A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s4.48

v2.c19.s4.48

Among those sects, however, which recognise the Abhidhammapiṭaka as canonical, it is held in great esteem. In the Milindapañha it is related as a great marvel that young Nāgasena was so clever that he could at once be instructed in the seven books of the Abhidhamma, without having first learned the Suttas. In an inscription of about 262 A.D., engraved on a rock in the neighbourhood of the temple of Mihintale in Ceylon, we read among the rules for the monks of the monastery: 12 cells are to be allotted to expounders of the Abhidhammapiṭaka, 7 to preachers of the Suttapiṭaka, and 5 to readers of the Vinayapiṭaka.³