sion under reference. And, therefore, it is unnecessary to labour the point any further for our present purposes. I need only remark, that while General Cunningham places the 'site of Påtaliputra between the ancient beds of the river Ganges and the S'ona,**" the passages above referred to as probably indicating that the city must have been situated to the south of the Sona |**militate against his view. If the indications furnished by our play are to be accepted, the city must have been situated near the confluence of the two rivers, and not between them, but along the southern banks of both rivers. It will have been perceived, that the considerations which have been so far dwelt upon, point to the seventh or eighth century A.D. as the probable date of our drama. One other circumstance looking the same way may now be adverted to. In the seventh Act we have a remarkable stanza, in which the conduct of Chandanadâsa, in sacrificing his life for his friend Râkshasa, is stated to have transcended the nobility even of the Buddhas. It seems to me that that allusion to Buddhism belongs to a period long prior to the decay and ultimate disappearance of Buddhism from India.$$ Of the other works, which, as stated in our note on this passage, contain similar references to Buddhism, the Nágánanda || may probably be taken to belong to about the middle of the seventh century A. D., and the Mâlatîmâdhava to the end of that century, The Kâdambarî, in which passages leading to a similar conclusion also occur, likewise belongs to the same period.*| Now, in FaHian's time---that is to say, about the beginning of the fifth century
* Arch, Surv. Report, Vol. VIII., p. 6. |+See pp. 211 and 214. I take the passage at p. 211 to signify that the army of Malayaketu had to cross the S'ona before reaching Pâtaliputra, while the passage at p. 214 shows that that army had to go from north to south. At the same time, it is possible, that the meaning of the former passage may be simply, that the elephants of Malayaketu are to enjoy themselves in the S'ona, after Malayaketu shall have obtained possession of the city. This is possible, but I do not think it is the true meaning of the passage.
- P. 304 infra.
$$Cf. on this Wilson's Hindu Theatre, Vol. II., 4; Elphinstone's History of India, by Cowell, p. 290 note; also S. P. Pandit's Mâlavikågnimitra, Preface, p. 35 et. seq. | I am aware that in the Introduction to Mr. Palmer Boyd's translation of this play, it is assigned to about the 12th century. But it seems to be by the same author as the Ratnâvalí, and the assertion in the text is based on that assumption. |* See p. 209; and Cf. further Harshacharita, pp. 211-2; and also Mâgha, Canto XX., st. 81; Bŗihatsambitâ, ch. LX., st. 19; and Elphinstone's India, by Cowell, p. 298.
