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The Jātakas (meaning "Birth Story", "related to a birth") are a voluminous body of literature native to
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
which mainly concern the previous births of
Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
in both human and animal form. According to Peter Skilling, this genre is "one of the oldest classes of Buddhist literature."Skilling, Peter (2010). ''Buddhism and Buddhist Literature of South-East Asia,'' pp. 161-162. Some of these works are also considered great works of literature in their own right. In these stories, the future Buddha may appear as a king, an outcast, a deva, an animal—but, in whatever form, he exhibits some virtue that the tale thereby inculcates. Often, Jātaka tales include an extensive cast of characters who interact and get into various kinds of trouble - whereupon the Buddha character intervenes to resolve all the problems and bring about a
happy ending A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the main protagonists and their sidekicks, while the main villains/antagonists are dead/defeated. In storylines where the protago ...
. The Jātaka genre is based on the idea that the Buddha was able to recollect all his past lives and thus could use these memories to tell a story and illustrate his teachings.Robert E. Buswell (2004). ''Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Volume 1,'' pp. 400-401. For the Buddhist traditions, the jātakas illustrate the many lives, acts and spiritual practices which are required on the long path to
Buddhahood In Buddhism, Buddha (; Pali, Sanskrit: 𑀩𑀼𑀤𑁆𑀥, बुद्ध), "awakened one", is a title for those who are awake, and have attained nirvana and Buddhahood through their own efforts and insight, without a teacher to point ...
. They also illustrate the great qualities or perfections of the Buddha (such as
generosity Generosity (also called largess) is the virtue of being liberal in giving, often as gifts. Generosity is regarded as a virtue by various world religions and philosophies, and is often celebrated in cultural and religious ceremonies. Scientific ...
) and teach Buddhist moral lessons, particularly within the framework of
karma Karma (; sa, कर्म}, ; pi, kamma, italic=yes) in Sanskrit means an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptivel ...
and
rebirth Rebirth may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Film * ''Rebirth'' (2011 film), a 2011 Japanese drama film * ''Rebirth'' (2016 film), a 2016 American thriller film * ''Rebirth'', a documentary film produced by Project Rebirth * ''The Re ...
. Jātaka stories have also been illustrated in
Buddhist architecture Buddhist religious architecture developed in the Indian subcontinent. Three types of structures are associated with the religious architecture of early Buddhism: monasteries ( viharas), places to venerate relics ( stupas), and shrines or prayer ...
throughout the Buddhist world and they continue to be an important element in popular
Buddhist art Buddhist art is visual art produced in the context of Buddhism. It includes depictions of Gautama Buddha and other Buddhas and bodhisattvas, notable Buddhist figures both historical and mythical, narrative scenes from their lives, mandalas, an ...
. Some of the earliest such illustrations can be found at
Sanchi Sanchi is a Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the State of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located, about 23 kilometres from Raisen town, district headquarter and north-east of Bh ...
and
Bharhut Bharhut is a village located in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, central India. It is known for its famous relics from a Buddhist stupa. What makes Bharhut panels unique is that each panel is explicitly labelled in Brahmi characters mentioni ...
. According to Naomi Appleton, Jātaka collections also may have played "an important role in the formation and communication of ideas about
buddhahood In Buddhism, Buddha (; Pali, Sanskrit: 𑀩𑀼𑀤𑁆𑀥, बुद्ध), "awakened one", is a title for those who are awake, and have attained nirvana and Buddhahood through their own efforts and insight, without a teacher to point ...
, karma and merit, and the place of the Buddha in relation to other buddhas and
bodhisattvas In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...
." According to the traditional view found in the Pali ''Jātakanidana'', a prologue to the stories, Gautama made a vow to become a Buddha in the future, in front past Buddha
Dipankara Dipankara (Pali: ''Dīpaṅkara''; Sanskrit: ', "Lamp bearer") or Dipankara Buddha is one of the Buddhas of the past. He is said to have lived on Earth four asankheyyas and one hundred thousand kappas ago. According to some Buddhist or folk t ...
. He then spent many lifetimes on the path to Buddhahood, and the stories from these lives are recorded as Jātakas.Shaw, Sarah (2006). ''The Jatakas: Birth Stories of Bodhisatta'', p. xix. Penguin UK. Jātakas are closely related to (and often overlap with) another genre of Buddhist narrative, the
avadāna Avadāna (Sanskrit; Pali cognate: '' Apadāna'') is the name given to a type of Buddhist literature correlating past lives' virtuous deeds to subsequent lives' events. Richard Salomon described them as "stories, usually narrated by the Buddha, ...
, which is a story of any karmically significant deed (whether by a bodhisattva or otherwise) and its result.Straube, Martin. ''Narratives: South Asia'' in Silk, Jonathan A. (Editor-in-chief) "Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism". Vol. I: Literature and Language. Leiden, Boston 2015Appleton, N 2015, '''The “Jatakvadanas” of the Avadanasataka: An exploration of Indian Buddhist narrative genres, Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. 38, pp. 9-31. According to Naomi Appleton, some tales (such as those found in the second and fourth decade of the '' Avadānaśataka'') can be classified as both a jātaka and an avadāna.


Overview


Dating

Jātaka tales may be quite ancient. The term appears as part of a schema of Buddhist literary forms called the nine component genres of the Buddha's teaching (''navaṅga-buddhasāsana''), and depictions of them appear in early Indian art (as early as the second century BCE). They are also widely represented in ancient Indian inscriptions.Bhikkhu Anālayo. ''Canonical Jātaka Tales in Comparative Perspective– The Evolution of Tales of the Buddha's Past Lives.'' Fuyan Buddhist Studies, No. 7, pp. 75-100 (2012), Hsinchu: Fuyan Buddhist Institute, ISSN: 2070-0512. According to Straube, "the presumably oldest specimens of fully elaborated narratives are dispersed throughout the Vinayapiṭakas and Sūtrapiṭakas of the canonical collections of the different Buddhist schools. These texts are transmitted in various Indian dialects and stem from a prior oral tradition." Furthermore, while these texts cannot be dated in a precise manner, "the fact that many narratives are passed on in almost identical form within the canons of the different schools shows that they date back to the time before the
schisms A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...
between the schools took place." Sarah Shaw, writing on the Pali Jātakas, states that the earliest part of the Jātakas, the verse portions, are "considered amongst the very earliest part of the Pali tradition and date from the fifth century BCE" while "the later parts were incorporated during the period up to the third century CE." According to
A. K. Warder Anthony Kennedy Warder (8 September 1924 – 8 January 2013) was a British Indologist. His best-known works are ''Introduction to Pali'' (1963), ''Indian Buddhism'' (1970), and the eight-volume ''Indian Kāvya Literature'' (1972–2011). Life Wa ...
, jātakas are the precursors to the various legendary biographies of the Buddha, which were composed at later dates.Warder, A.K. ''Indian Buddhism''. 2000. pp. 332-333 Although many jātakas were written from an early period, which describe previous lives of the Buddha, very little biographical material about Gautama's own life has been recorded. Jātaka tales also assimilate many traditional Indian
fables Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral ...
and
folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
that are not specifically Buddhist. As the genre spread outside of India, it also drew on local folk tales.


