hayana texts it is sometimes shorter and simpler than our Pali
version[650].

When was this version composed and what is its relation to the Pali? A
definite reply would be premature, for other Sanskrit texts may be
discovered in Central Asia, but two circumstances connect this early
Buddhist literature in Sanskrit with the epoch of Kanishka. Firstly the
Sanskrit Abhidharma of the Sarvastivadins seems to date from his council
and secondly a Buddhist drama by Asvaghosha[651] of about the same time
represents the Buddha as speaking in Sanskrit whereas the inferior
characters speak Prakrit. But these facts do not prove that Sanskrit was
not the language of the canon at an earlier date[652] and it is not safe
to conclude that because Asoka did not employ it for writing edicts it
was not the sacred language of any section of Indian Buddhists. On the
other hand some of the Sanskrit texts contain indications that they are
a translation from Pali or some vernacular[653]. In others are found
historical allusions which suggest that they must have received
additions after our era[654].

I have already raised the question of the relative value attaching to
Pali and Sanskrit texts as authorities for early history. Two instances
will perhaps illustrate this better than a general discussion. As
already mentioned, the Vinaya of the Mulasarvastivadins makes the Buddha
visit north-western India and Kashmir, whereas the Pali texts do not
represent him as travelling further west than the country of the Kurus.
The Sanskrit account is not known to be confirmed by more ancient
evidence, but there is nothing impossible in it, particularly as there
are periods in the Buddha's long life filled by no incidents. The
narrative however contains a prediction about Kanishka and therefore
cannot be earlier than his reign. Now there is no reason why the Pali
texts should be silent about this journey, if the Buddha really made it,
but one can easily imagine reasons for inventing it in the period of the
Kushan kings. North-western India was then full of monasteries and
sacred sites and the same spirit which makes uncritical Buddhists in
Ceylon and Siam assert to-day that the master visited their country
impelled the monks of Peshawar and Kashmir to imagine a not improbable
extension of his wanderings[655].

On the other hand this same Vinaya of the Mulasarvastivadins probably
gives us a fragment of history when it tells us that the Buddha had
three wiv