A History of Indian Literature v2.c21.16

v2.c21.16

If we wish to regard Buddhism, with *Franke*, as "only a collected bundle of general Indian doctrines," we should still have to explain why this "bundle," in spite of all the changes of Buddhism, shows such individual traits, if there was not an individual, a creative personality, who bound this "bundle" into something entirely new and special, and stamped the impress of his personality upon it. Even if we were unable to give credence to the Buddhist chroniclers, and could not determine the exact date of the Buddha, but were compelled to limit ourselves to affirming that his doctrine came into being before Aśoka's time, we cannot doubt the personality of the founder² any more than that of Kālidāsa, whose date we can also determine only approximately.