Literary features and themes

The Mahayana author Asaṅga provides a working definition of jātaka in his '' Śrāvakabhūmi'':
What is jātaka? That which relates the austere practices and bodhisattva practices of the Blessed One in various past births: this is called jātaka.
The idea that jātakas are taught in order to illustrate the bodhisattva path is an ancient one and is contained in sources like the '' Mahavastu'', which states: "the supreme ones uddhas who are skilled in jātakas and other doctrines, teach the course of practice of a bodhisattva." Many jātakas are told with a common threefold plot schema which contains: * a “narrative in the present” (''paccupannavatthu''), with the Buddha and other figures, * a “narrative in the past” (''atītavatthu''), a story from a past life of the Buddha * a "link" (''samodhāna'') in which there is an “identification of the past protagonists with the present ones.” In the jātakas found in the ''Suttapitaka'', which are almost always in prose, the Buddha is almost always depicted as a person of high rank in a past life (and not an animal). Some of these also include past lives of some of the Buddha's disciples. One famous example is the Pali ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'', which includes the story of Mahāsudarśana. Unlike Sutra collections, Vinaya sources like the ''Vinayavastu'' contain more varied jātakas, including ones in which the Buddha is depicted as an animal. Many jātakas contain elements of both verse and prose. According to Martin Straube "the division into canonical verses and postcanonical prose points to the old Indian narrative form of ākhyāna, which has a fixed wording of the stanzas only, whereas the actual story is to be shaped anew during each oral performance." The plots of the jātakas range from simpler Aesopic style animal tales to longer more complex dramas which resemble epics or novels with intricate dialogue, characters and poetry. Despite the diversity of the plots and characters, they are all unified by the character of the heroic bodhisatta Gautama (whose identity is generally only revealed at the end of the story) and his struggles on the quest for awakening. In spite of this, Gautama is not always the central character of all these stories and sometimes only plays a minor role.Crosby, Kate (2013). ''Theravada Buddhism Continuity, Diversity, and Identity,'' p. 100. Wiley-Blackwell. Other recurring characters include important disciples of the Buddha,
Devadatta Devadatta was by tradition a Buddhist monk, cousin and brother-in-law of Gautama Siddhārtha. The accounts of his life vary greatly, but he is generally seen as an evil and divisive figure in Buddhism, who led a breakaway group in the ea ...
(generally as an
villain A villain (also known as a " black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character ...
) and members of Gautama's family, like his wife Yasodharā and son
Rāhula , sa, Rāhula-bhadra; 2. , birth_date = , birth_place = Kapilavastu , death_date = , death_place = Sources differ , title = Patriarch of the Dharma (East Asian Buddhism) , predecessor ...
. Another important element of the stories are the various Buddhist virtues, called perfections, that were cultivated by the bodhisattva Gautama throughout his previous lives, and which serve as the lessons taught by the jātakas. Other jātakas, such as those found in the ''
Buddhavaṃsa The ''Buddhavaṃsa'' (also known as the ''Chronicle of Buddhas'') is a hagiographical Buddhist text which describes the life of Gautama Buddha and of the twenty-four Buddhas who preceded him and prophesied his attainment of Buddhahood. It is ...
'' (''Chronicle of Buddhas''), focus on Gautama's meeting, serving and venerating past Buddhas and serve to place his bodhisattva path in a chronology of past Buddhas. These stories generally focus on acts of devotion to past Buddhas and how this generates much
merit Merit may refer to: Religion * Merit (Christianity) * Merit (Buddhism) * Punya (Hinduism) * Imputed righteousness in Reformed Christianity Companies and brands * Merit (cigarette), a brand of cigarettes made by Altria * Merit Energy Company, ...
which many positive outcomes in the future. A smaller number of jātakas illustrate various mistakes or bad actions that the bodhisattva committed in a past life (and the subsequent karmic retribution) and thus demonstrate the bodhisattva's past imperfections. Regarding the intended audience of these texts, Martin Straube notes that even though there is a widespread view that jātakas arose due to monks "catering to the needs and tastes of the illiterate lay practitioners of Buddhism as propagandistic means of preaching or converting" there is no historical evidence for this. Instead, the opposite might be true, since "the prose portions of the Pali jātakas not infrequently have as their audience monks and nuns, who sometimes reach high levels of spiritual realization after listening to a jātaka story." Naomi Appleton, in her analysis of the second and fourth decade of the '' Avadānaśataka'', notes that both sets of stories "assume a monastic audience." Likewise, Kate Crosby writes that "the format of the Jātaka in fact suggests that their original inclusion in the canonical collection was primarily for the benefit of monks."Crosby, Kate (2013). ''Theravada Buddhism Continuity, Diversity, and Identity,'' pp. 103-105. Wiley-Blackwell. Crosby notes that many of these stories are connected with monastic behavior and decorum, some of them are also meant to illustrate specific rules in the Vinaya. In spite of this main intended audience, their simple format also made them easily adaptable for other uses. Thus, they were repackaged as artistic entertainment and teaching devices for laypersons, as parittas (protective chants) and as chronicle (vamsa) literature. Straube also notes that the rock caves of Ajanta and Bagh were inhabited by monks and it was them who ordered and directed the jātaka murals found there. There is also evidence from inscriptions on old stūpas at various Indian sites (such as
Sanchi Sanchi is a Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the State of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located, about 23 kilometres from Raisen town, district headquarter and north-east of Bh ...
and
Bharhut Bharhut is a village located in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, central India. It is known for its famous relics from a Buddhist stupa. What makes Bharhut panels unique is that each panel is explicitly labelled in Brahmi characters mentioni ...
) with jātaka motifs which indicate that they were build due to the patronage of monks and nuns, some of them of high rank such as bhāṇaka (reciter). Some scholars have also concluded that Jātaka reciters were part of their own division of reciters.


