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JUNE, 1906.]
THE DIPAVAMSA AND THE MAHAVAMSA.
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levelopment, which we are enabled to compare with one another and of which we can investigate the origin and growth.
1. THE DIPAVAMSA AND THE MAHAVAMSA
IN RELATION TO EACH OTHER.
1. - The Composition of the Dipavansa. In spite of its grandiloquent proem, we cannot call the Dīpavamsa a work of art. It appears PA rather as a collocation of fragments arranged on the system we have indicated.
In addition we have the clumsiness and incorrectness of speech, and a number of other phenomena, which require a special discussion. To those belongs the peculiarity that the same subject is frequently treated twice or three times, e.g. the story of the first Council after Buddha's death is told in IV. 1-26 and again in V.1-15, the second being a more orderly and finished picture. The chief difference is that, in the second account, greater importance is laid on the personality of Mabākassapa, the convener of the assembly. So, too, the story of the second Council, caused by the heretical teachings of the Vajjiputta
monks, is related in IV. 47-53 and in V. 16-38. Again the first version is P. 5.
more fragmentary, while the second looks like a working up of a sketch. In the first version there is a prose insertion, a list of the ten points of difference, which the orthodox Theras contest. This is versified in the second version
Two versions also exist of the third Council and its cause, viz. VII. 34-43 and VII. 44-59, in which greater discrepancies are seen. The second version mentions a new fact, wanting in the first — the deed of violence of one of Asoka's ministers, which is told more particularly in the Mahāvamsa, V. 240 ff. One circumstance is indicative of the copying tendency of the Dipavamsa or the whole tradition. The second version is associated in certain particulars
with the description of the first Council, as it is found in V. 1 ff. Single P. 6. P. 6.
verses are almost identical. Evidently these are stereotyped turns of speech, which were employed again and again in narratives of this sort.
The history of the gifts which king Asoka sent to Ceylon to king Devānampiyatissa, with the addition of an invitation to accept Buddhism, is found in XI. 32–40 and again in XII, 1-7. A third account even is given in XVII. 83 ff. The call of Mahinda and the appearance to him the cod Sakka (Indra) who commands him to make a journey are told in XII, 16–28 and
29–40. Several verses are verbally repeated, and in the second version a P. 7.
piece of prose is inserted. Finally, in the last chapter a "contamination" of two versions is certain.
Farther peculiarities in the composition of the Dipavamsa are the gaps which the narrative repeatedly shows, the immediate tacking on to one another of the episodes, the frequent interchange of speech and counter-speech without the speakers being named. One other phenomenon is of especial importance, and on this I must dwell at some length. A whole series
of verses is met with in the Dipavamsa, which contain only the heads of some P. 8 narrative. They are ranged side by side in catchwords, after the manner of headings, often without proper construction. These I designate as mnemonic verses.
An interesting example of such is found in XVII. 3 ff., in the story of the last four Buddhas and their visits to Ceylon. The events took place each time in the same way, according to legend. The island is visited by some "affliction." This causes the Buddha to journey thither. He descends on a mountain in the island and frees the people from the "affliction." Then he preaches to the prince and the people in the capital. He receives a park as a present, and
plants in it a branch of bis sacred tree, which a nun fetches from India. P. O.
.* The Buddha leaves as objects of veneration relics which are kept in a Thūpa or tope. On his departure he appoints one of his disciples to be the chief of the newly founded
