The History of Indian Literature c9.56.4

c9.56.4

Lassen, it is true, says that "in the oldest Buddhistic writings the witnessing of plays is spoken of as something usual;" but the sole authority he adduces is the passage from the Dulva indicated in the note. The Dulva, however, that is, the Vinaya-Piṭaka, cannot, as is well known, be classed amongst the "oldest Buddhistic writings;" it contains pieces of widely different dates, in part, too, of extremely questionable antiquity. In the Lalita-Vistara, apropos of the testing of Buddha in the various arts and sciences (Foucaux, p. 150), *náṭya* must, undoubtedly, be taken in the sense of ‘mimetic art’—and so Foucaux translates it; but this does not suppose the existence of distinct dramas. The date, moreover, of this particular work is by no means to be regarded as settled; and, in any case, for the time of Buddha himself, this examination-legend carries no weight whatever.