On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c5.71

c5.71

⁴ Indian Antiquary, vol. XXI, p. 225 f., where Dr. Hultzsch has reprinted his excellent edition of the inscriptions together with a synopsis of the stories hitherto identified and other very valuable remarks. The fact that the titles of the stories frequently differ, the Pali text naming the story after one chief actor or incident and the inscription after another, has been discussed by Professor Rhys Davids in the Introduction to his Buddhist Birthstories p. LX ff. And he has shown that it in no way goes against the assumption that the canonical collection existed at the time when the sculptures were made, because vacillations with respect to the titles occur likewise in the Pāli collection. I would add that variations in titles are also found in Brahminical literature. Thus Bāṇa calls the Bhagavadgītā, Anantagītā. Kumārila uses the title Āścarya Parvan for the Putradarśana Parvan of the MSS. of the Mahābhārata, and there are Vedic hymns with two or three names. Such a vacillation comes quite natural to a Hindu, who is accustomed to substitute endless synonyms for technical terms and names of plants animals etc., and even changes portions of personal names, saying Vikramāditya, Vikramārka or Vikramāṅka, though he means the same individual. The discrepancies between the Pali stories and the representations in Bharahut, which Prof. Minayeff believed to have discovered (Recherches I, 140 ff.), are, I think, merely such as may be expected to be found between all narratives and their illustrations by sculptures.