History

Jātakas were originally transmitted in
prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
languages and various forms of sanskrit (from classical to
Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS) is a modern linguistic category applied to the language used in a class of Indian Buddhist texts, such as the Perfection of Wisdom sutras. BHS is classified as a Middle Indo-Aryan language. It is sometimes called "B ...
). They were then translated into central asian languages (such as Khotanese, Tocharian, Uighur, and Sogdian)''.''Skilling, Peter (2010). ''Buddhism and Buddhist Literature of South-East Asia,'' p. 165. Various jātaka stories and source texts were also translated into
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
and Tibetan for the Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist canons. They were some of the first texts to be translated into Chinese. Kāng Sēnghuì (who worked in
Nanking Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
c. 247) was one of the first Chinese translators of Jātakas. Perhaps his most influential translation is the ''Scripture of the Collection of the Six Perfections.'' The various Indian Buddhist schools had different collections of jātakas. The largest known collection is the ''Jātakatthavaṇṇanā'' of the Theravada school. In
Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
, the Jātakas are a textual division of the
Pāli Canon The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During ...
, included in the '' Khuddaka Nikaya'' of the '' Sutta Pitaka''. The term ''Jātaka'' may also refer to a traditional commentaries (''
Atthakatha Aṭṭhakathā (Pali for explanation, commentary) refers to Pali-language Theravadin Buddhist commentaries to the canonical Theravadin Tipitaka. These commentaries give the traditional interpretations of the scriptures. The major commentaries w ...
'') on this book. The tales are dated between 300 BCE and 400 CE. The Mahāsāṃghika
Caitika Caitika () was an early Buddhist school, a sub-sect of the Mahāsāṃghika. They were also known as the Caityaka sect. The Caitikas proliferated throughout the mountains of South India, from which they derived their name. In Pali writing ...
sects from the Āndhra region also had Jātakas as part of their canon and they are known to have rejected some of the Theravāda Jātakas which dated past the time of King
Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...
. The Caitikas claimed that their own Jātakas represented the original collection before the Buddhist tradition split into various lineages.Warder, A.K. ''Indian Buddhism''. 2000. pp. 286-287 In the Northern Buddhist tradition, Jātakas eventually came to be composed in classical
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
. Perhaps the most influential and important Sanskrit Jātaka text is the '' Jātakamālā'' (''Garland of Jātakas'') of Āryaśūra which includes 34 Jātaka stories.Kern, Hendrik (1943) THE JATAKA-MALA. Harvard University Press This work differs from earlier sources in that it is a highly sophisticated poem which makes use of various Sanskrit literary devices. The '' Jātakamālā'' was quite influential and was imitated by later authors who wrote their own jātakamālās'','' mainly Haribhaṭṭa and Gopadatta. These works are all written in a classical Sanskrit genre known as campū, which is a blend of prose and verse in various meters. The jātakamālās all also use the six perfections (pāramitā) as their main framework. The influence of the ''jātakamālās'' can be seen in the
Ajanta Cave The Ajanta Caves are approximately thirty rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century BCE to about 480 CE in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state in India. The caves include paintings and rock-cut sculptures des ...
complex, where illustrations of Jātakas are inscribed with quotes from Āryaśūra, with script datable to the sixth century. The '' Jātakamālā'' was also translated into Chinese in 434 CE.
Borobudur Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur ( id, Candi Borobudur, jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦝꦸꦂ, Candhi Barabudhur) is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indone ...
, a massive 9th century Buddhist site in
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
, contains depictions of all 34 Jatakas from the '' Jātakamālā''. Two other sanskrit authors associated with the jātaka genre are Kumāralāta (2nd century CE), author of the ''Kalpanāmaṇḍitikā Dṛṣṭāntapaṅkti'' (''Collection of Examples, Adorned with an Artistic Arrangement'') and Saṅghasena's (date unknown) ''Pusa benyuan jing'' (菩薩本縁經; ''Sūtra of the Bodhisattva’s Avadānas''). Both works exist only in Chinese translation (but there are sanskrit fragments). These texts are a kind of predecessor to the '' Jātakamālā'' and are less poetically sophisticated. Later sanskrit authors continued to write in the genre. One such late text is Kṣemendra’s (c. 1036–1065) ''Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā (Wish-Fulfilling Creeper Consisting in Avadānas of the Bodhisattva),'' a unique jātaka text written completely in verse. This work was influential on the Tibetan tradition. Jātaka are also important in
Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
. They were one of the main sources of teaching and study for the popular Kadam school and later Tibetan authors produced abridged collections such as
Karmapa The Karmapa (honorific title ''His Holiness the Gyalwa'' ྒྱལ་བ་, Victorious One''Karmapa'', more formally as ''Gyalwang'' ྒྱལ་དབང་ཀརྨ་པ་, King of Victorious Ones''Karmapa'', and informally as the '' ...
Rangjung Dorje Rangjung Dorje () (1284–1339) was the third Karmapa (head of the Karma Kagyu, the largest sub-school of the Kagyu) and an important figure in the history of Tibetan Buddhism, who helped to spread Buddha-nature teachings in Tibetan Buddhism. Bi ...
's ''Hundred Births'' and Padma Chopel's summary of the ''Avadānakalpalatā.''


Classic Jātaka sources

There are numerous sources for classic or canonical Jātaka tales, including: * The various Vinayapiṭakas and Sūtrapiṭakas of the different canons of the
early Buddhist schools The early Buddhist schools are those schools into which the Buddhist monastic saṅgha split early in the history of Buddhism. The divisions were originally due to differences in Vinaya and later also due to doctrinal differences and geograp ...
* The
Gandharan Buddhist texts Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Vall ...
contain many Jātaka narratives, though here they are more commonly termed pūrvayogas ("former connection") * The ''Jātakatthavaṇṇanā,'' the
Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
Jātaka collection (part of the '' Khuddaka Nikāya'') contains 547 Jātakas in mixed verse ( gāthās) and prose and was collected around 500 CE. It is preceded by the ''Nidānakathā'', which is a biography of the Buddha which relates the stories to his life. It is the largest collection of Jātakas. * The ''
Cariyāpiṭaka The Cariyapitaka (; where ''cariya'' is Pali for "conduct" or "proper conduct" and ''pitaka'' is usually translated as "basket"; abbrev. Cp) is a Buddhist scripture, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. It is included there in the Sut ...
,'' a treatise on the bodhisattva paramis, which includes 35 Jātakas. * Kumāralāta's (2nd century CE) ''Kalpanāmaṇḍitikā Dṛṣṭāntapaṅkti'' (''Collection of Examples, Adorned with an Artistic Arrangement'') * Saṅghasena's (date unknown) ''Pusa benyuan jing'' (菩薩本縁經; ''Sūtra of the Bodhisattva’s Avadānas'') * An untitled collection of Sanskrit avadānas and jātakas found in the Merv oasis dated to the 5th century CE * All the Pali commentaries ( Aṭṭhakathā) on the Vinayapiṭaka and Suttapiṭaka contain Jātakas, the commentary on the Dhammapada is a popular and well known source. * The ''
Buddhavaṃsa The ''Buddhavaṃsa'' (also known as the ''Chronicle of Buddhas'') is a hagiographical Buddhist text which describes the life of Gautama Buddha and of the twenty-four Buddhas who preceded him and prophesied his attainment of Buddhahood. It is ...
'' * The ''
Mahāvastu The Mahāvastu (Sanskrit for "Great Event" or "Great Story") is a text of the Lokottaravāda school of Early Buddhism. It describes itself as being a historical preface to the Buddhist monastic codes (''vinaya''). Over half of the text is compo ...
'' (''Great Event''), a text of the Mahāsāṅghika
Lokottaravāda The Lokottaravāda (Sanskrit, लोकोत्तरवाद; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools according to Mahayana doxological sources compiled by Bhāviveka, Vinitadeva and others, and was a subgroup which emerged from the Mahāsā ...
school, contains many jātakas and avadānas * The '' Vinayavastu'' of the
Mūlasarvāstivāda The Mūlasarvāstivāda (Sanskrit: मूलसर्वास्तिवाद; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools of India. The origins of the Mūlasarvāstivāda and their relationship to the Sarvāstivāda sect still remain largely unk ...
school (which only survives in complete form in Tibetan translation), contains many jātakas and avadānas * The '' Avadānaśataka'' (''The Hundred Avadānas,'' c. 2nd-6th century CE) contains various "Jātakāvadānas". * The '' Karmaśataka'' * The '' Divyāvadāna (Heavenly Avadānas)'' * The commentary on the Udānavarga by Prajñāvarman (8th century), which survives in Tibetan, contains numerous Jātakas * ''Lalitavistara'' (''The Play in Full''), a biography of the Buddha containing various Jātakas. * The ''Liu du ji jing'' (六度集經, ''Scripture of the Collection of the Six Perfections'', Taisho 152), translated by Kang Senghui (?–280) in the third century CE.Ching-mei Shyu (2008). ''A Few Good Women: A Study of the Liu Du Ji Jing (a Scripture on the Collection of the Six Perfections) from Literary, Artistic, and Gender Perspectives,'' pp. 5-6. Cornell University. * ''Jātaka Sūtra'' (''Sheng jing'', 生經, Taisho Tripitaka 154), a Chinese collection of 55 Jātakas translated into Chinese by Dharmaraksa (3rd century). * The ''Xian yu jing'' (賢愚經, Taisho 202), with 69 stories. * The ''Da zhuang yan lun jing'' (大莊嚴論經, ''*Kalpanāmaṇḍitikā'', Taisho 201), translation by
Kumārajīva Kumārajīva (Sanskrit: कुमारजीव; , 344–413 CE) was a Buddhist monk, scholar, missionary and translator from the Kingdom of Kucha (present-day Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China). Kumārajīva is seen as one of the greatest ...
, with 90 stories. * The '' Jātakamālā (Garland of Jātakas),'' a series of classical Sanskrit
kāvya Kāvya (Devanagari: काव्य, IAST: ''kāvyá'') refers to the Sanskrit literary style used by Indian court poets flourishing between c.200 BCE and 1200 CE. This literary style, which includes both poetry and prose, is characterised by a ...
poems by Āryaśūra (4th century), contains 34 Jātakas. * Haribhaṭṭa's ''Jātakamālā'' (Sanskrit) * Sarvarakṣita's ''Maṇicūḍajātaka'' (12th-century), a Sāṃmitīya school text in 376 kāvya style stanzas. * ''The Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish'' (Skt. ''Damamūka-nidāna-sūtra''; Tibetan: ''mdo mdzangs blun''; Chinese: ''hsien-yü ching'') * Many
Mahayana sutras The Mahāyāna sūtras are a broad genre of Buddhist scriptures (''sūtra'') that are accepted as canonical and as ''buddhavacana'' ("Buddha word") in Mahāyāna Buddhism. They are largely preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon, the Tibet ...
contain Jātakas embedded into them. For example, the ''Bodhisattvapiṭaka-sutra'' contains numerous Jātakas which are used to illustrate the various bodhisattva qualities. Likewise, Jātakas are an important element in the ''Large'' '' Prajñāpāramitā sutra'', the '' Suvarṇaprabhāsa sūtra'' and the '' Bhadrakalpika-sūtra''. * The ''Dà zhìdù lùn'' (大智度論) a massive
Mahāyāna ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
treatise and commentary which survives in Chinese translation by Kumarajiva, contains numerous Jātakas which are used to illustrate the six perfections as well as other topics. * Kṣemendra’s (c. 1036–1065) ''Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā (Wish-Fulfilling Creeper Consisting in Avadānas of the Bodhisattva)''


