The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s1.11

v1.c19.s1.11

When a mnemonic phrase or verse of this kind is found in identical terms in different parts of the various anthologies of which the Buddhist canon consists, the most probable explanation is that it had been current in the community before the books were put together as we now have them, and that it is therefore older than those collections in which it is found¹. As this particular list is found in two of the oldest books in the canon it would follow that it is, comparatively speaking, very old. It may even be pre-Buddhist—a list handed down among the bards, and adopted from them by the early Buddhists. For it does not fitly describe the conditions which, as we know quite well, prevailed during the Buddha’s lifetime. Then the Kosala mountaineers had already conquered Benares (Kāsi), the Aṅgas were absorbed into the kingdom of Magadhas, and the Assakas probably belonged to Avanti. In our list all these three are still regarded as independent and important nations; and that the list is more or less correct for a period before the rise of Buddhism is confirmed by an ancient rune preserved in the Dīgha², and reproduced (in a very corrupt form, it is true) in one of the oldest Sanskrit-Buddhist texts³. It runs: