Traditional dates of Buddha?

[dean_anderson at SACARI.ORG]

I recently ran across mention that (some) Buddhists hold the Buddha's date
to be around 1700 B.C. Perhaps this is a Tibetan tradition?

Another source said that some hold it to be 1000 B.C. I believe this may be
a date from some in the Sankaracarya tradition who would then put Sankara at
around 5-600 B.C.

These dates are obviously much earlier than those commonly accepted among
scholars -- even given the range of differing opinions among them.

Are these dates accepted by a large number of followers in Buddhism and
Vedanta?

What are their reasons for choosing these dates?

Dean Anderson