Aśvaghoṣa

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Aśvaghoṣa (2nd cent. CE). A court poet of the Kusāna king Kaniṣka and author of literary works in Sanskrit on Buddhist themes. He is known to be the author of three such works: The Acts of the Buddha (Buddhacarita), Nanda the Fair (Saundarananda), and The Story of Sariputra (Sāriputraprakaraṇa). His most famous work is the first of these, a biography of the Buddha in epic mahākāvya style.

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