The Mahāvaṃsa, the chronicle of the Southern tradition, and several later works say that in the fifth year after the Awakening, while staying at the Jetavana, the Buddha went for a second time to Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) to settle a great war between two nāga kings over a jewelled throne. This account does not agree with the table of rains retreats in the later commentaries (the fifth year at Vesālī) and is of later date, so it is placed only in the appendix and not in the main text.
Different Accounts
Month: works such as the Dhātuvaṃsa and the Dāṭhāvaṃsa say it was in the month of Citta (a month of the ancient Indian calendar).
More differences between accounts (1)
Disagreement with the table of rains retreats: the Mahāvaṃsa and others say the Buddha stayed at the Jetavana in Sāvatthī this year, while the table of rains retreats has the fifth year at Vesālī.
Dating
These works say Year 5 after the Awakening (the Buddha aged thirty-nine); the year is given by later works and does not agree with the table of rains retreats, so it is not adopted here; the year is uncertain.
Related Entries
- Year
- Places
- People
- Discourses
Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
The sources for this event have not yet been fully compared; its reliability is not yet graded.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Source of the year not recorded.
Sources
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Vin-ṭ
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 《大史》1.44
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 《Dhātuvaṃsa》
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 《Dāṭhāvaṃsa》