Late Jātakas

Within the Pali tradition, there are also many non-canonical Jātakas of later composition (some dated even to the 19th century) but these are treated as a separate category of literature from the "official" Jātaka stories that have been more or less formally canonized from at least the 5th century — as attested to in ample epigraphic and archaeological evidence, such as extant illustrations in bas relief from ancient temple walls. Apocryphal Jātakas of the Pali Buddhist canon, such as those belonging to the '' Paññāsa Jātaka'' collection, have been adapted to fit local culture in certain South East Asian countries and have been retold with amendments to the plots to better reflect Buddhist morals. According to Kate Crosby, "there is also a collection of Jātaka of ten future Buddhas, beginning with
Metteyya Maitreya (Sanskrit: ) or Metteyya (Pali: ), also Maitreya Buddha or Metteyya Buddha, is regarded as the future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. As the 5th and final Buddha of the current kalpa, Maitreya's teachings will be aimed at ...
, which though less well-known today clearly circulated widely in the Theravada world." There are also late compositions based on classic Jātakas, such as the '' Kavsiḷumiṇa,'' a poem based on the Kusa Jātaka in archaic Sinhala written King Parākkamabāhu II (13th century) and the '' Mahachat kham luang'', the ‘royal version' of the ''Vessantara jātaka,'' which was composed at the court of King Paramatrailokanātha (c. 1482). The art of putting classic Jātakas into Thai verse remains a living tradition to this day.


Important Jātakas


In Theravada

The Theravāda Jātakas comprise 547 poems, arranged roughly by an increasing number of verses. According to Professor von Hinüber, only the last 50 were intended to be intelligible by themselves, without commentary. The commentary gives stories in prose that it claims provide the context for the verses, and it is these stories that are of interest to
folklorists Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...
. Alternative versions of some of the stories can be found in another book of the Pali Canon, the '' Cariyapitaka'', and a number of individual stories can be found scattered around other books of the Canon. Many of the stories and motifs found in the Jātaka such as the
Rabbit in the Moon Rabbit in the Moon is an American electronic music group that formed in 1991. Their style draws from psychedelic trance, house music and breakbeat, along with other diverse influences. History Formed in 1992 in Tampa, Florida, the group cons ...
of the Śaśajātaka (Jataka Tales: no.316), are found in numerous other languages and media. For example, The Monkey and the Crocodile, The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking and The Crab and the Crane that are listed below also famously featured in the Hindu Panchatantra, the Sanskrit ''niti-shastra'' that ubiquitously influenced world literature. Many of the stories and motifs are translations from the Pali but others are instead derived from vernacular oral traditions prior to the Pali compositions. At the
Mahathupa The Ruwanweli Maha Seya, also known as the Mahathupa (), is a stupa (a hemispherical structure containing relics) in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. Two quarts or one Dona of the Buddha's relics are enshrined in the stupa, making it the largest collecti ...
in Sri Lanka all 550 Jataka tales were represented inside of the reliquary chamber. Reliquaries often depict the Jataka tales. In
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...
, the most important and widely known stories are the 10 stories of the '' Mahānipāta jātaka'' (''Ten Great Birth Stories)''. These tales are considered to be the ten final lives of the bodisattva Gautama and are said to have been the completion of the 10 paramis or perfections. Of these, the Vessantara is the most popular. According to Peter Skilling, part of the reason for its popularity "was the pervasive belief, spread through the Māleyya-sutta and related literature, that by listening to this jātaka one could be assured of meeting the next Buddha, Metteya." The following list includes some important jātakas of the Pali tradition: * The Ass in the Lion's Skin (''Sīhacamma Jātaka'') * The Banyan Deer * The Cock and the Cat (''Kukkuṭa Jātaka'') * The Crab and the Crane * The Elephant Girly-Face * The Monkey King (''Mahakapi Jataka'') * The Foolish, Timid Rabbit (''Daddabha Jātaka'') * Four Harmonious Animals * The Great Ape * How the Turtle Saved His Own Life * The Jackal and the Crow (''Jambu-Khādaka Jātaka'') * The Jackal and the Otters (''Dabbhapuppha Jātaka'') * The King's White Elephant * The Lion and the Woodpecker (''Javasakuṇa Jātaka'') * The Measure of Rice * The Merchant of Seri * The Monkey and the Crocodile * The Ox Who Envied the Pig (''Muṇika-Jātaka'') * The Ox Who Won the Forfeit *
The story of Romaka pigeon ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
(''Romaka Jātaka'', previous life of the Buddha as a pigeon). * Prince Sattva *
The Princes and the Water-Sprite ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
* The Quarrel of the Quails * The Swan with Golden Feathers (''Suvaṇṇahaṃsa Jātaka'') * King Sibi * King Dasharatha *
The Tiger, the Brahmin and the Jackal The Tiger, the Brahmin and the Jackal is a popular Indian folklore with a long history and many variants. The earliest record of the folklore was included in the Panchatantra, which dates the story between 200 BCE and 300 CE. Mary Frere included a ...
* The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking (''Kacchapa Jātaka'') * The Twelve Sisters * The Wise and the Foolish Merchant * Vessantara Jataka * Why the Owl Is Not King of the Birds


