ABSTRACT
The laws 01 polity by which the early Buddhist Sangbaa were governed betray a remarkable maturity of develop· ment. They must have passed through many stages before reaching that .-completeness and perfection which characterize them in the ViNtyapitoJca. Many of these legal inBtitutions did not surely originate or develop in the Buddhist Sangha itself. There must have been borrow· ing and adaptation. forI as Humbolt has truly said, If Man ever conneots on from what lies at ha.nd." A detached study 01 Buddhist institutions of monastio government apart from their external connexions would necessarily lead to an imperfect unhistorical view. As Tylor h8.13 said, III It is always unsafe to detach a custom from ita hold on past events treating it 89 an isolated fact to be simply disposed of by some plausible explanation." 1 The general background of primitive Paribrija.ka life, together with the political theories and practiceR of the ancient Indians~ should therefore be explored in order to discover, if possible, the origins of these institutions. But the inadequacy of materials fOT this line of reBearch is a great handicap, as will be explained in the next two paragraphs.
