140 



JOUKNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. VIII. 



that a Jatakam existed at the Council of Vesali) the bare 

 string of verses, assigning to writers of indefinite date the 

 construction of the commentary. And of the commentary 

 in its present form, with the grammatical glosses and the 

 artificial arrangement, no doubt this must be just. But it 

 seems to me indisputable, on the other hand, that the 

 collection of stories must have existed before the stanzas 

 could have been collected. It is no more possible that the 

 Jatakapota should have grown out of the Jatakapela, than 

 that any other book should have been constructed out of 

 its index ! If the stanzas existed at the date of Vesali, a 

 collection of the stories of which they are the mottoes or 

 morals must have existed too, whether written or not. 

 The argument from the Dipawamsa, therefore, is good for 

 the whole substantial contents, if it is good for anything. 

 And this applies to the indisputable evidence of the sculp- 

 tures, for what they witness to is the story, not the verse. 

 The titles which are written on some of them would be 

 unintelligible unless the story, in something like its present 

 shape, was known ; for the title is often an arbitrary one, 

 which in no wise tells the tale. 



It seems certain, therefore, that (correct as probably are 

 Professor Kiinte's inferences from the grammatical and 

 philosophical glosses to a late date of the book exactly in 

 its present form) the substantial compilation of the matter 

 must date from as early as the 3rd century B.C. Was it 

 then written ? Has there been a ruder, shorter edition than 

 the present ? Is there, or has there been, any Jataka Book 

 intermediate (in extant of detail) between the bare Jataka 

 Pali and the Jataka Atthavannana ? 



I am sorry that I am unable to complete my inquiries on 

 this point so as to state finally what is, and what is not 

 known, for I have met with uncertainty among Sinhalese 

 scholars themselves. 



So far I have not been able to find any book, but the 

 Jataka Pali, Jataka Pela, or simple Jatakam of the Khud- 

 daka Nikaya. This consists of the gathas only, and bears 

 marks of being a mul-pota or original text ; at any rate, it 

 bears marks which show that it is so treated . It is this, 

 not our large Jataka Book, which is part of the canonical 

 sacred books of Buddhism, 