Āryaśūra's Jātakamālā

Āryaśūra's ''Jātakamālā'', a very influential Sanskrit work that was depicted throughout the Buddhist world, contains the following Jātakas (which teach various virtues): * The Story of the Tigress (focuses on the perfection of
Dāna Dāna (Devanagari: दान, IAST: Dānam) is a Sanskrit and Pali word that connotes the virtue of generosity, charity or giving of alms in Indian philosophies. In Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, dāna is the practice of cultivati ...
, giving) * The Story of the King of the Śibis (Dāna) * The Story of the Small Portion of Gruel (Dāna) * The Story of the Head of A Guild (Dāna) * The Story of Aviṣahya, the Head of a Guild (Dāna) * The Story of the Hare (Dāna) * The Story of Agastya (Dāna) * The Story of Maitrībala (Dāna) * The Story of Viśvantara (Dāna) * The Story of the Sacrifice (teaches
Śīla Buddhist ethics are traditionally based on what Buddhists view as the enlightened perspective of the Buddha. The term for ethics or morality used in Buddhism is ''Śīla'' or ''sīla'' (Pāli). ''Śīla'' in Buddhism is one of three sections of ...
, morality) * The Story of Sakra (
Karuṇā ' () is generally translated as compassion or mercy and sometimes as self-compassion or spiritual longing. It is a significant spiritual concept in the Indic religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. Buddhism is important in ...
, compassion) * The Story of the Brāhman ( Hrī, self-respect) * The Story of Unmādayantī (Dhairya, “self-control”) * The Story of Supāraga (
Sacca ''Sacca'' ( sa, Satya सत्य) is a Pali word meaning "real" or "true". In early Buddhist literature, ''sacca'' is often found in the context of the "Four Noble Truths",_a_crystallization_of_Buddhist_wisdom.__In_addition,_''sacca''_is_one_o ...
, truth) * The Story of the Fish (Sacca, truth) * The Story of the Quail’s Young (Sacca, truth) * The Story of the Jar (Vāra, excellence) * The Story of the Childless One (Praviveka, seclusion) * The Story of the Lotus-Stalks (Praviveka) * The Story of the Treasurer (Hrī) * The Story of Cuḍḍabodhi (
Khanti Kshanti (Sanskrit ') or khanti (Pāli) is patience, forbearance and forgiveness. It is one of the pāramitās in both Theravāda and Mahāyāna Buddhism. Canonical sources Examples in the Pāli canon identify using forbearance in response to ot ...
, patient acceptance) * The Story of the Holy Swans (
Maitrī ''Maitrī'' (Sanskrit; Pali: ''mettā'') means benevolence, loving-kindness,Warder (2004), pp. 63, 94. friendliness,Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 540, entry for "Mettā," retrieved 2008-04-29 from "U. Chicago" a amity, good will,Richard G ...
, loving-kindness) * The Story of Mahābodhi (Khanti) * The Story of the Great Ape (Anukampā, compassion) * The Story of the Śarabha (Anukampā) * The Story of the Ruru-Deer (Dayā, kindness) * The Story of the Great Monkey (Anuvartinā, obedience) * The Story of Kṣāntivādin (Khanti) * The Story of the Inhabitant of the Brahmaloka (Anukampā) * The Story of the Elephant (Karuṇā) * The Story of Sutasoma (Satsaṁga, goodness) * The Story of Ayogṛha (
Saṃvega Saṃvega is a Buddhist term which indicates a sense of shock, dismay and spiritual urgency to reach liberation and escape the suffering of samsara. According to Thanissaro Bhikku, ''saṃvega'' is the "first emotion you're supposed to bring to ...
, spiritual urgency) * The Story of the Buffalo (Khanti) * The Story of the Woodpecker (Khanti)


