Asian trade routes. According to Richard Salomon, this school was involved in missionary activity and was dominant in Gandhara during the first century CE. Kāśyapīya, probably located in the same area as the Dharmaguptaka. Mahīśāsaka, as above but also in other parts of mainland India. Tambapaṇṇiya (Skt. Tamraparṇiyas, later known as Mahāvihāravāsins and Theravada), established in Sri Lanka (at Anuradhapura) but active also in Andhra and other parts of South India (Vanavasa in modern Karnataka) and later across South-East Asia. Inscriptional evidence has been found in Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda. Bhante Sujato, in his overview of Dharmaguptaka and Mahāvihāravāsin schools, argues that the split between them was not due to any difference in doctrine or monastic discipline, but due to geographical distance. According to LS Cousins, the precursor to these schools was probably involved in missionary activity around the time of Ashoka into the regions of Kashmir, Gandhara. Bactria, Andhra and Sri Lanka. Cousins concludes: Sectarian views The Mahavihara Theravādins of Sri Lanka are descendants of the Sthavira Vibhajyavādins in South India who used the Pali language, differing somewhat from the northern Sthavira schools. The Theravādins hold that Vibhajyavāda was the favored doctrine during a Buddhist council that took place in Pataliputra under Ashoka. As Gethin notes, the sources are rather confused on this matter however. The Sammatīyas (aka Pudgalavadins) also mention the Vibhajyavādins. According to the Sammatīya sect, the Vibhajyavādins developed from the Sarvāstivāda school. The Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra describes the Vibhajyavādins as being the type of heretics who "make objections, who uphold harmful doctrines and attack those who follow the authentic Dharma". The Mahāsāṃghika saw the Vibhajyavādins as being offshoots from the root schism in Buddhism, which according to them produced three sects: the Sthaviras, the Mahāsāṃghikas, and the Vibhajyavādins. The Mahāsāṃghikas list the Mahīśāsaka, Dharmaguptaka, Kāśyapīya, and Tāmraparnīya (Theravada) sects as having descended from the Vibhajyavādins. The Mahāsāṃghika branch itself, together with the Prajñaptivāda, preferred to be called Bahuśrutiya-Vibhajyavādins. See also Early Buddhist schools References Sources Further reading Lance Cousins, "On the Vibhajjavādins: The Mahimsasaka, Dhammaguttaka, Kassapiya and Tambapanniya branches of the ancient Theriyas", Buddhist Studies Review 18, 2 (2001) Prasad, Chandra Shekhar, "Theravada and Vibhajjavada: A Critical Study of the Two Appellations"' East & West Vol 22 (1972) External links The Buddhist Council The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary Nikaya schools Sthaviravāda Early Buddhist schools