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xxxii
FO-SHO-HING-TSAN-KING.
days was extant under this title from early times, and nothing would be simpler than the gradual enlargement of such a record, so as to include in it not only his last days, but his work throughout his life. Each district in which Buddha taught had probably its own recollections on this point, and to any zealous writer the task of connecting these several histories would be an easy one. Such a man was Asvaghosha. Brought up in Central India, travelling throughout his life as a preacher and musician, and finally a follower of Kanishka through his Northern campaigns; such a man would naturally be led to put together the various tales or traditions he had gathered as to the birth and life of his great master, and connect them with the already recognised account of his end or last days on earth. The detailed account of Buddha's death, recorded in the Mahåparinirvåna Sútra, finds a place at the end of the present work; this account being well known to Asvaghosha, there can be no difficulty in understanding how he came to write an entire poem on the subject of the master's life and death.
I am told by Professor Max Müller that the Sanskrit versions of the Buddhakarita break off at the end of varga 17, that is, after the account of the conversion of the great Kåsyapa. Whether this is accidental, or whether it indicates the original extent of the poem, I have no means of judging. One thing is certain, that at the time when the translation was made by Dharmaraksha (viz. about A. D. 420), the work was of the size of the present volume. There is no à priori reason for supposing the later portion to have been added by a writer subsequent to Asvaghosha. A poem does not easily admit of a continuation' by another author; nor can we think that a distinguished writer like Asvaghosha would omit in his biography the account of the death of his hero, especially as the materials were at hand, and the dramatic effect of the poem would be undoubtedly increased by the addition of such a popular record. It seems therefore more natural to suppose that the Sanskrit MSS. are incomplete copies of the original, and that the Chinese version before us is in
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