Memoirs of the Early Life of Sakya Sinha

Lalita Vistara is an amplified treatise on (Buddhist) religion, the noblest of sutras. It expounds the source of Bodhisattva blessings; discloses the light of Tushita; and dilates on the consultation, advent, career, birth-place, and the greatness of the birth-place of the Budhha; it narrates the special excellencies of his boyhood, of his proficiency in all worldly occupations, in writing and arithmetic, both plain and symbolic in mechanical arts, in the practice of the sword, bow and arrow, and in all sorts of gymnastics; it unfolds his conjugal enjoyments; recites the method of acquiring the final and immutable reward of all Bodhisattva discipline; displays the career of Tathagata triumphing over the Mara, and his might and majesty in all their eighteen declensions; points out the heresies of the Buddha religion; and in short, constitutes the whole of what was imparted by the former venerable and absolute Tathagata Buddhas.

Introduction in English. Pages: 1-63.
Lalitavistara Text in Sanskrit. Pages: 64-680.


The Lalita Vistara, or Memoirs of the Early Life of Sakya Sinha - 2 Vols, Rajendralala Mitra, Cosmo Publications, 2005, Hardcover, 680 pages, $50.00

Rajendralal Mitra received his early education at a village pathshala in Bengali, followed by a private English-medium school in Pathuriaghata. At around 10 years of age, he attended the Hindu School in Calcutta. Mitra's education became increasingly sporadic from this point; although he enrolled at Calcutta Medical College in December 1837 where he apparently performed wellhe was forced to leave in 1841 after becoming involved in a controversy. He then began legal training, although not for long, and then changed to studying languages including Greek, Latin, French and German, which led to his eventual interest in philology.
Mitra was appointed librarian-cum-assistant-secretary of the Asiatic Society in April 1846. He held the office for nearly 10 years, vacating it in February 1856. He was subsequently elected as the Secretary of the Society and was later appointed to the governing council. He was elected vicepresident on three occasions, and in 1885 Mitra became the first Indian president of the Asiatic Society. Although Mitra had received little formal training in history, his work with the Asiatic Society helped establish him as a leading advocate of the historical method in Indian historiography.