Excerpt from The Mahavastu, Vol. 3 It sometimes happens, again, that a repetitive metrical version is not given in full. Parts are left out, and the con text can only be understood by reference to the fuller prose version. But this does not necessarily mean that the latter is the earlier or original form of the tradition. Rather it may be taken to imply that the narrator, perhaps out of boredom, leaves out details which are assumed to be already known to the listener or reader. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.