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JOURNAL, B.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. VIII. 



by which he can escape — pretending death, and so on, The 

 Pali for " by six tricks" is " chahi kalahi." Now, No. 15 is 

 a story with virtually no introduction — or merely a formal 

 one — and is to the effect that a certain young deer would 

 not come to his uncle to be taught deer-tricks, but played 

 truant seven times. The Pali for " seven times 1 ' is " sattahi- 

 kalehi." The two stanzas of these two stories are in the 

 main similar : but (apart from other slight differences) the 

 one has "chahi kalahi atikkantam," c getting away (win- 

 ning) by six tricks,' the other " sattali kalehi atikkantam," 

 ( playing truant or getting away seven times.' When we look 

 at MSS. we find them uncertain about this word " kalehi," 

 £ times' ; some, as two examined by Mr. Ranasinhe, have 

 "kalahi," and some, among them the Burmese MS. in this 

 Library, have " kalahi," which as it stands is nothing, but 

 is quite as likely to represent " kalahi" as "kalehi." I have 

 little doubt that " kalahi" is the original form of the popular 

 sing-song, and "kalehi" a mistake for it, and that on this 

 mistake the grammarian-compiler has built up his silly 

 little story about the deer who would not go to school. 



" Perhaps, if all the stories were closely scrutinized, it 

 would be possible to eliminate with almost certainty a con- 

 siderable number which are mere packing, and even among 

 the rest to distinguish the Buddhistic nucleus from the 

 accretions." 



Date of the Compilation. — Professor Kiinte, reasoning 

 entirely from internal evidence, and without reference to 

 tradition, arrives at a conclusion which is irreconcileable, as 

 it stands, therewith. He lays down the landmarks of Pali 

 literature thus : " We have utterances of Buddha Gotama 

 himself, and they constitute the Pali of the 6th century 

 B.C. The inscriptions of Asoka and his successors employ 

 Pali, and this Pali is of the period between 250 B.C. and 

 100 B.C. The Sahyadri inscriptions are in Pali, the Pali 

 of the period between 100 B.C. and 200 A.D. The Maha- 

 wamso is in Pali, the Pali of 480 A.D. There are Jain 

 works written in Ardha-maghadi by Kunda-kundacharya 

 before 584 A.D., as already stated. There are different 

 Prakrit dialects, as they are met with in the extensive 

 dramatic literature, and in such poems as the Salivahana- 

 saptasati and the Setubandha." And his conclusion is as 

 follows : — " When the Pali of all these periods is compared 



