A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t3.80

v2.c19.s6.t3.80

Chinese authors also ascribe to Aśvaghoṣa a work entitled “Sūtrālaṃkāra” which was translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva in about 405 A.D., but which was really written by Aśvaghoṣa’s junior contemporary Kumāralāta, and which, in Sanskrit, bore the title Kalpanāmaṇḍitikā or Kalpanālaṃkṛtikā. We glean this from the fragments of the work, which H. Lüders discovered in the finds of manuscripts in Turfan.² Valuable though these fragments are, they are unfortunately so few in number, that even now we can only judge the work on the strength of the French translation of the Chinese version.³ The Kalpanāmaṇḍitikā is a collection of pious legends after the manner of the Jātakas and Avadānas, and they are told in prose and verse in the style of ornate poetry. Some of the legends are old acquaintances, for instance that of Dīrghāyus (“Prince Live-Long”) and that of King Śibi. An old parable, which appears already in the Tipiṭaka, namely, that it is as difficult to be reborn as a human being, as for a one-eyed tortoise to put its neck into the hole of a yoke cast into the ocean, is several times met with in this work, and one of the tales (No. 38) has been invented for the special purpose of elucidating this parable.¹ Other legends breathe rather the spirit of the Mahāyāna, or at least reveal a Buddha-worship which is more on the side of the Mahāyāna. An instance is No. 57, which is at the same time one of the most beautiful legends in the collection.