A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.1

v2.c19.s3.t2.1

The Khuddakanikāya or "the Collection of the Smaller Pieces," usually reckoned as the fifth Nikāya of the Suttapiṭaka, but sometimes also classed with the Abhidhammapiṭaka, would more correctly be called "collection of miscellanies": for in this collection, besides several short works, we find also a few of the most extensive books of the Pāli-Canon. In contents and character, however, the texts incorporated into this collection differ very widely. In a very remarkable Sutta, which recurs several times,¹ we read a prophecy on the dangers which threaten the religion of Buddha in the future. One of these dangers is that the monks will no longer wish to hear and learn "the Suttantas proclaimed by the Tathāgata, deep, deep in meaning, reaching beyond this world, dealing with the Void,"² but will only lend their ear to the "profane Suttantas proclaimed by disciples, made by poets, poetical, adorned with beautiful words, beautiful syllables." From this we might conclude that the poetical pieces were not at first generally recognised, that their claim to be regarded as sacred texts was contested and that they were only later on combined into a Nikāya, namely the Khuddakanikāya. This assumption is based on the fact that the chief contents of this collection are works of poetic art—collections of aphorisms, songs, poems, fairy tales and fables. This collection was probably only concluded at a late period, and a few non-poetical texts, the authenticity of which is in a similar way, not universally recognised, might have been included afterwards.³ There is no doubt that the works combined in this collection originated at very different periods, and were not originally intended to form parts of one collection.¹ Even though the collection as such belongs to the latest compilations of the Canon, yet, in addition to comparatively modern fabrications, it also contains many of the oldest Buddhist poems. Indeed, it contains precisely all those works of Buddhist literature which are among the most important creations of Indian poetry. We propose to discuss the texts of the Khuddakanikāya not according to their probable age or their importance, but in the order in which they have come down to us in the manuscripts of the Buddhists of Ceylon.