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THE JATAKA BOOK
mouth it is probable that this one also is of about the same date. The author gives a slight account of himself in the opening verses, but without mentioning his name. He names three scholars who instigated him to undertake the work, and says it is based on the tradition as then handed on in the Great Monastery at Anuradhapura in Ceylon. Twice in the seven long volumes he alludes to Ceylon scholars of the second century A.D.' And though he only does so in notes, we may fairly conclude from all this that he probably wrote in Ceylon. Professor Childers thought he was identical with the Buddhaghosa famous as the author of other great commentaries. But for reasons given elsewhere, this is, I think, impossible.'
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How far, then, did our unknown author vary from the tradition handed down to him? How far had that tradition, with respect at least to the historical inferences suggested by it, preserved the tone and character of that much more ancient date to which the verses themselves can be assigned? It is a difficult question, and can only be finally solved when, by a careful and detailed study of the whole of these volumes, we shall have been able to discover every case of probable age, and to weigh the general result to be derived from them all. Dr. Lüders, in two admirable articles on the Isisinga Legend, has shown how, in two or three instances, the prose
1 I have discussed these two difficult and interesting notes in an article entitled, The Last to go Forth," 7. R. A. S., 1902.
2 Buddhist Birth Stories, pp. lxiii., foll. Also the note in Dialogues of the Buddha, i. 17.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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