When, why and how did the concept of Bodhisattvahood (菩薩) originate in India in the context of the long and checkered history of Buddhism are some of the most-debated questions among the Buddhologists world over. Both Theravāda and Mahāyāna do, so far as the scriptural testimony is concerned, display their common acquaintance with the concept to the extent that one may easily be led to the belief that the idea was almost inseparable in what is now generally called the original, the earliest or the primitive Buddhism (源 始 佛 教). The idea does not seem to have been alien to the ancient tradition of the Theravādis, although tracing the concept of Bodhisattvahood from the fifth century AD back to the time of the Nikāya period would indicate, as one may opine, a gradual diminution of its scope.
A categorical answer to the question as to whether the Hinayānists borrowed the idea from the Mahāyānists depends much upon how far one is prepared to pursue his research in ancient sources of Buddhism. Emerging from the main trunk of the original teaching of the Master, different branches of the faith grew and flourished side by side, never drifting away from their indisputable heritage of the common tradition.
