A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.186

v2.c19.s3.t2.186

¹ In his edition, *Fausböll* differentiates the Paccuppannavatthus from the Atītavatthus by printing the former in smaller type. But this distinction cannot by any means be maintained throughout. It is often clear that both were written or compiled at the same time. It is possible that the word-for-word explanation of the Gāthās was the work of a still later commentator. Cf. R. O. *Franke* in Bezz. Beitr. 22, 1897, 289 ff.; *Senart*, JA. 1901, s. 9, t. XVII, p. 406. It is perfectly natural that the "Stories of the present" tell chiefly of Kosala and sometimes of Magadha, *i.e.*, those districts where Buddha taught; on the other hand, when the scene of most of the Atītavatthus is laid in Benares, it is merely the result of a stereotyped convention. (It is only rarely that Taxila is the scene of the story; very occasionally the scene is laid in other cities of India, and once in Ceylon.) There is no justification for *Fausböll's* statement (Jātaka Ed., Vol. VII, p. viii) that the Atītavatthus are necessarily earlier on this account.