A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t2.3

v2.c19.s6.t2.3

³ This is the title of the work in most of the colophons. In the text itself and also in some of the colophons, it is called Mahāvastu. Mahāvastu means "The great subjects," *i.e.*, the main subjects of the Vinaya, that is to say the admission to the order, etc., and corresponds to the Mahā-Vagga of the Pāli Vinayapiṭaka and the Vinayavastu (beside Kṣudrakavastu, corresponding to the Culla-Vagga) of the Vinayapiṭaka of the Sarvāstivādins. *Cf. La Vallée Poussin, l.c.*, Mahāvastu-Avadāna means "The legends pertaining to the main subjects of the Vinaya." H. *Zimmer* (in ZII 3, 1925, 201 ff.) seeks to prove that avadāna means the same as nidāna, "origin," "original cause," and he explains mahāvastu as "the great fact of salvation." I consider this erroneous. The fact that the Chinese translators occasionally confused *nidāna* and *avadāna* (cf. S. Lévi in JA 1912, s. 10, t. XX, p. 219) is no proof that these two expressions are identical. Moreover, in the Vinaya literature, vastu has the definite meaning of "subject of the Vinaya" and the "event" related in connection with this subject.