Milindapañha

The Milindapañha is a Buddhist book which purports to be a dialogue between the Indian monk Nāgasena and the Indo-Greek king Milinda. Although such a dialogue between the two men may well have actually taken place, the Milindapañha is a literary work. It was probably originally composed for the use of new converts to explain apparent contradictions in Buddhist doctrine and clarify obscure points. In the Milindapañha the king asks a series of difficult questions to which Nāgasena replies with lively and often ingenious answers. The earliest part of the Milindapañha was written in about the 1st  century CE, perhaps in northern Pakistan, it was later translated into Pāḷi and finally taken to Sri Lanka where parts were subsequently added. Buddhists consider the Milindapañha to be an authoritative work, although it is not part of the Tipiṭaka.