( 40 ) 
bute to the fiiithev success of the phice as 
well as prove remunerative to themselves. A 
new and improved Town Hall is an urgent 
necessity and must not be overlooked. 
"SACRED BOOKS OF THE BUDDHISTS": 
A REVIEW. 
(Sxoecially contributed.) 
" Sacred Books of the Buddhists — edited hy Max 
Muller, Oxford University Press, Vol. 1, .Ja'taka- 
malii, translated by J S Spe.yer, 1895 : Vol. 2— Dia- 
logues of the Buddlia, translated by Professor 
Rhys Davids, 1895." 
[While the following review from the 
pen of the best authority in the island 
Avas being put in type, the news came of 
the death of the well-known Oxford Pro- 
fessor whose work is dealt with. The grand 
old Sanskrit Scholar had seen his best days, 
and was himself conscious of a failing mo 
mory ; but his interest in philology and his 
love of the special studies in which he 
gained worldwide distinction remained 
to the end. Not the least of the ser- 
vices he rendered to his adopted country 
must be reckoned his stm-dy defence 
against German misrepresentation and mis- 
judgment in connection with the Boer war. 
His' keen critical faculty, and his intimate 
knowledge of British character and of the 
influences which guide the nation, enabled 
him to repel with vigour the aspersions 
■* cast on the country by those who fancy 
that the South African war had been of 
our seeking and that it was inspired by 
lust of gold or of territory. That was his 
last, but not least, service to England.— Ed. 
L. B.] 
Pi'ofessor Max Muller carried forward his 
labours as Editor of the Sacred Books of 
the East by beginning to edit a new series 
under the patronage of the King of Siam, 
and under the title of Sacred Books of the 
Buddhists. Of that series the two volumes 
before us are the first instalments. Of Pro- 
fessor Max Miiller's General Px^eface it is 
eno.ugh to say that it adds nothing to his 
higii reputation. 
The tirst vohime contains translations by 
Professor J S Speyer of the thirty-four 
Jataka Stories which are contained in the 
Jatakamala, a Sanskrit work ot the Northern 
School of ]3uddhism, ascribed to one Arya 
Sura, and dating some time before A. D. 700, 
possibly as early as 400 A. D. The great 
majority of these stories are identical in 
substance with stories contained in the Pali 
Jataka book : many occurring also in the 
■ Cariya Pitalia, and in the Buddhavansa. 
■ There is much interest in comparing these 
with the Pali versions. These are mucli 
filled out like the Sinhalese poetical versions 
of the Kusa Jataka, &c. Like the Pali they 
are written partly in verse and jiartly in 
prose ; but the verse part which appears in 
the Pali only as an occasional quotation is 
here the larger part. But what is curious 
is, that wliile most of the 'gathas' of the 
Pali appear, though freely altered in the 
Sanskrit, the narrative slokas of the Pali are 
— ui any instance we have come across 
--vepreseutcd in the Northern version, Xiiis, 
if it is found to be generally the case, will 
bear out the tradition that the ' gathas ' alone 
are the oi'iginal substratum of the book, and 
that all the narrative which surrounds them 
is " commentary," and may take different 
shapes in different places and times. The 
facts are also suggestive as to the Dipavansa 
tradition that the Vesali heretics played tricks 
with the Jatakas. 
Although the "padding" is often ex- 
cessive in the Jatakamala, the stories are, 
as a rule, better told than in the Pali. In 
C'uddabodhi (Jat. +43) the Sanskrit writer 
has caught the i)oint of the story while the 
Pali commentator has missed it. The tale 
of the Wonderful Pilot again (Suparaga, 
No. 463) and that of the Lotus stalks (488) were 
evidently iietter undeistood by the Sanskrit 
than by the Pali writer. iJut the Monkey's 
Curse in -the last-named reads best in the 
simplicity of the Pali. Thirteen speakers in 
succession had uttered each his imprecation 
on the thief who stole the Bodhisat's lotus- 
stalks. The monkey's was this, (he knew 
what it was, the commentator says, to be 
a snake-charmer's monkey!) "May he wear 
a garland of flowers and tin ean-ing ; may 
he be forced by blows of a switch to face 
a snake ; and may he go about the streets 
tightly tied ))y a string." 
The volume which is due to Professor 
Rhys Davids, consists of a Pi*eface on Bud- 
dhist literature in general, and a translation, 
not of anything new but of the eleven Sutras 
of the Digha Nikaya, which were published 
by the Pali Text Society in 1890. In the 
translation of passages which occur both 
here and in works which he has formerly 
translated, (e.f/. in the beginning of Anibat- 
tha Sutta,-Maha Vaggal-2 22) the Professor 
has modified his renderings in many places, 
in accordance with the advance of Pali Study. 
It is curious that at the same time he should 
think it necessaiy repeatedly to point out in 
his notes some inaccuracy or omission in 
Professor Childers' Dictionary. It is no dis- 
respect to the reputation of that pioneer of 
Pali scholarship to say that it is a matter 
of course that, in the light of present 
knowledge. Professor Childers' Dictionary 
should now be far behind the times. The 
same may be said of Professor Rhj^s Davids' 
earlier works. 
The chief value of the present work lies 
in the Preface and in the special introduc- 
tions. The Preface contains a clear and 
cogent argument in refere,nce to the date at 
Avhich the Pitakas, as we have them, must 
be believed to have been completed ; which 
may be thus abridged : — 
TheMilinda Panno carries our text back to 
about the Christian era. The Katha Vatthu, as 
the early commentators say— and their hon- 
esty is guaranteed by the inconsistency of 
this statement with their theory that the 
whole canon was the very Avord of the 
Buddha— was composed in the time of Asoka 
about 250 B.C. and this Katha Vatthu pre- 
supposes a complete Pitaka. Asoka's 
own inscriptions, allusions in other 
inscriptions, and many things in the 
contents of the Sutras themselves, show 
that the main parts of the Pitakas were by 
that time ■\yell-known uud of recognize^ 
