A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.1

v2.c19.s6.1

Now, though the Pāli literature of India, Ceylon and Burma, is an unusually rich and extensive literature, it must nevertheless be admitted that it does but represent the literature of one Buddhist sect, namely that of the Theravādins. Other schools and sects used other Middle Indian dialects,² and some of the most prominent schools produced works of literature written partly in Sanskrit and partly in a Middle Indian dialect assimilated to Sanskrit which, to use *Senart's* term, we may call "Mixed Sanskrit."³ Many large works of this literature have come down to us, but in some cases only fragments remain. In the North and North-West of India there were great centres of learning, such as the universities of Nālanda and Takkasilā (Taxila) where for hundreds of years not only all branches of secular knowledge, especially medicine, but also the philosophical and theological literature of the Buddhists were cultivated with great zeal. Indian Pandits went thence to Tibet and China, learned Tibetan and Chinese, and translated Sanskrit works into these languages. Chinese pilgrims like Hsüan Tsang learned Sanskrit at Nālanda, and translated Buddhist texts into Chinese.¹ Some of the Sanskrit works which were produced there, and the originals of which are lost, would not be known to us but for the Tibetan and Chinese texts. The finds of manuscripts in Central Asia, include fragments not only of Sanskrit texts, but also of translations of Indian works in Central Asiatic languages.²