________________ 48 Introduction dharma-pitaka is known as sastra (treatise) clearly showing its distinction from the 'sutra'. The Sautrantikas recognised only the Sutras as canonical and whenever there was conflict between the sutra and the sastra, adhered to the Master's advice in the mahapadesa preaching. '1 'Monks, you ought to take refuge in the Sutrantas and not in individuals.' Curiously enough, this line is not found in the Pali version of the Mahaparinirvana-sutra. The Sautrantikas, on account of their adherence to the Sutranta in preference to the Abhidharma, claimed not Sariputra or Mahakasyapa, but Ananda as their main preceptor. 2 In the Vinaya-pitaka we find a group of monks called suttantikas (versed in Suttas), always appearing side by side with vinaya-dharas and dhamma-kathikas. It is possible that they remained devoted to Ananda, zealously learnt the suttas in their original version, and claimed to preserve the original meanings of them against the 'unauthentic' interpretations by other Elders and heretics. But the Sautrantikas (Pali' suttantika) as a separate school appear very late in the history of the Buddhist church. Both the Pali and Sanskrit accounts place the Sautrantika school at the end of the traditional eighteen Nikayas. Buddha ghosa calls it Suttavada, a branch of the Samkantivada. The latter branched off from the Kassapikas, a sub-section of the Sarvastivada school. The Sanskrit account given by Vasumitra* agrees with the Pali account. Here also the Sautrantika is a branch of the Sarvastivada school and is the last of the eighteen Nikayas. Vasumitra, however, identifies the Sautrantika with the samkrantivada. Bhavya's account makes no mention of the 1 cf. kva chaisha niyamah siddhah ? Sastre. Sutra-pramanaka vayam na Sastra-pramanakah, uktan hi Bhagavata "Sutranta pratisaranair bhavi tavyam" iti. Akb. III. 31 cd. 2 See 'Origin and Doctrines of Early Indian Buddhist Schools' by Masuda, J. Asia Mnjor 1925. 3 See Vinaya I. 169; II. 75, 161; III. 159; IV. 67. 4 Masuda, J. op. cit. p. 66. 5 The Life of the Buddha by Rockhill, p. 193. , 11. 31.hi Bha Origin