Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c11.s1.19

c11.s1.19

Both the Jātakas and Dhammapada formed the subject of huge commentaries which have been ascribed to Buddhaghoṣa, The Commentaries on the Jātakas and the Dhammapada. the great Buddhist writer who flourished about the fifth century A.D. But their language and style are so entirely different from the undoubted productions of Buddhaghoṣa that the traditional authorship cannot be accepted.¹ But it has not yet been possible to discover their real authors. The two commentaries breathe the same tone; in fact, the Dhammapada commentary is dependent on that of the Jātakas. The former is probably later than the fifth or sixth century A.D. The Dhammapada Aṭṭha-kathā, as it is called, illustrates the Buddha's dialogues by 299 stories.² The Buddhists who specialised in the art of imparting moral instruction through tales, ransack all walks and situations of life to inculcate ethical doctrines. In the Aṭṭha-kathā, as in the Jātakas, kings and ministers flit across the stage. The worthlessness of regal splendour is only too often brought out but there are numberless exhortations to righteous rule, impartial justice, mercy to the distressed, protection of all. Here, as elsewhere, the ideal of a universal empire is tacitly accepted and approved.