I find it reasonable that a period that was characterized by both a low standard in Pāli and indeed Buddhist learning, and a desire to effect a revival of Buddhist thought and practice could provide a fertile context for the acceptance of a work like the Tuṇḍilovāda Sutta. As happened with “apocryphal” Buddhist literature in other contexts, “suspicions concerning the authenticity of a text (may have) paled as its value in explicating Buddhist doctrine and practice became recognized.”

A thought-provoking example of a sutta composed in medieval Sri Lanka and a demonstration of the painstaking work going into the study of old manuscripts.