A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s1.59

v2.c19.s1.59

With these reservations and limitations, we can nevertheless say that our Pāli Tipiṭaka, at least the Vinaya and the Suttapiṭaka,³ does, on the whole, correspond to the Māgadhī Canon of the third century B.C. Our main witnesses to this are the inscriptions of King Aśoka. Not only do these edicts breathe the same spirit as the moral maxims which have come down in our Pāli Canon,⁴ but they show verbal similarities to the texts of our Canon, and quotations which can also be traced in our texts with but slight deviations.¹ But this is not all. In the edict of Bairāt (or Bhābrū) of the year 249 B.C., the king says to the monks of Magadha: "All that the Lord Buddha has said, is well said," and he names the titles of seven texts, the study of which he most particularly recommends to them. These texts have been traced in our Sutta-piṭaka, though not all in an entirely satisfactory manner.²