A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t3.16

v2.c19.s6.t3.16

character of the text, which is by no means the unified work of one author, but an anonymous compilation, in which very early and very recent passages stand side by side. In form, too, the work consists of unequal parts, a continuous narrative in Sanskrit prose, and numerous, often long, metrical passages in "mixed Sanskrit."[^1) It is rarely that these verses form a part of the narrative; as a rule they are independent songs, which relate the subject-matter of the prose, in a shorter, simpler, and sometimes in a more or less deviating form. Some of these songs, such as the birth legend and the Asita episode in Chapter VII, the Bimbisāra story in Chapter XVI, the dialogue with Māra in Chapter XVIII, etc., are beautiful old ballads, which are derived from the same ancient sources as the above-mentioned (p. 96 f.) poems of the Suttanipāta. They belong to the old religious ballad poetry of the early centuries after the Buddha. Many prose passages, too, as for instance, the sermon of Benares (in Chapter XXVI) belong to the oldest stratum of Buddhist tradition. On the other hand, the later parts are found not only in the prose, but also in the Gāthās, many of which are composed in very artistic metres.[^2)