A History of Indian Literature. Volumen II

694 Pages·1933·16.71 MB·English

by  By M. Winternitz.Translated by Mrs. S. Ketkar (and Miss H. Kohn), and revised by the author.

A HISTORY OF
INDIAN LITERATURE
BY
M A U R I C E W I N T E R N I T Z , P H . D .
P R O F E S S O R O F I N D O L O G Y A N D E T H N O L O G Y A T T H E G E R M A N U N I V E R S I T Y
O F P R A G U E ( C Z E C H O S L O V A K I A )
VOL. II
B U D D H I S T L I T E R A T U R E Â Ì N B JAIN A L I T E R A T U R E
T R A N S L A T E D F R O M T H E O R I G I N A L G E R M A N B Y
MRS. S. KETKAR A N D M I S S H. KOHN‚ B . A .
A N D
R E V I S E D B Y T H E A U T H O R
Only Authorised Translation into English
P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E
UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA
1933
PRINTED BY BHUPENDRALAL B'.NLR'fíE
AT THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY PRESS, SENATE HOUSE, CALCUTTA.
C. Ü. Press—Reg. No. 319B—L ebru*ry, 1931— B.
To
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
The Great Poet, Educator and Lover of Man
This English Version of the " History of Indian Literature "
is dedicated
as a token of loving admiration and sincere gratitude
by the Author
THIS VOLUME HAS BEEN AWARDED THE PRIZE FROM THE HARDY-FOUNDAT‚ON
AT THE BAVARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES
Preface to the German Edition . . ix-x
From the Preface to the German Edition . xi-xi
Preface to the English Translation . xi-xiv
List of Abbreviations used in the Notes . xv-xix
Directions for Pronunciation of Indian Names
and Words . . . x
SECTION I. BUDDHIST LITERATURE . . . 1 - 4 2 3
The Pali Canon or the Tipiṭaka . . 1­21
The Vinayapiṭaka of the Pali Canon . 21­3
The Sutapitaka of the Pali Canon . 34­165
1. The Speeches and Dialogues 34­76
2. Narratives, Songs and Sayings 76­165
The Abhidhammapiṭaka. Buddhist Scholas­
ticism . . . 165­173
Non­Canonical Pâli Literature . . 174­226
Buddhist Literature in Pure and Mixed Sanskrit 22f'­423
Remnants of the Sanskrit Canon 231­239
TheMahāvastu ... ••• 239­247
The Laiita Vistara ... 248­256
The Poet Aśvaghoṣa and his
School ... ... 256-276
The Avadāna Literature ... 277-294
The Mahayāna-Sūtras ... 294-341
The Masters and Poets of the
Mahāyāna ... ... 341–375
Māhātmya, Stotras, Dhāraṇīs
and Tantras ... ... 375–401
Buddhist Literature and Univer­
sal Literature . 4O2­4?3
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES
SECTION I V . JAINA LITERATURE . . 42i­595
Jinism and its Literature . . 424­595
The Canons (Siddhānta) of the
Jainas . . 428­474
The Non­Canonical Jaina Litera­
ture . . 475­595
Appendix I . The Year of Buddha's Death.
Did a Gotama Buddha live ? . 597­601
Appendix II. What is Pali ? . . 601­605
Appendix I I I . Bhābrū­Bairat Edict of Aśoka . 606­609
Appendix I V . Time and Life of Buddhaghosa 609­611
Appendix V . The Date ofKaniṣka's Reign . 611­614
Appendix V I . The Year of the Death of
Mahāvīra . . . 614­615
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS . . 617­638
INDEX ... ... 639 673
PREFACE TO THE GERMAN EDITION, THE FIRST
HALF OF VOLUME II
Just five years ago, when I wrote the preface to Volume
I of this " History of Indian Literature," I had hoped that
it would be possible to publish Volume II complete two years
later ; but the task of dealing, for the first time, with Buddhist
literature presented far greater difficulties than I had foreseen.
For this reason, even now only the first half of Volume II is
appearing. I hope, however, that the second half—the
conclusion of the work—will follow in the course of next year.
I am only too conscious of the fact that a presentation
of Buddhist literature, which forms the subject-matter of
this half-volume, is, at the present stage of our knowledge,
a hazardous enterprise. A great part of this literature has
only just been opened up, while a still greater part, especially
of the Buddhist Sanskrit literature, but also some important
Pali texts, is still waiting for translators and researchers,
and even for editors. In addition to this, with the small
number of workers in the province of Sinology, the light
which the Chinese translations throw upon the history of
Buddhist literature has scarcely begun to shine. Here
we may surely hope for help and improvement in the
near future from French and Japanese scholars. We may
also expect very shortly considerable enrichment of our
knowledge of Buddhist literature and its history from the
investigation of the Central Asian finds—the wealth of manus-
cripts which M. A. Stein has brought back from Khotan‚
and A. Grünwedel and A. von Le Coq from Turf an. Never-
theless it will take decades before all the results of these
investigations will be available. An American colleague of
mine hit the mark when he recently wrote to me : ' I can
easily understand that your History of Buddhist Literature
is the devil's own job to write.’ And yet, the attempt to
X INDIAN LITERATURE
present Buddhist literature had to be ventured now ; for it
simply will no longer do, now-a-days, to write a history of
Indian literature without doing justice to the Buddhist litera-
ture. Buddhism, after all, is and remains that production
of the Indian mind, which is the most important in the history
of the world. And how can we understand Buddhism without
knowing its literature ? Just as in a history of Indian religion
the religion of Buddha would have to occupy a large space,
just as a history of Indian art could not exist without Buddhist
art, so too the history of Indian literature would show a
gaping chasm if Buddhist literature were not presented
therein. Even though this literature is to–day more at home
in Ceylon and Burma, in Nepal and Tibet, than in India
proper, yet it grew up on Indian soil, it bears all the charac-
teristics of a genuine product of the Indian mind, it has,
through far more than a thousand years, influenced Indian
spiritual life, and naturally is most intimately connected with
all the rest of Indian literature. However defective a
presentation of Buddhist literature must necessarily still be
to-day, it is nevertheless of some use for the progress of know-
ledge. We must have the courage to err. Our errors will serve
as stepping-stones over which the knowledge of future genera-
tions of scholars will stride to new truths.
The literary references in the notes give sufficient inform-
ation concerning the works from which I have drawn and
the scholars to whom I am indebted. I should not, however,
like to omit in this place the expression of my sincere thanks
to my honoured colleague, Professor Louis de La Vallée Poussin
in Brussels, and my dear friend and former pupil, Professor
Jyun Takakusu, for several valuable printed papers and
written communications.
M . WINTERNITZ
Prague—Smichow,
17th October, 1912.