Jātakas in art and culture

Jātakas have been important as a way to spread Buddhist teachings and they were widely used as part of sermons, rituals, festivals, and various forms of art. Kate Crosby writes that they have been depicted in such varied forms as "apocryphal literature, vernacular retellings, performance, temple art, temporary street and festival art, films, comics, and cartoons." The sponsorship of Jātaka recitations, copyings and art eventually grew to be seen as an act which generated merit for lay Buddhists. These acts are more common around important festivals like
Vesak Vesak (Pali: ''Vesākha''; sa, Vaiśākha), also known as Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima and Buddha Day, is a holiday traditionally observed by Buddhists in South Asia and Southeast Asia as well as Tibet and Mongolia. The festival commemora ...
. The earliest archeological findings which depict Jātakas are the illustrations found in the on the
Bharhut Bharhut is a village located in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, central India. It is known for its famous relics from a Buddhist stupa. What makes Bharhut panels unique is that each panel is explicitly labelled in Brahmi characters mentioni ...
stupa railing as well as at
Sanchi Sanchi is a Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the State of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located, about 23 kilometres from Raisen town, district headquarter and north-east of Bh ...
(c. late 2nd - 1st century BCE), which also include inscriptions.Robert E. Buswell (2004). ''Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Volume 1,'' pp. 401-402. After this, Jātakas appear at many Buddhist sites, like at Ajanta. Similar Jātaka tales are found in murals of Silk Road sites of the pre-Tang period (ca. 421–640 C.E.), such as at
Kucha Kucha, or Kuche (also: ''Kuçar'', ''Kuchar''; ug, كۇچار, Кучар; zh, t= 龜茲, p=Qiūcí, zh, t= 庫車, p=Kùchē; sa, कूचीन, translit=Kūcīna), was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road ...
. They are also found in early Southeast Asian sites, especially at Bagan sites.
Burmese Buddhism Buddhism ( my, ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ), specifically Theravāda Buddhism ( my, ထေရဝါဒဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ), is the State religion of Myanmar since 1961, and practiced by nearly 90% of the population. It is the most re ...
has an extensive tradition of Jātaka illustration, one of the best examples being the illustrations found at
Ananda Temple The Ananda Temple ( my, အာနန္ဒာ ဘုရား, ), located in Bagan, Myanmar is a Buddhist temple built in 1105 AD during the reign (1084–1112/13) of King Kyansittha of the Pagan Dynasty. The temple layout is in a cruciform with ...
(which depicts 554 tales). Jātaka tales are often associated with specific locations. Originally, this applied to specific places in India, which served as
Buddhist pilgrimage sites The most important places in Buddhism are located in the Indo-Gangetic Plain of northern India and southern Nepal, in the area between New Delhi and Rajgir. This is the area where Gautama Buddha lived and taught, and the main sites connected to ...
. Later traditions expanded this to include other places throughout the Buddhist world. According to Naomi Appleton, the fact that Jātaka tales lack specific references to specific places allowed them to be easily transported and re-localized. This flexibility contributed to the lasting popularity of the Jātakas.Appleton, Naomi. ''A place for the Bodhisatta: the local and the universal in jātaka stories.'' Acta Orientalia Vilnensia 8.1 (2007): 109–122. This tradition of associating Jātaka tales with regions outside of India played an important part in the promotion and legitimisation of Buddhism in these regions. Thus, many
stupas A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circumamb ...
in Nepal and northern India are said to mark locations from the Jātaka tales. Chinese pilgrims like
Xuanzang Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...
and
Faxian Faxian (法顯 ; 337 CE – c. 422 CE), also referred to as Fa-Hien, Fa-hsien and Sehi, was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled by foot from China to India to acquire Buddhist texts. Starting his arduous journey about age 60, h ...
reported several of these and discussed the stories connected with them. Sites discussed by these figures include the "four great stupas" as well as stupas in
Pushkalavati Pushkalavati ( ps, پشکلاوتي; Urdu: ; Sanskrit: ; Prākrit: ; grc, Πευκελαῶτις ) or Pushkaravati ( Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ), and later Shaikhan Dheri ( ps, شېخان ډېرۍ; ur, ), was the capital of the Gandhara kingd ...
, Mangalura, Hadda Mountain, and Sarvadattaan. According to Naomi Appleton, the "four great stupas" visited by Faxian (337–422 CE) are:
the first (in ‘So-ho-to’) was where the Buddha ransomed the life of a dove with his own flesh; the second (in
Gandhāra Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Val ...
) was where he gave away his eyes to a blind beggar; and the third and fourth (in Takshaśilā) were where he gave away his head to a man and his whole body to a starving tigress who was about to eat her own cubs, and where ‘kings, ministers, and peoples of all the kingdoms around vie with one another in making offerings’. A century later, Songyun writes of the same four sites and also mentions a whole area associated with the ''Vessantara-jātaka''.


Artistic depictions at major sites

Numerous Indian Buddhist archeological sites contain illustrations of Jātakas, and thus they are important artistic sources for Jātakas. Some of the main sites include: *
Sanchi Sanchi is a Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the State of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located, about 23 kilometres from Raisen town, district headquarter and north-east of Bh ...
*
Bharhut Bharhut is a village located in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, central India. It is known for its famous relics from a Buddhist stupa. What makes Bharhut panels unique is that each panel is explicitly labelled in Brahmi characters mentioni ...
* Kanaganahalli *
Amaravati Amaravati () is the capital of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the river Krishna in Guntur district. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone at a ceremonial event in Uddandara ...
* Goli *
Nagarjunakonda Nagarjunakonda (IAST: Nāgārjunikoṇḍa, meaning Nagarjuna Hill) is a historical town, now an island located near Nagarjuna Sagar in Palnadu district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, near the state border with Telangana. It is one o ...
* Ajanta Caves *
Bagh Caves The Bagh Caves are a group of nine rock-cut monuments, situated among the southern slopes of the Vindhyas in Bagh town of Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh state in central India. These monuments are located at a distance of 97 km from Dhar ...
*
Mathura Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately north of Agra, and south-east of Delhi; about from the town of Vrindavan, and from Govardhan. ...
Other ancient sites outside of India which contain Jataka illustrations include
Borobudor Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur ( id, Candi Borobudur, jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦝꦸꦂ, Candhi Barabudhur) is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indonesi ...
, Dunhuang (the
Mogao caves The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...
), Polonnoruwa,
Anuradhapura Anuradhapura ( si, අනුරාධපුරය, translit=Anurādhapuraya; ta, அனுராதபுரம், translit=Aṉurātapuram) is a major city located in north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central ...
, Bagan city, and
Nakhon Pathom Nakhon Pathom ( th, นครปฐม, ) is a city (''thesaban nakhon'') in central Thailand, the former capital of Nakhon Pathom province. One of the most important landmarks is the giant Phra Pathommachedi. The city is also home to Thailand's ...
. Jataka illustrations (especially of the last 10 stories of the canonical Pali collection) are widespread in the Theravada Buddhist world, adorning many temples, wats and key sites.


Performance

According to the Chinese pilgrim
Yijing The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...
, who visited India in the 7th century, jātaka plays were performed ‘throughout the five countries of India’. This culture of performance spread to other regions as well.Skilling, Peter (2010). ''Buddhism and Buddhist Literature of South-East Asia,'' p. 167. In Tibet, the ''Viśvāntara-jātaka'' was transformed into a popular play called the ''Dri med kun ldan''. Other popular jataka plays include Nor bzaṅ or Sudhana and the story of Prince Maṇicūḍa (Lokānanda). In
Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
countries, several of the longer tales such as " The Twelve Sisters" and the '' Vessantara Jataka'' are still performed in dance, theatre, puppetry, and formal (quasi-ritual) recitation. Such celebrations are associated with particular holidays on the
lunar calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, t ...
used by
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
,
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, Sri Lanka and Laos. The recitation of the ''Vessantara Jataka'' remains an important ceremony remains an important ceremony in Theravada countries today.


