A few Evidences on the Age of the Kathavatthu
Barua, Dwijendra Lal
The Indian Historical Quarterly
no.2
1937.06
p.367
A few Evidences on the Age of the Kathavatthu
(i) Tradition
We have to depend mainly on the Ceylonese
tradition for ascertaining the time of composition
of the Kathavatthu, one of the seven treatises of the
Abhidhamma Pitaka. The tradition(1) tells us that the
controversies embodied in the K. V. took place at the
Third Buddhist Council, convened in the 17th regnal
year of king Asoka. The compilation of the book too,
was, it is said, made at the same time by the Thera
Moggaliputta Tissa, and was included in the Canon
among the seven Abhidhamma treatises. Buddhaghosa in
discussing the authority of the K. V. makes a
statement in his Atthasalin(2) to the effect that
Buddha himself laid down the table of contents
(matika) of the K.V., and while doing it he foresaw
that more than 218 years after his demise (mama
parinibba- nato atthaasavassadhikanam dvinnam
vassasatanam mattkake) Tissa, son of Moggali, being
seated in the midst of one thousand bhiksus, would
elaborate the K. V. to the extent of the Digha
Nikaya, bringing together 500 orthodox and 500
heterodox suttas. The tradition further informs us
that Moggaliputta Tissa persuaded king Asoka to
despatch Buddhist Missions after the conclusion of
the Council.(3) This statement refers, therefore, to
a time when the
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1 Mnhavamsa, (P.T.S. edition), ch, V, p, 55; also
Mahabodhi- vamsa, P. 110.
2 Atthasalini (P.T.S. edition) , p. 8.
3 The Mahabodhivamasa (p. 113) corroborates this
tradition and further tells us that soon after the
close of the Third Buddhist Council under the
presidentship of Moggaliputta Tissa it was found
necessary to select those places in the border
countries (paccantimesu janapadesu) where the
teachings of the Master, if promulgated, were
expected to endure long. Tissa, accordingly,
selected nine centres to each of which he
despatched a leading member of the order to
establish the doctrine. The monks who were
entrusted with the task were:-- Majjhantika for
Kasmira and Gandhara; Mahadeva for
Mahimsakamandala; Rakkhita for Vanavasi;
Yonakadhammarakkhita for the Aparantaka;
Mahadhammarakkhita for the Maharattha;
Maharakkhita for the country of the Yonakas; the
thera Majjhima
p.368
Buddhist Missions were not yet organised under
any royal patronage for the dissemination of the
truths of Buddbism in regions outside the Middle
Country.
(ii) Geographical extent of Buddhism
Here we shall try to examine whether the above
traditional account can be corroborated by any
internal evidence. In Book I, the 3rd point of
controversy is that there was no holy life among the
gods (N'atthi devesu brahmacariyavaso'ti). In course
of the controversy the opponent of the orthodox
school maintains that among the gods there is no
Buddhist mode of holy life, the form of life which is
regarded holy by the Buddhist recluses, because it is
not till then introduced among the inhabitants, godly
or otherwise, in the regions outside the limit of the
Middle Country, i.e., in the 'Paccantima-janapadas.
He contends that as yet there can be no initiation
or Pabbajja in places lying beyond the geographical
limits of the Middle-Country (Majjhima-janapada),
referring there by to the godly inhabitants of Uttarakuru
and the Mlecchas of other places. From this it is
evident that Buddhist missionary work was restricted
up till the time of the K.V. within the territorial
limits of the Middle Country, i.e. to say Buddhism
was not yet propagated in India outside the Middle
Country as defined in Buddhist literature.
(iii) Attempts to check Schism
The fact of the disruption of the Buddhist Church
into various schools also affords some evidence for
ascertaining the time of composition of the K. V.
According to the commentator of the K. V. the
Buddhist Order in India had been, in course of the
2nd century after Buddha's demise, divided into 18
schools. This is confirmed by both the Ceylonese
chronicles, the Dipavamsa(1) and
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for the regions lying near the Himalayas; and Sona
and Uttara for the Suvannabhumi. Not long after
Tissa found in Mahinda, the son of Asoka, a young
and worthy disciple capable of carrying the
doctrine to Lanka. It is interesting to note how
each of these succeeded to turn the minds of the
people in their respective localities and convert
them into Buddhism.
1 Dipavamsa, ch. V,
p.369
the Mahavamsa.(1) Prof. Rhys Davids(2) has
discussed this matter at some length and is inclined
to believe that the number of schools was not
eighteen but six or seven on the ground that the
Kathavattu Cy. and the inscriptions on Buddhist topes
as well as the records of Yuan Chwang furnish us with
six or seven names, We cannot dismiss the traditional
account as to the number of Buddhist schools
prevalent in the 2nd century after Buddha's demise as
unreliable on the ground that the K. V. and the
Buddhist topes noted above are lacking in mentioning
the names of the 18 schools, as it is not a
sufficient proof of the non-existence of those
schools, It is not strange that Yuan Chwang while
giving an account of the 7th century A.C. should
state the names of a few Buddhist schools, because
the different schools which arose in the course of
the 2nd century after Buddha's demise might
afterwards have been either swallowed up, one by the
other, or some of them disappeared being unable to
withstand the opposition from rival schools. So in
the absence of any better evidence to prove the
contrary, we cannot disbelieve the traditional
account of the Ceylonese chronicles. Here our point,
however, is to show that though scholars may not
agree as to the number of schools, there is no doubt
that the Buddhist Church was divided into a few
schools during the period under consideration.
This fact is corroborated by Asoka's Schism
Pillar Edict engraved in his 21st regnal year. The
task of the K. V. being mainly to state the various
theses put forward by the leading opponents of the
Theravada School, and to refute each of them from
the view-point of the latter, it is evident that its
purpose in view was indirectly the same as that of
the Schism Pillar Edict of king Asoka, viz., to
put an end to the disruptive elements which
threatened the orthodox school at that time. In view
of the common object of the two writings, the P. E.
and the K.V., it may he said that they were
productions of about the same period.
(iv) Traces of Mahayanic Influence
There are, no doubt, in the K. V. a few
topics(e.g., iv,1,7;, xviii, 1-4; xx, 2; xxi, 4-6;
xxii, 1-3, etc.), which prove that
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1 Mahavamsa (P.T.S, edition), ch. V, p. 29.
2 Buddhism, pp. 195ff.
p.370
some of the early Mahayainic doctrines were
known to the compiler, This, however, should not lead
us to put the date back, because long before the
growth of Mahayana, the Mahayanic ideas and doctrines
were already current among some of the early
Buddhists, especially, the Mahasanghikas and their
offshoots.
Thus an examination of some of the materials of
the K. V. and the Asokan edicts shows that the
compilation of the K. V. was made, at least in part,
somewhere in the reign of king Asoka.