"A creative artist of the highest order, Ashva-ghosha's aim is not pure entertainment but deep instruction. His mission is to present the Buddha's teaching as itself the culmination of the Brahmanical tradition."--BOOK JACKET.

This may be the oldest known story of the complete life of Buddha, having been written in the first century AD. The author was an educated ecclesiastic Buddhist who traveled throughout India collecting stories and traditions relating to the Buddha's life. He was a famous preacher and musician who then wove them into a Sanskrit poem which he performed musically during his travels. The people of India delighted in this magical tale whenever it was performed with the choir of musicians who traveled with him. It holds many facts that other biographies or stories of the Buddha don't have, which makes this work so important. The entire epic is preserved in this rare book, long out of print, which may have otherwise been lost to the western world.

A poetic and rousing account of the Buddha's life story, bringing together the strands of history, fact, traditional oral legend and symbolic myth.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.