The Kathavatthu is the only book in the whole of the Tipitaka which ascribed to a definite author. Various sects emerged during that time and provided an occasion for the compilation for the aforementioned text. The authorship of this text is ascribed to Thera Moggaliputta Tissea, who flourished during the time of King Asoka (Third century B.C.). He presided over the Third Buddhist council at Pataliputta (Patna) which was convened due to the need to established the purity of the canon, which has been imperiled by the rise of different sects and their rival claims and such teaching and practices that had erupt into the Brotherhood and the heretical doctrines preached by sectarians of various descriptions. He succeeded in subduring the heretics and in expelling the sectarians from Buddhist Monastery. Currently she is engaged in translating the book Anandaloke Bengali to Hindi. There is the mention of a number of debates that had taken place, which find their description in the Kathavatthu, and the issues that sprang up during that time. It was composed mainly for refuting the views held by non-Theravadic sects. Thera, Tissa tried to establish that the Theravada interpretation was the correct one and the most logical too.
The present Study entitled Kathavatthu' (A Critical and Philosophical Study). This study attempt to analyse those controversies and to find out whether the same are in time with basic tenets of early Buddhism i.e., is combination of Theravada and Vibhajjavada. An attempt has also been made to analyse and investigate the amount of impact that the great contribution which was by Moggaliputta Tissa is resolving those controversies. The opinion of subsequent scholars on those controversies and their impact on the studies of the present day scholars have also been taking while writing the present book.
Besides this, the author has collected relevant facts from the pitakas as well as the related text e.g., Pali canonical and non-canonical text, Attakathas, Vedas and Upanisads.
The study will surely be of great help to the scholars and students of Buddhism all over the world.
