Milindapanha | September 08, 2004

The Melindapanha is one of the two most authoritative extracanonical texts in Theravada Buddhism. It was written by an unknown author in northern India around the first or second century A.D., originally written in Sanskrit or Prakrit. It was translated early into Pali and is no more extant in the original. The Milindapanha consists of a series of questions and dilemmas raised by King Milinda (usually identified as the Greco-Indian King Menanda), which are then answered by the Monk Nagasena. The stage is set with an account of the past lives of Nagasena and Melinda. The remainder of the first three books discusses basic doctrinal and ethical issues. These include Karma, the nature of the individual, the idea of rebirth without transmigration and the attainment of perfection. The remaining four books are lacking in the fourth century A.D. Chinese translation, and are likely a later addition. They are concerned with clarifying more technical details of buddhist thought.