The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c10.25

c10.25

Orthodox Buddhist tradition affirms that Ajātasatru, weary of awaiting the slow process of nature, murdered his father by starvation, at the instigation of Devadatta, Buddha's cousin, who figures in the legends as a malignant plotter and wicked schismatic.² It is probable, however, that the story is the product of *odium theologicum*, or sectarian rancour, which has done so much to falsify the history of ancient India. Devadatta certainly refused to accept the teaching of Gautama, and, preferring that of 'the former Buddhas', became the founder and head of a rival sect, which still survived in the seventh century after Christ.³