A History of Sanskrit Literature c13.s2.8

c13.s2.8

It might, indeed, be inferred from the greater freedom with which they handle the *çloka* metre that the canonical Buddhistic writings are older than the *Rāmāyaṇa*, in which the *çloka* is of the classical Sanskrit type. But, as a matter of fact, these Pāli works on the whole observe the laws of the classical *çloka*, their metrical irregularities being most probably caused by the recent application of Pāli to literary purposes as well as by the inferior preservation of Pāli works. On the other hand, Buddhistic literature early made use of the *Āryā* metre, which, though so popular in classical Sanskrit poetry, is not yet to be found in the Sanskrit epics.