The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c10.s10.1

c10.s10.1

Like the *Saṃhitās* of Vedic texts the *Piṭakas* (Baskets) of Pali texts represent principles of classification, *i.e.*, grouping according to common subjects. In each group or *Piṭaka*, therefore, as we have to-day, are to be found works composed during diverse periods. In the present form the three “Baskets” are taken to have been finally closed in the last quarter of the first century B.C., when they were committed to writing in Ceylon during the reign of Vattagamani. And since some of the sermons and dialogues are supposed to contain the exact words of Śākya himself, the oldest portions of the Buddhist texts can be traced back to his life time (B.C. 563-483), say, *ca* 500 B.C. The entire literature then covers nearly half a millennium. The problem of dating the texts is therefore not a simple one.