A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t1.18

v2.c19.s6.t1.18

The Sanskrit Canon also contained a "Kṣudraka" corresponding to the Khuddakanikāya.² We do not know whether this included all those texts which in the Pāli Canon are counted as belonging to the fifth Nikāya; but we do know that the Sanskrit Canon also contained the Sanskrit texts Udāna, Dharmapada, Sthavira-Gāthā, Vimānavastu and Buddha-Vaṃśa, corresponding to the Pāli texts Udāna, Dhammapada, Thera-Gāthā, Vimāna-Vatthu and Buddha-Vaṃsa. In the Chinese Tripiṭaka, it is true, there is no single text to correspond to the Suttanipāta; but more than half of the texts included in the Suttanipāta occur in the Āgamas, for instance the texts corresponding to the Aṭṭhaka-Vagga and the Pārāyana. Fragments of the Sanskrit version of the two last-named have been found in Eastern Turkestan too.³ A collection corresponding to the Itivuttakas was translated into Chinese by Hsüan Tsang in about 650 A.D.⁴ Considerable quotations, forming a parallel to passages from the Khuddakapāṭha, the Vimāna-Vatthu, Buddha-Vaṃsa and Dhammapada, are to be found in the Mahāvastu.¹