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LITERATURE
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ture. The same remark holds good of the technical term Suttanta. That also was gradually replaced by the shorter and easier phrase Sutta.
The expressions here explained are used on Buddhist monuments and refer to Buddhist books. They are conclusive proof that some time before the date of the inscriptions (that is, roughly speaking, before the time of Asoka), there was a Buddhist literature in North India, where the inscriptions are found. And further, that that literature then had divisions known by the technical names of Piṭaka, Nikaya, and Suttanta, and that the number of Nikayas then in existence was five.
But this is not all. Asoka, in his Bhabra Edict, addressed to the Buddhist Order (the Sangha), recommends to the Brethren and Sisters of the Order, and to the lay disciples of either sex, frequently to hear (that is to learn by heart), and to meditate upon, certain selected passages. And of these he, most fortunately, gives the names. They are as follows:
Ariya-vasani (now found in the Digha Nikaya, in the portion called the Sangiti Suttanta).
Anagata-bhayāni (now found in the Anguttara Nikaya, vol. iii. pp. Io5-1o8).
Muni Gatha (now found in the Sutta Nipāta, verses 206-220).
Moneyya Sutta (now found in the Iti-vuttaka, p. 67, and also in the Anguttara Nikāya, vol. i. p. 272).
Upatissa Pasina.-"The question put by Upa tissa" (more commonly known as Sāriputta). There
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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