The ''Paññāsa Jātaka'' (; ) is a non-canonical collection of 50 stories of the Buddha's past lives, originating in mainland
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
.
The stories were based on the style of the ''Jātakatthavaṇṇanā'', but are not from the
Pāli Canon
The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...
itself.
The stories outline the Buddha's biography and illustrate his acquisition of the perfections (
pāramitā
''Pāramitā'' (Sanskrit, Pali: पारमिता) or ''pāramī'' (Pāli: पारमी) is a Buddhist term often translated as "perfection". It is described in Buddhist commentaries as a noble character quality generally associated with ...
), with a strong focus on generosity (
dāna
(Devanagari: , IAST: ) is a Sanskrit and Pali word that connotes the virtue of generosity, charity or giving of alms, in Indian religions and philosophies.
In Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, is the practice of cultivating generosi ...
).
Origins
Various ''Paññāsa Jātaka'' stories have parallels with
Sanskrit literature
Sanskrit literature is a broad term for all literature composed in Sanskrit. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as some ...
as well as Tamil, Chinese, Tibetan, Khotanese and Southeast Asian folk tales.
According to 17th and 18th century Burmese tradition,
the stories may have originated in 15th century
Lan Na
The Lan Na kingdom or the Kingdom of Lanna (, , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; , , ), also known as Lannathai, was an Indianized state centered in present-day Northern Thailand from the 13th to the 18th centuries.
The cultural developmen ...
(modern
Northern Thailand
Northern Thailand, or more specifically Lanna, is a region of Thailand. It is geographically characterized by several mountain ranges, which continue from the Shan Hills in bordering Myanmar to Laos, and the river valleys that cut through them. ...
).
The Burmese name ''Zimmè Paññāsa ('),'' in fact means 'Chiang Mai Fifty', and it is thought that these stories may have originated in that city in what is now northern Thailand from where the collection was likely transmitted.' According to
Damrong Rajanubhab
Prince Tisavarakumara, the Prince Damrong Rajanubhab (; Full transcription is "Somdet Phrachao Borommawongthoe Phra-ongchao Ditsawarakuman Kromphraya Damrongrachanuphap" (สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ พ� ...
, the stories were first composed in
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai, sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, second largest city in Thailan ...
between 1467 and 1667:
however, this is unlikely to be correct. As some scholars have pointed out, the ''Paññāsa Jātaka'' tales were already well-known by the
Sukhothai Era (1238-1438).
Many of the learned monks fled to
Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang (Lao language, Lao: wikt:ຫຼວງພະບາງ, ຫຼວງພະບາງ, pronounced ), historically known as Xieng Thong (ຊຽງທອງ) and alternatively spelled Luang Phabang or Louangphabang, is the capital of Lu ...
before and during the
Burmese conquest of Chiang Mai in 1558, and others were taken to Burma. This could not only explain the spread of the ''Paññāsa Jātaka'' but also the increase in production of manuscripts containing ''Paññāsa Jātaka'' across mainland Southeast Asia.
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Versions
Because the tales were originally and for a long time transferred only orally, it is difficult to trace a precise evolution. Most of the surviving manuscripts containing one or more Paññāsa Jātaka date back to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but many of them appear to be copies from older manuscripts.
The collection has 3 recensions, one in Laotian and 2 in Pali, one from Burma, and another from Cambodia and Thailand. While there is some overlap between the versions, there is a significant degree of variation in the 3 recensions.
Thai royal edition
A royal edition of a selection of ''Paññāsa Jātaka'' was commissioned by King
Mongkut
Mongkut (18 October 18041 October 1868) was the fourth Monarchy of Thailand, king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama IV. He reigned from 1851 until his death in 1868.
The reign of Mongkut was marked by significant modernization ini ...
also known as Rama IV, who rule from 1851 to 1868. The text was written mainly in
Khmer script
Khmer script (, )Huffman, Franklin. 1970. ''Cambodian System of Writing and Beginning Reader''. Yale University Press. . is an abugida (alphasyllabary) script used to write the Khmer language, the official language of Cambodia. It is also use ...
which was commonly used for Pali Buddhist scriptures in central Thailand up until the end of the nineteenth century.
The first printed Thai translation was published in 1923 under the direction of
Prince Damrong Rajanubhab, a son of King Mongkut.
A set of northern Thai ''Paññāsa Jātaka'' transliterated from
Thai Tham script into
Thai script
The Thai script (, , ) is the abugida used to write Thai language, Thai, Southern Thai language, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai script itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols (, ), 16 vowel s ...
was published in 1998 under the auspices of
Chiang Mai University
Chiang Mai University (CMU; ) is a national public research university in northern Thailand founded in 1964. It has a strong emphasis on engineering, science, agriculture, and medicine. Its instructional mission includes undergraduate, graduate, ...
