On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c5.67

c5.67

As regards the question to which exact period the testimony of the Pali Canon may refer, the answer, I think, must be, “to the fifth and possibly to the sixth century B. C.” In the introduction to the Vinayapiṭaka Professor Oldenberg has shown that there are good reasons for assuming the composition of the Mahāvagga, Pācittiya and Pārājika sections to precede the Council of Vesālī (ca. 380 B. C.) and to fall even somewhat earlier than the year 400 B. C.² While it will be sufficient to refer to his discussion on the Vinaya and to Professor M. Müller’s review of the question in the introduction to the Dhammapada, Sacred Books of the East, vol. X, p. XXIX ff., the case of the Jātakas requires a fuller consideration.