A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s7.56

v2.c19.s7.56

It is not only pious narratives such as that of Kisā-Gotamī² which wandered from India to the West, but also many secular fables, and narrative motifs as are to be found in the Jātaka, the Dhammapada commentary and Buddhaghosa's commentaries.³ Even down to our own day, the Indian legend of Buddha has so well preserved its ever youthful freshness and vitality, that again and again it has inspired poets, including Western poets, to compose epic and dramatic renderings of this immortal theme.⁴ Thus *Edwin Arnold's* epic "The Light of Asia" was in the 1 laid the foundation for this poet's fame.¹ Whilst Edwin Arnold kept closely to the Indian legend, the German poet *Joseph Viktor Widmann*, in his "Buddha,"² has left little of the ancient Indian legend. On the other hand, much of the spirit and mentality of Buddhism is embodied in the beautiful epic poem "The Saint and the Animals" by the same poet. The Buddha legend was made the theme of a drama in Germany by *Ferdinand Hornstein*, whose "Buddha"³ was produced at the Hoftheater in Munich in 1900.