Gallery

File:015 Chaddanta Jataka (32969347194).jpg, Chaddanta Jataka, Sanchi File:048 The Sama Jataka (32999350973).jpg, Sama Jataka, Sanchi File:Syama Jataka Sanchi Stupa 1Western Gateway.jpg, Syama Jataka Sanchi Stupa File:Muga Pakha Jataka 2.jpg, Muga Pakha Jataka, Bharhut File:Vessantara Jataka - Sandstone - ca 2nd Century BCE - Sunga Period - Bharhut - ACCN 421-422 - Indian Museum - Kolkata 2016-03-06 1537.JPG, Vessantara Jataka, Bharhut, Shunga period File:Ajanta Cave 1 Mahajanaka Jataka painting.jpg, Ajanta Cave 1, Mahajanaka Jataka File:Hamsa jâtaka, Ajanta, India.jpg, Hamsa jataka, Ajanta Caves File:Ajanta cave I Chanpeyya Jataka.jpg, Ajanta cave 1, Chanpeyya Jataka File:Sibi Jataka BM OA 1912.12-21.1 n01.jpg, Sibi Jataka, Gandhara File:The Aristocratic Women, Illustration of the tale of 'The Necklace of Thread', From the Maha-Ummagga Jataka (Story of the Great Tunnel)? LACMA AC1999.3.1 (1 of 6).jpg, Maha-Ummagga Jataka, Gandhara, 2nd century CE File:Indian Museum Sculpture - Dipankara Jataka, Jamalgarhi (9220936094).jpg, Dipankara Jataka, Jamalgarhi File:Tumshuq, illustrazione del visvamtara-jataka, da toqquz-sarai, 500-610 ca..JPG, Tumshuq, Toqquz-sarai monastery, Visvamtara-jataka fILE:Nine-colored deer jataka. Northern Wei. Mogao cave 257.jpg, Nine-colored deer jataka. Northern Wei.
Mogao cave The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...
257 File:Thangka of Buddha with the One Hundred Jataka Tales, Tibet, 13th-14th century.jpg,
Thangka A ''thangka'', variously spelled as ''thangka'', ''tangka'', ''thanka'', or ''tanka'' (; Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་; Nepal Bhasa: पौभा), is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, ...
of Buddha with the One Hundred Jataka Tales in the background,
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
, 13th-14th century. File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Reliëf Borobudur TMnr 60042617.jpg, Khudda-bodhi-Jataka,
Borobudur Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur ( id, Candi Borobudur, jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦝꦸꦂ, Candhi Barabudhur) is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indone ...
File:Jataka - Level 1 Balustrade Top - 050 Jataka, South Wall (8596158673).jpg, Borobudur Jataka, Level 1 Balustrade, South Wall File:Jataka - Level 1 Balustrade Top - 051 Jataka, South Wall (panels) (8597265312).jpg, Borobudur Jataka, Level 1 Balustrade, South Wall File:Kucha Turtle King Jataka.jpg,
Kucha Kucha, or Kuche (also: ''Kuçar'', ''Kuchar''; ug, كۇچار, Кучар; zh, t= 龜茲, p=Qiūcí, zh, t= 庫車, p=Kùchē; sa, कूचीन, translit=Kūcīna), was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road ...
, Turtle King Jataka File:Jataka tales panels, Dhamma Nagajjuna, Nagarjuna Sagar Telangana, India - 4.jpg, Modern era rendition of the Jataka tales by a Myanmar-based Vipassana center in India File:Thai - Vessantara Jataka, Narrative Scroll - Walters 35256 - View H.jpg, Thai Vessantara Jataka Narrative Scroll fILE:006 Virtue, King Bhuridatta although caught by Alambayana maintains his Virtue (9273711196).jpg, King Bhuridatta although caught by Alambayana maintains his Virtue, Bhuridatta Jataka File:Thai - Vessantara Jataka, Chapter 3 - Vessantara Gives Away the Chariot - Walters 35233.jpg, Thai Vessantara Jataka painting File:Sessen Dōji-zu by Soga Shōhaku.jpg, "The snow-covered mountain child", by Soga Shōhaku circa 1764 File:The Story of King Mandhatar; The Story of King Candraprabha; The Tale of the Island of Vadaradvipa, Painting from an Avadana Kalpalata Jataka Series LACMA M.82.9.jpg, The Story of King Mandhatar; The Story of King Candraprabha; The Tale of the Island of Vadaradvipa, Tibetan Painting from an Avadana Kalpalata Jataka Series File:Tibetan - Buddha Shakyamuni with "Jataka" Tales - Walters 35140.jpg, Tibetan Buddha Shakyamuni with "Jataka" Tales File:Round Bowl Depicting the Vessantara Jataka - Silver Alloy - 18th-19th Century CE - Myanmar - ACCN R 8367 - Indian Museum - Kolkata 2016-03-06 1813.JPG, Round Bowl Depicting the Vessantara Jataka - Silver Alloy - 18th-19th Century CE - Myanmar.


English Translations

The standard Pali collection of jātakas, with
canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical examp ...
text embedded, has been translated by E. B. Cowell and others, originally published in six volumes by
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...
(1895-1907) and reprinted in three volumes, by the
Pali Text Society The Pali Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts". Pāli is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved. The ...
(Bristol). There are also numerous English translations of selections and individual stories from various sources. Some of the main translations of jātakas available in English include: * Bhikshu Dharmamitra, trans. ''Marvelous Stories from The Perfection of Wisdom: 130 Didactic Stories from Ārya Nāgārjuna’s Exegesis on the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra''. Kalavinka Press, 2008. * Burlingame, E.W., trans., ''Buddhist Legends: Translated from the Original Pali Text of the Dhammapada Commentary'' , 3 vols., HOS 28–30, Cambridge MA, 1921. * Cowell, E.B., & R.A. Neil, eds.,''The Jātaka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births,'' 6 vols., Cambridge UK, 1895–1907. * Cowell, E.B., & R.A. Neil, eds., ''The Divyâvadâna: A Collection of Early Buddhist Legends,'' Cambridge UK, 1886. * Cone, Margaret. ''The Perfect Generosity of Prince Vessantara: A Buddhist Epic'', Clarendon Press (1977) * Frye, Stanley. ''Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish'', Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2006. * Schiefner, F. Anton von. ''Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources, translated from the Tibetan Kah Gyur'' (translated from the German by W.R.S. Ralston) (repr. Delhi: Sri Satguru, 1988) * Hahn, M., ed., ''Poetical Vision of the Buddha’s Former Lives: Seventeen Legends from Haribhaṭṭa’s Jātakamālā,'' New Delhi, 2011. * Horner, I.B., trans., ''The Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon: Part III: Chronicle of Buddhas (Buddhavaṁsa) and Basket of Conduct (Cariyāpiṭaka),'' SBB 31, London, 1975. * Horner, I.B., & H.S. Gehman, trans., ''The Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon: Part IV: Vimānavatthu: Stories of the Mansions,'' SBB 30, London 1974. * I. B. Horner, trans, ''Minor Anthologies'' III, 2nd edition, 1975,
Pali Text Society The Pali Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts". Pāli is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved. The ...
, Bristol. * Jayawickrama, N.A., trans., ''The Story of Gotama Buddha: The Nidāna-kathā of the Jātakaṭṭhakathā,'' Oxford, 1990. * Jayawickrama, N.A., ed., ''Buddhavaṃsa and Cariyāpiṭaka'', PTSTS 166, London, 1974. * Jones, J.J., trans., ''The Mahāvastu: Translated from the Buddhist Sanskrit'', 3 vols., SBB 16, 18 & 19, London, 1949–1956. * Kern, H., ed., ''The Jātaka-Mālā or Bodhisattvāvadāna-Mālā'' by Ārya-Çūra, HOS 1, Boston, 1891. * Khoroche, P., trans., ''Once the Buddha Was a Monkey: Ārya Śūra’s Jātakamālā'', London, 1989. * Naomi Appleton, ''Many Buddhas, One Buddha: A Study and Translation of Avadānaśataka 1-40'' (Sheffield: Equinox, 2020) * Naomi Appleton and Sarah Shaw (trans.), ''The Ten Great Birth Stories of the Bodhisatta'' (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Press, 2015). * Appleton, Naomi; Shaw, Sarah. ''The Ten Great Birth Stories of the Buddha: The Mahanipata of the Jatakatthavanonoana;'' Silkworm Books, (2016) * Ñāṇamoli, ''The Life of the Buddha according to the Pali Canon'', Kandy, 1992. * Rotman, A., trans., ''Divine Stories: Divyāvadāna: Part 1: Classics of Indian Buddhism,'' Boston, 2008. * Rotman, A., trans. ''Divine Stories, Part 2'', Wisdom Publications, 2017. * Tatelman, J., ed. & trans., ''The Heavenly Exploits: Buddhist Biographies from the Divyāvadāna,'' vol. I, New York, 2005.


