The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXIV, Part 1-2, 1976 - Khamkoo

330
HEVIEW AHT!CL~;
King Bandhanati was followed by his son aju[ariija who married
padumavati, daughter of a rishi. The boundaries of his kingdom are
given as hnoh sae in the north, lavara{ha in the south at the mouth of the
maenaf[l ra~mili, in the east the mouth of the river mua at the border of
mo'aiz cu{ani, and in the west the river ga,i.l4
In the same year as Bandhanati's death, 148 of the ancient (poraiJ)
era, King afiitasatrii and maha kassapathera cut the era and established
the mahasakaraja anew. Now Ajatasatru, who was a historical king in
India, a son of Bimbisara and a contemporary of the Buddha, and Maha
Kassapa, who was one of the Buddha's disciples, are believed, in Southeast
Asian buddhist tradition, to have established the buddhist era (A.D.
+543/544) at the time of the Buddha's death.IS Thus the new
malzatakaraja of this text would seem to be the usual Buddhist era and
the old one a pre-Buddhist era also familiar to Southeast Asian tradition.
The foundation of the Buddhist era as recorded here is in the Ceylonese
tradition which makes the first year of the era the same "snake" year in
which the Buddha died. The Thai tradition begins B.E. in the following
horse year.I6
Then there follow stories of Maba Kassapa and mana kaccayanathera,
another of the Buddha's disciples, bringing relics of the Buddha
from Rajagrha to deposit at various places in northern Thailand. Maha
Kassapa's death is noted along with the tradition that his body remains
interred in a mountain, without putrefaction, until the coming of the
future Buddha, Maitreya."
14) Manit, pp. 37-38. hnun sae is believed to be in Yunnan, Lavarattba is Lopbburi
(old Lavo) ra~min is another name for the Ping river, cula11i is supposed to be
Tongking and the gan is the Salween. In my opinion only Lavo, ra~mtih and
gan (Kong) are certain, and the rest require more investigation. See references
in Notton.
15) In adition toTS, see references below, note 53.
16) Notton I, p. 170, n. 1; Piphat Sukhathit "kiin nap pi haen buddha sakariij",
Silpak~n 7 (1), pp. 48-58; prajum Wa caru'k vol. IV, p. 68; Shway Yoe, The
Burman, His Life and Notions, Norton. N.Y., 1963, p. 549,
17) Pr6sence du Bouddhisme, nos 153-157 of France-Asie, fev-juin 1959, p, 353,,
where the tradition is mentjone(l in slightly differ~nt form. Jier~aft~r Qit{lg
Presence,