The Role of the So-called Aśoka Inscriptions in the Attempt to Date the Buddha

Abstract

The date of the Buddha is calculated on the basis of the date of Aśoka’s consecration. According to one Buddhist tradition this event took place 100 years after the Buddha’s death, according to another tradition 218 later. Aśoka’s dates, in turn, are calibrated by those of the certain Greek kings mentioned in Rock Edict xiii. However, in the present article it is argued that the “Aśoka inscriptions” are not necessarily by Aśoka and that the name Aśoka found in some of the inscriptions is a later insertion.