When did the gods become literate? Was: Are the gods literate

[Vishal Agarwal]

----Original Message Follows----
From: nanda chandran <vpcnk at HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: When did the gods become literate? Was: Are the gods literate
Date: Wed, 3 Nov 1999 16:49:23 PST

>There is not much reference to Buddhism and writing in the Ram.
>The Ram. may predate writing in buddhism.

Nanda Chandran wrote:
I'm sure that there's a reference to the Buddha in RAmAyanam. He's referred
to as a nAstika in one place.

VA writes: You are probably referring to the verse 'Buddha hi stenah..."
which calls Bhagvan Buddha a thief. The critical edition of Baroda includes
it in the text but I think this is a mistake. Although the Dakshinatya and
Vangiya recensions of Ramayana have this verse, it is missing in the
Pascimottariya recension.The editiorial staff of Baroda largely worked on
the premise that the Dakshinatya recension was the closest to Ur-Ramayana.
While non-Paninean usages are more common in the Dakshinatya recension, this
does not prove the that this verse in particular (or even that chapter)
belonged to Ur-Ramayana.
In brief, such hatred for Lord Buddha would be anachronistic in a text like
Ramayana. 'Higher criticism' therefore can be used here to weed out this
verse.

Regards

Vishal

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com