In other religions

Stories which are similar to the jātakas are also found in
Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle bein ...
, which has stories focused on Mahavira's path to enlightenment in previous lives.Appleton, Naomi. ''The Multi-life Stories of Gautama Buddha and Vardhamāna Mahāvīra'', Buddhist Studies Review ISSN (online) 1747-9681. The Jain stories include Mahavira's numerous forms of rebirth, such as animals as well as encounters with past liberated beings (
jinas In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (Sanskrit: '; English: literally a ' ford-maker') is a saviour and spiritual teacher of the ''dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a '' tirtha'', which is a fordable passa ...
) which predict Mahavira's future enlightenment. However, a major difference here is that, while Mahavira gets a prediction of future enlightenment, he does not make a vow to become a jina in the future, unlike the bodhisattva Gautama. There is also no equivalent idea of a bodhisattva path in Jainism, in-spite of the existence of some narratives about Mahavira's past lives. A similar collection of Indian animal
fables Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral ...
is the Hindu ''Pañcatantra'', which has been dated to around 200 BCE. Some Buddhist jātakas were also adopted and retold by Islamic (and later Christian) authors, such as the 10th century Shia scholar Ibn Bābūya, who adapted a jātaka into a story titled Balawhar wa-Būdāsf, which became the Christian narrative of Barlaam and Joasaph.Crosby, Kate (2013). ''Theravada Buddhism Continuity, Diversity, and Identity,'' p. 101. Wiley-Blackwell.


See also

*
Mahanipata Jataka The ''Mahanipata Jataka'' (), sometimes translated as ''the Ten Great Birth Stories of the Buddha'', are a set of stories from the Jataka tales (Khuddaka Nikāya) describing the ten final lives of the Bodisattva who would finally be born as S ...
* Paññāsa Jātaka *
Edward Byles Cowell Edward Byles Cowell, (23 January 1826 – 9 February 1903) was a noted translator of Persian poetry and the first professor of Sanskrit at Cambridge University. Cowell was born in Ipswich, the son of Charles Cowell and Marianne Byles. Elizabet ...
*
Avadana Avadāna (Sanskrit; Pali cognate: '' Apadāna'') is the name given to a type of Buddhist literature correlating past lives' virtuous deeds to subsequent lives' events. Richard Salomon described them as "stories, usually narrated by the Buddha, ...
*
Apadāna The ''Apadāna'' is a collection of biographical stories found in the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Pāli Canon, the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. G.P. Malalasekera describes it as 'a Buddhist Vitae Sanctorum' of Buddhist monks and nuns who lived du ...
*
Divyavadana The ''Divyāvadāna'' or Divine narratives is a Sanskrit anthology of Buddhist avadana tales, many originating in Mūlasarvāstivādin vinaya texts. It may be dated to 2nd century CE. The stories themselves are therefore quite ancient and may be ...
*
Mahāvastu The Mahāvastu (Sanskrit for "Great Event" or "Great Story") is a text of the Lokottaravāda school of Early Buddhism. It describes itself as being a historical preface to the Buddhist monastic codes (''vinaya''). Over half of the text is compo ...
*
Avadanasataka The Avadānaśataka or "Century of Noble Deeds ( Avadāna)" is an anthology in Sanskrit of one hundred Buddhist legends, approximately dating to the same time as the Ashokavadana. Ratnamālāvadāna. The work may be from the Mulasarvastivada Th ...
* Panchatantra *
Aesop's Fables Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to ...
*
Robert Chalmers, 1st Baron Chalmers Robert Chalmers, 1st Baron Chalmers, (18 August 1858 – 17 November 1938) was a British civil servant, and a Pali and Buddhist scholar. In later life, he served as the Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge. Background and education Chalmers was b ...
* Kalila and Demna * Puranas


Citations


General sources

*


Further reading

* Cowell, E. B.; ed. (1895). "The Jataka or Stories of the Buddha's Former Births, Vol.1-6, Cambridge at the University Press. Vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3, vol. 6 * Francis, Henry Thomas (1916). Jātaka tales, Cambridge: University Press * Gaffney, Sean (2018
sKyes pa rabs kyi gleṅ gźi (Jātakanidāna): a critical edition based on six editions of the Tibetan bKa' 'gyur
Indica et Buddhica Jātakanidāna, vol. I. Oxford: Indica et Buddhica. (Open Access PDF). * Gaffney, Sean (2019
sKyes pa rabs kyi gleṅ gźi (Jātakanidāna): Prologue to the Birth Stories: an English translation of a critical edition based on six editions of the Tibetan bKa' 'gyur
Indica et Buddhica Jātakanidāna, vol. II. Oxford: Indica et Buddhica. (Open Access PDF). * Grey, Leslie (1990). ''Concordance of Buddhist Birth Stories'', Oxford : Pali Text Society. (Tabulates correspondences between various jataka collections) * Horner, Isaline Blew; Jaini, Padmanabh S. (1985). ''Apocryphal Birth-stories (Paññāsa-Jātaka)'', London; Boston: Pali Text Society, distributed by Routledge & Kegan Paul. *
Google Books
(edited and induced from ''The Morall Philosophie of Doni'' by Sir Thomas North, 1570) * Khan, Noor Inayat (1985). ''Twenty Jataka Tales'', Inner Traditions * Martin, Rafe (1998) "The Hungry Tigress: Buddhist Myths, Legends and Jataka Tales". * Rhys Davids, T.W. (1878). Buddhist birth-stories: Jataka tales. The commentarial introd. entitled "Nidanakatha; the story of the lineage". Translated from V. Fausböll's ed. of the Pali text, London: G. Routledge * Shaw, Sarah (2006). ''The Jatakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisatta'', New Delhi: Penguin Books * Skilling, Peter (2006)
Jataka and Pannasa-jataka in South-East Asia
Journal of the Pali Text Society 28, 113-174


External links



of E. B. Cowell 1895


Jataka Tales - English Animation


* ttp://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_names/j/jaataka.htm Jataka: from Pali Proper Names
Buddhist tales

jathakakatha.lk

Learning From Borobudur documentary
about the stories of Jatakas, Lalitavistara and
Gandavyuha The ''Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra'' (Tib. ''sdong po bkod pa'i mdo'') is a Buddhist Mahayana Sutra of Indian origin dating roughly c. 200 to 300 CE.Osto, Douglas. The Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra: a study of wealth, gender and power in an Indian Buddhist Narra ...
from bas-reliefs of
Borobudur Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur ( id, Candi Borobudur, jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦝꦸꦂ, Candhi Barabudhur) is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indone ...
, YouTube
Jātaka Stories
a database of Jataka tales maintained by the University of Edinburgh * {{Authority control Early Buddhism Buddhist literature Indian literature Indian folklore Lists of stories Pali Buddhist texts Theravada Buddhist texts