Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c30.29

v2.c30.29

Regarding Vararuci our information is that he was an erudite scholar and started writing explanatory *śastras* on Buddha’s words. Prof. Belvalkar¹ has adduced ample evidences to show that Vararuci was another name of Kātyāyana of the Aindra School of grammarians, which school, Tāranātha says, was believed to be earlier than the Pāṇinian school. To this school also belongs Kaccāyana’s Pāli grammar. Vararuci’s interest in writing exegetical literature is also referred to by Belvalkar.² In view of all these, it will not be wide of the mark if we hold that Vararuci was also a contemporary of king Nanda and Pāṇini and that he like his famous namesake Mahākaccāyana specialised in writing commentaries on Buddha’s enigmatic expressions. Tāranātha suggests that the writing of *Vibhāṣā-śastras* was commenced by Vararuci. It may be that Kātyāyana or Vararuci was the originator of the Sarvāstivāda school of Buddhism, which later on came to be known as the Vaibhāṣika school. From the above account, we may conclude that dissensions in the Buddhist Saṅgha commenced in the reign of Kālāsoka and multiplied during the reigns of Śūrasena and Mahāpadma Nanda.