collection includes fragments of a Gandharversion of
the MAHAPARINIRVANA-SUTRA.
The Gandharsutras are broadly similar to the par-
allel texts in Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan, but
they differ significantly in structure, contents, and
wording. The same is true of Gandharversions of
other canonical or paracanonical texts, such as the
Dharmapada(Pali, DHAMMAPADA), which is attested
both in the Khotan Dharmapadascroll and in a small
fragment in the British Library collection. The para-
canonical Songs of Lake Anavatapta (Anavatapta-
gatha) is similarly preserved in two fragmentary scrolls
in the British Library and Senior collections.
But the majority of the Gandhartexts have no
known parallels in other Buddhist traditions, and
many of them are evidently peculiar to the Gandharan
regional tradition. For example, several of the British
Library avadanasare marked as local literature by ref-
erences to historical figures of Gandhara, such as the
Great Satrap Jihonika. Such references provide impor-
tant clues for the dating of these texts in or around the
first century C.E. In general, the Gandharavadanas
and purvayogasare characterized by an extremely terse
style, indicating that they are summaries of longer sto-
ries, designed to serve as mnemonic aids for expanded
oral presentations. This makes them difficult to inter-
pret when no parallels are available.
The abhidharmaand other scholastic texts in the
British Library and Schøyen collections also have few,
if any, direct parallels, and thus appear to be products
of local monastic scholarship that were not preserved
in the Buddhist literatures of other regions. Prominent
in the British Library collection are commentaries on
series of verses of the type that in other Buddhist lit-
eratures are found in texts such as the Sutta-nipata,
Dhammapada,and Theragatha.But the selection and
ordering of these verses is peculiar to these texts, and
as yet is not clearly understood.
The doctrinal content of the GandharBuddhist lit-
erature is consistently representative of mainstream or
HINAYANABuddhism. With a few possible exceptions
among the Schøyen fragments, which represent a
slightly later phase of Gandharliterature, they con-
tain no reference to MAHAYANAtexts or ideas. Al-
though it is difficult to identify specific sectarian
affiliations for many of the Gandhartexts, at least
some of the British Library scrolls probably represent
the literature of the DHARMAGUPTAKAschool, since
they were found inside a pot that bore a dedicatory
inscription to that school. A Dharmaguptaka affilia-
tion is also supported by the British Library San ̇glti-
sutra, which is similar to the version of the same sutra
preserved in the Chinese Dlrghagama(Chang ahan
jing), which is probably a Dharmaguptaka collection.
The discovery of extensive remains of a Buddhist lit-
erature in Gandhar, hitherto almost entirely unknown,
provides support for the long-standing “Gandhar
hypothesis,” according to which many of the earliest
Chinese Buddhist translations were derived from
Gandharan archetypes. This confirms that Gandhara
was the principal jumping-off point for the spread of
Buddhism from its Indian homeland into Central Asia
and China.See also: India, Northwest; Mainstream Buddhist
Schools; Pali, Buddhist Literature in; Sanskrit, Bud-
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