let this stand as a prophecy.”

Inscriptions Discovered by General A. Cunningham

We have carefully examined the new inscription discovered by General A. Cunningham on the strength of which the date assigned to Buddha’s death by Buddhist writers has been declared to be incorrect; and we are of opinion that the said inscription confirms the truth of the Buddhist traditions instead of proving them to be erroneous.  The above-mentioned archeologist writes as follows regarding the inscription under consideration in the first volume of his reports:—­“The most interesting inscription (at Gaya) is a long and perfect one dated in the era of the Nirvana or death of Buddha.  I read the date as follows:—­Bhagavati Parinirvritte Samvat 1819 Karttike badi I Budhi—­that is, ’in the year 1819 of the Emancipation of Bhagavata on Wednesday, the first day of the waning moon of Kartik.’  If the era here used is the same as that of the Buddhists of Ceylon and Burmah, which began in 543 B.C., the date of this inscription will be 1819—­543 = A.D. 1276.  The style of the letters is in keeping with this date, but is quite incompatible with that derivable from the Chinese date of the era.  The Chinese place the death of Buddha upwards of 1000 years before Christ, so that according to them the date of this inscription would be about A.D. 800, a period much too early for the style of character used in the inscription.  But as the day of the week is here fortunately added, the date can be verified by calculation.  According to my calculation, the date of the inscription corresponds with Wednesday, the 17th of September, ad. 1342.  This would place the Nirvana of Buddha in 477 B.C., which is the very year that was first proposed by myself as the most probable date of that event.  This corrected date has since been adopted by Professor Max Muller.”