Abstract
It is an important maxim, in religion as in literature or art, that Whatever is received is received according to the manner and intention of the recipient. Yet Einflussforschung cherishes instances of exact equivalence between the allegedly text and its influencing source. While the controversy persists (now 150 years old), whether Buddhist scriptures influenced the gospels or vice versa,1 one treasures every scrap of information, literary, architectural, sculptural, or numismatic, suggesting that Greco-Roman models were adopted into the Indian Kulturbesitz. India for this purpose includes modem Afghanistan. Since Indian texts seldom are securely dated, a Western parallel is of value which can be dated (within limits). By contrast, it may always be impossible to date the use of Homer in imagining the birth of the Buddha;2 or, by an author of the SaddharmapundarTka (the widespread Lotus Stitra), of an Ovid-style tradition of the Phoenix.3 Wherever a datable parallel can be proved one is well-placed to ask: how was the model obtained; what was its suitability or attraction; what effect was it intended to have; and why were related items4 not adopted at the same time?
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