The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s7.7

v1.c19.s7.7

The long poem of old Pārāpariya, a *laudator temporis acti*, on the decay of religion since the death of the Master⁵, adds nothing to political history. So also the edifying ghost-story recorded in the Peta-vatthu (ii, 10) can only, at most, give us the name of a sort of public-works officer at Kosambī shortly after the Buddha's death.