The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s9.26

v1.c19.s9.26

All the facts thus emphasised would be explained if these collections had been put together out of older material at a period about half way between the death of the Buddha and the accession of Asoka. Everything has had to be stated here with the utmost brevity. But it is important to add that this is the only working hypothesis that has been put forward. It is true that the old battle cries, such as ‘Ceylon books’ or ‘Southern Buddhism’ are still sometimes heard. But what do they mean? The obvious interpretation is that the Pāli Piṭakas were composed in Ceylon—that is, that when the Ceylon *bhikkhus* began to write in Pāli (which was about Buddhaghosa's time) they wrote the works on which Buddhaghosa had already commented. This involves so many palpable absurdities that it cannot be the meaning intended. Until those who use such terms tell us what they mean by them, we must decline to accept as a working hypothesis the vague insinuation of question-begging epithets. We do not demand too much. A working hypothesis need not propose to settle all questions. But it must take into consideration the evidence set out above; and it must give a rational explanation of such facts as that this literature does not mention Asoka, or S. India, or Ceylon; and that, though there is a clear progress in its psychology and its Buddhology, it gives no connected life of the Buddha, such as we find in Sanskrit poems and Pāli commentaries.