Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c33.s2: Language of the Mahāsanghika-Piṭaka
Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c33.s2
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Language of the Mahāsanghika-Piṭaka
v2.c33.s2.1
Bu-ston² tells us that the Mahāsanghikas claimed Mahākāśyapa as their founder, and that the language of their Piṭaka was Prākṛit. The language of the Mahāvastu, specially of its poetry portion, is mixed Sanskrit and which may well be called a Prākṛit.³
v2.c33.s2.2
² Besides their own language, Buston adds, their robes had 23 to 27 fringes, and their badge was a conch-shell. Bu-ston, II, p. 100. Cf. Csoma Kőrősi, JASB., 1838, p. 134; Wassiljew, Der Buddhismus, p. 294-5; Eitel's Handbook of Chinese Buddhism, p. 88.
v2.c33.s2.3
³ See Keith, Foreword to B. C. Law's Study of the Mahāvastu.