A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.343

v2.c19.s3.t2.343

14. One of the shorter books of the Khuddakanikāya is the Buddhavamsa.³ This contains poetical legends of the 24 Buddhas who are supposed to have preceded Gotama Buddha in the last twelve ages of the world (Kalpas). After an introductory chapter, one chapter is dedicated to each of the 24 former Buddhas.⁴ In a somewhat dry manner, it is related in the case of each single Buddha, how he set the "wheel of religion" in motion and how—with but trifling differences—the principal events in the life of Gotama Buddha were enacted in the life of each one of the former Buddhas. It is Gotama Buddha himself who is telling the narrative, and speaking in the first person, he recounts who he himself was under each of the preceding Buddhas,¹ how he worshipped the Buddha, and how his own Buddhahood had been foretold by the Buddha of that time. The only part which is a little more imaginative and poetical, is the second chapter,² which deals with Dīpaṅkara, the first Buddha.