. The international team of researchers involved in this project point out that the original manuscript version written in northern Thai Tham script is mainly in the
Northern Thai language
Northern Thai (), also called Kam Mueang (, กำเมือง) or Lanna, is the language spoken by the Northern Thai people of Thailand. It is a Southwestern Tai languages, Southwestern Tai language. The language has approximately six mill ...
with added words and phrases in Pali.
In today's Thai collection of ''Paññāsa Jātaka'', there are 61 tales. On television, a Thai ''
telenovela
A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar Drama (film and television), drama genres around the w ...
'' genre known as "''jakrawong''" inspired from the ''Paññāsa Jātaka;'' fictionalized stories about royalty, often involving flashy, magical powers – remains popular despite decades of existence; however, virtues such as righteousness and morality are replaced with weapons and brute force. According to
Niyata Lausunthorn, the modernization of the ''Paññāsa Jātaka'' has helped maintain its popularity until this day, despite it being, sometimes, a long departure from the Pali Canon's ''Jātaka''.
Cambodian version
''Paññāsa Jātaka'' in Cambodia, not being part of the
Pāli Canon
The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...
, quoted and modeled the style of the ''
sāstrā lbaeng,'' fictional and educational Khmer literature. There are four types of ''Paññāsa Jātaka'' written on:
*
palm-leaf manuscripts (''sāstrā slikrit'') both in Khmer and Pāli,
* edited collections from palm-leaf in Pāli in four volumes,
* ''Paññāsajātak Sankhep'' in Khmer, the summarized ''Paññāsa Jātaka'', and
* ''Paññāsajātak Samrāy,'' a commentary on the ''Paññāsa Jātaka'' in four volumes.
Cambodian ''Jataka'' stories of Buddha's lives, depart from Indian models in depicting women for the most part as intelligent, active, and dignified, and detailing the consequences for men who do not treat women as their equals.
To the ''Paññāsa Jātaka,'' fifty-one more non-canonical Jataka tales were added by Song Siv who gathered them from
Khmer folklore
Cambodian literature (, ), also Khmer literature, has a very ancient origin. Like most Southeast Asian national literatures its traditional corpus has two distinct aspects or levels:
*The written literature, mostly restricted to the royal cour ...
during the ''
Sangkum
The Sangkum Reastr Niyum (, , ;Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-English Dictionary''. Bureau of Special Research in Modern Languages. The Catholic University of America Press. Washi ...
'' era; they were published again in 8 volumes in 2002.
Analysis
Ethics: the exaltation of self-sacrifice
Whereas mainstream Buddhist traditions do not promote
martyrdom
A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloqui ...
, ''Paññāsa Jātaka'' tales reveal a particular Southeast Asian value in the ''
bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...
'' practice of self-sacrifice and devotion to parents and the
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 legends, he was ...
, the
Dhamma
Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold'' or ''to support' ...
, and the
Saṅgha
Sangha or saṃgha () is a term meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community". In a political context, it was historically used to denote a governing assembly in a republic or a kingdom, and for a long time, it has been used b ...
.
Iconography
Motifs that appear in some ''Paññāsa Jātaka'' can also be found on ninth-century reliefs at the
Borobudur
Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur (, ), is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, near the city of Magelang and the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indonesia.
Constructed of gray andesite-like stone, the temple consi ...
monument in Java, which suggests that some ''Paññāsa Jātaka'' may be derived from older pre-Buddhist Southeast Asian folklore.
See also
*
Buddhist ethics
Buddhist ethics are traditionally based on the Enlightenment in Buddhism, enlightened perspective of the Buddha. In Buddhism, ethics or morality are understood by the term ''śīla'' () or ''sīla'' (Pāli). ''Śīla'' is one of three sections o ...
*
Khuddaka Nikāya
The ''Khuddaka Nikāya'' () is the last of the five Nikāyas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka, the sacred scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. This nikaya consists of fifte ...
*
Jataka tales
The ''Jātaka'' (Sanskrit for "Birth-Related" or "Birth Stories") are a voluminous body of literature native to the Indian subcontinent which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. Jataka stories we ...
*
List of Jatakas
* ''
Sāstrā lbaeng''
* ''
Mahanipata Jataka''
* ''
Vessantara Jātaka''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pannasa Jataka
Jataka tales
Theravada Buddhist texts
Culture of Southeast Asia
Buddhist folklore
Burmese folklore
Cambodian folklore
Laotian folklore
Thai folklore