ing from the Dhammapada but as "spoken by the Lord." But the
author of the Questions of Milinda, who knew the canonical books by the
names they bear now, also often adopts a similar method of citation.
Although this author's probable date is not earlier than our era his
evidence is important. He mentions all five Nikayas by name, the titles
of many suttas and also the Vibhanga, Dhatu-katha, Puggala-Pannatti,
Katha-vatthu, Yamaka and Patthana.

Everything indicates and nothing discredits the conclusion that this
canon of the Vibhajjavadins was substantially fixed in the time of
Asoka, so far as the Vinaya and Sutta Pitakas are concerned. Some works
of minor importance may have had an uncertain position and subsequent
revisions may have been made but the principal scriptures were already
recognized and contained passages which occur in our versions. On the
other hand this recension of the scriptures was not the only one in
existence. If the patronage of Asoka gave it a special prestige in his
lifetime, it may have lost it in India after his death and for many
centuries the Buddhist Canon, like the list of the Upanishads, must have
been susceptible of alteration. The Sarvastivadins compiled an
Abhidhamma Pitaka of their own, apparently in the time of Kanishka, and
the Dharmagupta school also seems to have had its own version of this
Pitaka[635]. The date of the Pali Abhidhamma is very doubtful and I do
not reject the hypothesis that it was composed in Ceylon, for the
Sinhalese seem to have a special taste for such literature. But there is
no proof of this Sinhalese origin.

According to Sinhalese tradition all three Pitakas were introduced into
Ceylon by Mahinda in the reign of Asoka, but only as oral tradition and
not in a written form. They received this latter about 20 B.C., as the
result of a dispute between two monasteries[636]. The controversy is
obscure but it appears that the ancient foundation called Mahavihara
accepted as canonical the fifth book of the Vinaya called Parivara,
whereas it was rejected by the new monastery called Abhayagiri. The
Sinhalese chronicle (Mahavamsa XXXIII. 100-104) says somewhat abruptly
"The wise monks had hitherto handed down the text of the three Pitakas
(Pitakattayapalim) as well as the commentary by word of mouth. But
seeing that mankind was becoming lost, they assembled together and wrote
them in books in order that the faith might long endure." This brief
account seems to mean th