The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c10.15

v1.c10.15

The rest of the literature is of less importance. Some value attaches to the Buddhist texts, especially such works as the Petthavatthu, which gives a fullness of view on the question of the state of the dead according to the popular belief which has every sign of age and genuine tradition.³ But, though these texts undoubtedly have in them much popular belief, the date of the Buddhist canon is now no longer to be placed so high as was once held, when it was believed that much of the canon really represented views prevalent in the time of the Buddha, and the use of Buddhist evidence for the Vedic period must therefore be subject to the most close scrutiny.⁴ The same consideration applies to the great epics. The redaction of the Mahābhārata was not completed in all probability until the fourth century a. d. and possibly even later: its earliest form cannot now be restored,⁵ and its evidential value for the period up to 500 b. c. is, therefore, of controversial character, and the Rāmāyaṇa, which may in its origin belong to the fourth century B. C., has been subjected to much later recasting.¹