Vol. I, No. 4.] Anuruddha Thera. 99 
[N. 8.] 
10. Anuruddha Thera—a learned Pali author of Southern India 
in the 12th Century A.D.—By Pror. Satis CHanpRA ViDYABHOSANA, 
M.A. 
With the rise of Buddhism the Pali language rose to pro- 
minence in the 6th Century B.C. From that time to the close of 
the lst Century B.C., that is, for nearly five hundred years, the 
Buddhist books including the well known Tripitakas, which were 
rehearsed in the three famous Buddhist councils, were used to be 
written principally in the Pali language. But since the rise of 
the Mahayana school of Buddhism under the auspices of the 
fourth Buddhist Council that was held in Kasmira about the 
beginning of the Christian era, Sanskrit has been chosen as the 
principal medium of Buddhistic communications and the Bud- 
dhistic books have generally been written in the Sanskrit 
language. 
Thousands of Indian books written in the Sanskrit language 
have recently been recovered from or traced in Nepal, Tibet, 
China, Japan, etc. But very few Indian books written in the Pali 
language have been obtained from those places. Are we then to 
suppose that with the rise of the Mahayana school about the Ist 
Century A.D., the use of the Pali language in the sacred scrip- 
tures was altogether stopped in India P I daresay the answer is 
no, for, even in the 5th Century A.D., when the Mahayana school 
attained its highest development, India produced several eminent 
Pali writers of whom Buddhaghosa! stands as the foremost. In 
the Ceylonese records? we find indications that even up to the year 
1462 A.D. Ceylon used to derive some of its Pali literature from 
India and Buddhist monks were in large numbers sent to Ceylon 
by the Southern Indian kings of the Chola and other dynasties. 
It is not within the scope of this paper to enumerate all the Pali 
writers that flourished in India between the Ist Century A.D. 
and 15th Century A.D. In the present paper I shall give a brief 
account of only one of the many Pali writers that adorned India 
during that long period. The name of this writer was Anurud- 
dha Thera. 
Anuruddha was the author of three works in the Pali lan- 
guage, viz., Abhidhammatthasamgaha, Paramatthavinicchaya and 
Nama-riipa-pariccheda. Besides, he was the author of a did- 
actic Buddhistic poem in classical Sanskrit which is generally 
known under the name of Anuruddha-sataka.° 
| Vide Mahavamsa, chapter XX XVII. 
%* Mahavamesa, Rajavali, Rajaratnakari, Saddharmialankara, commentary 
on the Visuddhimagga, etc. 
3 In the Saddhammasamgaha, chap. IX, verses 14, 15, London Pali Text 
Society’s edition (Vide J.P.T.S., 1890), two Pali works of Anuruddha have 
