Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 49.djvu/13



The Sanskrit text of the Buddha-karita was published at the beginning of last year in the ‘Anecdota Oxoniensia’ and the following English translation is now included in the series of ‘Sacred Books of the East.’ It is an early Sanskrit poem written in India on the legendary history of Buddha, and therefore contains much that is of interest for the history of Buddhism, beside its special importance as illustrating the early history of classical Sanskrit literature.

It is ascribed to Asvaghosha; and, although there were several writers who bore that name, it seems most probable that our author was the contemporary and spiritual adviser of Kanishka in the first century of our era. Hiouen Thsang, who left India in 645, mentions him with Deva, Nâgârguna, and Kumâralabdha, ‘as the four suns which illumine the world ;’ but our fullest account is given by I-tsing, who visited India in 673. He states that Asvaghosha was an ancient author who composed the Alamkâra-sâstra and the Buddha-karita-kâvya,—the latter work being of course the present poem. Beside these two works he also composed the hymns in honour of Buddha and the three holy beings Amitâbha, Avalokitesvara, and Mahâsthâma, which were chanted at the evening service of the monasteries. ‘In the five countries of India and in the countries of the Southern ocean they recite these poems, because they express a store of ideas and meaning in a few words .’ A solitary stanza (VIII, 13) is