Hinduism and Buddhism - an Historical Sketch

It is probable that at the beginning of the fifth century A. D. and perhaps in the fourth century the old Sinhalese in which the prose parts of the Atthakathi were 1 For the credibility of the Sinhalese traditions see Geiger introd. [...] The first went in quest of relics and made its way not only to Pataliputra but to the court of Indra king of the gods and the relics obtained of which the principal was the Buddha's alms-bow15 were deposited in Anuradhapura. [...] The Mahtvamsa says no more about this schism but the Nikitya-Sangrhawa4 says that the monks of the Abhayagiri monastery now embraced the doctrines of the Vajjiputta school (one of the seventeen branches of the Mahasanghikas) which was known in Ceylon as the Dhammaruci school from an eminent teacher of that name. [...] He evidently regarded the Abhayagiri as the principal religious centre and says it had 5000 monks as against 3000 in the Mahavihfira but though he dwells on the gorgeous ceremonial the veneration of the sacred tooth the representtions of Gotama's previous lives and the images of Maitreya he does not allude to the worship of Avalokita and Malijusri or to anything that can be called definite [...] The Pitakas contain little about the practice but the Milinda Pafiha discusses the question at length and in one passages endeavours to reconcile two sayings of the Buddha Hinder not yourselves by honouring the remains of the Tathagatha" and "Honour that relic of him who is worthy of honour." It is the first utterance rather than the second that seems to have the genuine ring of Gotama.