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records, however, lies in the fact that they contain the positive arrangement of the sutra and also a vibhanga or division which is not met with in other records so far discovered. Besides this the present text has an interest of its own. As has been pointed out by Dr. Bagchi in his notes appended below, it was the same text which was translated by Yuan Chwang in 661 A.D., i.e., three years before his death. Recently Prof. G. Tucci has published the fragments of the Pratītya-samutpāda-vyākhyā, a commentary on the Pratītya-samutpāda-sutra by Vasubandhu (circa 4th or 5th century), a work which was already known through its Tibetan translation. But it will be of great interest to observe that the text on which Vagubandhu, himself a teacher at Nālandā for some time, wrote a commentary, must have been the same as that now published. Thus the Nālandā text of the Pratītya-samutpäda-sutra reveals to us the original Sanskrit text of a sutra of great importance which was so far known only through translations.
It is to be noted that all these documents containing the text of the Pratitya-samutpāda were found imbedded in stūpas. Of these the Kasia copper-plate and the Kurram Casket contain the names of donors. The former was the gift of one Haribala who deposited it in the (Pari)nirvana-chaitya while the inscription on the latter informs us that the casket contained the corporeal relics of the Buddha and the Pratītya-samutpāda was written for the honouring of all beings'. The present records and the Gopalpur brick inscriptions contain no names of the donors. Now the question that naturally arises is this: what was the object of writing down the Nidāna Sūtra and depositing it in the stūpas ? It was done obviously for the sake of gaining merit, but why was the Nidāna Sūtra selected above all others? We know that among the Buddhists there are four classes of objects of worship-(i) the corporeal remains of the Buddha, (ii) objects used by the Buddha himself such as staffs, bowls, pieces of articles forming his robes, etc., (iii) objects indirectly connected with the Buddha and thus regarded as holy such as the bodhi-tree, chaitya, etc., and (iv) Dhamma as preached by the Buddha. I-tsing also gives us some interesting information on this point. "The priests and laymen in India," says the Chinese pilgrim, "make Chaltyas or images with earth, or impress the Buddha's image on silk or paper, and worship it with offerings wherever they go. Sometimes they build Stūpas of the Buddha by making a pile surrounding it with bricks. They sometimes form these Stūpas in lonely fields, and leave them to fall in ruins. Anyone may thus employ himself in making the objects for worship. Again when the people make images and Chaityas which consist of gold, silver, copper, iron, earth, lacquer, bricks and stone, or when they heap up the snowy sand (lit. sand-snow), they put in the images or Chaityas two kinds of Sariras. 1. The relics of the Great Teacher. 2. The Gathā of the Chain of Causation.". The găthā referred to by I-tsing is the well-known Buddhist formula ye dhammā etc. supposed to have been spoken by Asvajit to Sāriputra. Prof. Oldenburg and Rhys Davids pointed out long ago that this stanza alludes, undoubtedly, to the Nidānasūtra,
which explains the origination and cessation of what are called here dhamma hetu-ppabhavā '. The Sanskrit version of this stanza is extensively found on Buddhist votive gifts such as images,
1 J. R. A. 8., 1930, pp. 613 8. Prof. Tucci in the text published by him has underlined the portion quoted from the outra, but on comparison with the Nalanda text it will be observed that his division of the original text and the commentary is not everywhere correct. Moreover, I do not agree with him that in Vasubandhu's work vibhanga was the name of the various chapters each corresponding to a particular nidana' (ibid, p. 612, m. l). The text commented on by Vasubandhu is identical with that obtained at Nalanda and contained at the beginning the Nidana Sutra followed by the vibhanga in connection with each nidana. Thus he is not right in giving the title Avidyd-vibhanga to the first section of the work which deale only with the sitra portion,
* I-tsing, A Record of the Buddhist Religion (translated by J. Takakusu), p. 160. * See The Vinaya Pitaka (ed. Oldenburg), I, p. 40. See 8. B. A., Vol. XIII.
