A careful analysis of the Cullavagga XI will even now reveal to us traces of such traditions which became part of the Buddhist scripture during the time of the First Council and therefore, before the compilation of the MPS. Some of these tradition came to be included in the MPS at a later date. Let us, for example, first discuss that part of the Cullavagga XI where Kassapa is reporting to the monks about the reaction of Subhadda to the news of the death of the Buddha. This incidence is also given in the MPS. From the Cullavagga account it is clear thatthe monks in general have not yet heard of the Subhadda episode. This
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detail would be out of place if we have to admit that the Cullavagga XI was composed at a later period when the MPS had already become quite well known to the Buddhist community. This ignorance on the part of the Buddhist monks indirectly shows that the MPS was not yet composed at that time.

As already pointed out, the Cullavagga XI mainly consists of a number of krtyas or Formal Acts performed by the Samgha. The chanting of the dharma and the vinaya, the deliberations on the minor rules etc. are different Formal Acts. The features of a Formal Act have been carefully preserved in case of the chanting of the dhamma and the vinaya which is mentioned in all the vinaya versions including that of the Mahasamghikas, and thus belongs to the earliest strata of traditon. This is the most important of all the Formal Acts discussed in this chapter, and for the sake of which the First Council was probably held. Now as the chanting is a Formal Act, it, according to the ancient legal custom, was performed with reference to the vatthu, nidana and puggala, (18) i.e. the subject-matter, the place and the person or persons concerned. The necessary information about these three points were generally supplied as a sort of introduction to the legal act of krtya. The Formal Act of chanting of the dhamma and the vinaya also has its introduction which still can be discerned in the first few sections of the Culavagga XI.(19) This introduction which contains the story of Subhadda(20) must be as old as the First Council, and consequently must have been a part of the Buddhist canon long before the MPS came to be recognised as a canonical work.

But how this episode came to be later included in the MPS? The reason would be clear if we once again pay attention to the contents of the MPS. This work deals with among other things the parinirvana of the Buddha and other incidents directly connected with it. So it is but natural that the compiler of the

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　　   (18) I have shown that the invariable association of

　　　　   "vatthu", nidana, and puggala with the vinaya

　　　　   was due to ancient legal Custom (see ibid, pp.92ff)

　　　　   , krtya being a legal act should also be discussed

　　　　   together with vatthu, etc.

　　   (19) Cullavagga XI.1 (PTS, London, 1977 p.284 ff.)

　　   (20) Cullavagga XI, pp.284ff (Vinaya Pitaka

　　　　   vol II (PTS, London, 1977) (Mi) T. vol.22, p.190b

　　　　   (Dh) , T.22, p.966b.

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MPS got interested in the incidence of Subhadda as it is directly related to the death of the Buddha. The state of things thus influencing the composition of the Cullavagga XI and the MPS may be described as follows: The incidence of Subhadda became widely known to the Buddhist monks in that early period after Kassapa's report. It came to be first included in the official Buddhist tradition as a part of the krtya related to the chanting of the dhamma and the vinaya. And the same story due to its connection with the death of the Buddha became an episode in the MPS. The verbatim identity existing between the two accounts can be safely put to the credit of the later editors. The other details exclusively connected with the krtya of chanting such as the official proposition to chant, the selection of the place for chanting etc. were ignored by the compiler of the MPS as these were not directly related to the parinirvana of the Buddha. We can justifiably reject the thesis of Oldenberg that the chanting of the dharma and vinaya together with other relevant details given in the Cullavagga XI but not found in the MPS are but later fictitious additions to the earlier account of Subhadda. With the acceptance of the historical nature of the chanting the bar to the authenticity of the First Council is also removed. We find that there is no reason to doubt the historical nature of the First Council simply because it has not been mentioned in the MPS.