An Outline of the Religious Literature of India c8.s2.t2.26

c8.s2.t2.26

§ 127. Aśvaghosha⁵ was born of Brāhman parents, but became a Buddhist, first of the Sarvāstivādin school, but finally of the Mahāyāna. His splendid genius proved of signal service to Buddhism; for he is a most notable figure in Sanskrit literature, and one of the greatest of the predecessors of Kālidāsa. He was equally distinguished in epic, dramatic, and lyric poetry. His greatest work is the *Buddhacharita*, an epic poem on the life of Buddha. Part of it is lost, yet enough remains to show his genius and his art. In its delineation of the life and work of the Buddha, it scarcely goes beyond the Pāli Canon, but in freshness and power it stands altogether on another level, the work of a true poet. A second epic, the *Saundarānanda-Kāvya*, which deals with a number of scenes and incidents connected with the life of Buddha, also survives. The *Sūtrālaṃkāra*, of which a Chinese version and a few fragments in Sanskrit are extant, is a collection of avadānas, i.e. Buddhist legends told in mingled prose and verse, the style in common use then for artistic romances. A large number of these stories are old, many are new, but all are graced and heightened by Aśvaghosha’s charm. There are two philosophical works ascribed to him, the *Vajrasūchī*, i.e. the ‘Diamond-needle’, and the *Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra*, the ‘Mahāyāna-faith-awakening Treatise’, but serious doubts as to his authorship of both works still remain.