A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.181

v2.c19.s3.t2.181

We should, however, be mistaken in supposing that all the Gāthās which are included in the Jātaka commentary, belong to the canon. In accordance with a system of classification popular in India,[^2) the Jātaka book is arranged according to the number of verses contained in them. The entire book consists of 22 sections (Nipātas), of which the first contains 150 stories of one verse each, the second 100 stories of two verses each, the third 50 stories of three verses each, etc. In each subsequent section the number of verses increases, whilst that of the stories decreases.¹ Now, the number of Gāthās does not by any means always tallies with the title of the sections in question. Thus, for instance, in the "section of one," we find stories of 4, 5, 6, 10 and 11 stanzas, in the "section of two" there are some stories of from 3 to 10 stanzas, in the "section of twenty" there is one case of 44, in the "section of seventy" there are only two stories, one of 92 and the other of 93 Gāthās, in the "section of eighty" stories of 103 and 123 stanzas occur, and so forth. The only explanation of this is, that the classification is based on the verse-Jātaka, and not on the Jātaka commentary, and that the verse-Jātaka of the canon contained a far smaller number of Gāthās.