A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t3.47

v2.c19.s6.t3.47

However, even with the mere torso which has come down to us, we can but fully endorse what the Chinese pilgrim has said in praise of the Buddha-Carita. Here we have indeed for the first time an actual epic of Buddha, created by a real poet, a poet who, filled with intense love and reverence for the exalted figure of the Buddha, and deeply imbued with the truth of the Buddha doctrine, is able to present the life and doctrine of the Master in noble and artistic, but not artificial language. His Sanskrit is faultless, even though it does not always comply strictly with the rules of Pāṇini.¹ The Buddha-Carita calls itself a Mahākāvya, or "great poem," *i.e.*, an ornate epic poem in the technical sense, and it is composed in the so-called Kāvya style, the beginnings of which we have already found in the Rāmāyaṇa.² Vālmīki and his immediate successors were the predecessors of Aśvaghoṣa, in the same way as the latter himself is a predecessor of Kālidāsa. All these three great poets have one thing in common: they are still very moderate in their use of the Alaṃkāras or "embellishments." Aśvaghoṣa is not only moderate in language and style, but he also uses restraint in the presentation of miracles in the Buddha legend. He always keeps himself far removed from such exaggerations as we find, for instance, in the Lalita-Vistara. In contrast to the chaotic disorder in texts like the Mahāvastu and the Lalita-Vistara, we find in the Buddha-Carita a well-planned, artistic arrangement of the material. Although the poet is quite familiar with the older sacred texts, he nevertheless assumes a certain amount of freedom in his attitude towards them. Not that he has made any alterations in the traditions; but he has the art of clothing the old familiar legends in a new poetical garment,³ and of imparting original expression to the well-known doctrines of the Buddhist Sūtras. Aśvaghoṣa is always more of a poet than a monk, at least in the Buddha-Carita.