244 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Ramayana was composed after a great part of the Mahabharata had already been composed. [1]
(INCOMPLETE)
II
The literature from which I propose to draw upon consists of (1) The Bhagwat Geeta (2) The Vedant Sutras (3) The Mahabharat (4) The Ramayana and (5) The Puranas. In analysing this literature I propose to bring out only such facts as are capable of being suggested by inference a reason or reasons for the decline of Buddhism.
Before proceeding to examine the subject matter of this lirerature I must deal with the question of the period when this literature came into existence. Not all will agree that the literature referred to came into being after the revolution of Pushyamitra. On the contrary most Hindus whether orthodox or not, learned or not, have an in-eradicable belief that their sacred literature is a very old one in point of time. Indeed it seems to be an article of faith with every Hindu which necessitates a belief in a very high antiquity of their sacred literature.
(I) BHAGWAT GITA
Beginning with the Bhagwat Gita, the date of its composition has been a matter of controversy. Mr. Telang [2] was of opinion that we should “take the second century B.C. as a terminous before which the Gita must have been composed”. The late Mr. Tilak [3] was convinced that the date of the present Gita must be taken as not later than 500 years before the Saka era” which means that the present Gita was composed somewhere about…. According to Prof. Garbe [4] the date of the composition of the Bhagwat Gita must be placed somewhere between 200 and 400 A.D. There is another view propounded by Mr. Kausambi and is based on quite indisputable data.
Prof. Kausambi insists that the Gita was composed in the reign of Gupta King Baladitya. Baladitya belonged to the Gupta dynasty which supplanted the Andhra Dynasty in the year….. Baladitya came to the throne in the year 467 A.D. His reasons for so late a date for the composition of the Gita are two. Before Sankaracharya —who was
1 See the Appendix A to Hopkins “The Great Epic of India” for Parallel phrases in the two epics.
2 Introduction to his translation of the Bhagwat Gita in the “Sacred Books, of the East” Series.
3 Gita-Rahasva (Eng. Translation) Vol.II p.800. According in Mr. Tilak the original Gita must have been some centuries earlier.
4 Introduction to the Bhagwat Gita English Translation by Prof. Utgikar.