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INTRODUCTION
Ixi
indicates that without assigning any late time to it, this MS. may be categorised as the North Indian Nāgari script from which emanated the Devanāgarī, the Bengali and other North Indian Scripts.
This fact is evidenced by a perusal and comparision of the alphabets used in the present MS. and that of the plate No. XXIV of Ojha's Indian · Paleography..
6. Asanga in Buddhist Literature
· Previously, Asanga was regarded as the founder of the Yogācāra Vijñānvāda, but since the historicity of Maitreyanāthapāda has finally been decided3, it is now well-established that Maitreyanātha and not Asanga, was the founder of the Yogācāra system. He was a great exponent of the Vijñānvāda School and being a direct disciple of Maitreyanātha, commented on his Yogācāra treatises“, with a result that he became more popular than his guru whose name gradually paled into insignificance5. Consequently, the works of Maitreya
1. cf. also, plate nos. XIX, XXIII and XXVIII 2. Vide, HIL, II.352. 3. Ibid., loc. cit., 3, Vide, Ui, ZII, VI (1928), p. 215 sq.; H.P.
Shastri, IHQ, I, 465 sq; HIL, 11.354, Tucci, On Some Aspects of the Doctrines of Maitreyanātha and Asanga, p. 8. sq.; infra, the
section on the 'Works of Asanga'. 4. Viz., MSA, AA. 5. Vide, Tucci, Ibid., p. 7 sq., 11.
