HISTORY
Not just for children
R. KRITHIKA
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An exploration of the teaching behind the Jataka tales.
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The Jatakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisatta; Translated with an introduction by Sarah Shaw, Penguin, Rs. 325
THE Jatakas, like the Panchatantra and the Hitopadesa, are a rich treasury of stories. As the Bodhisatta or the one destined for enlightenment, the Buddha went through a number of lives preparing for his final life. According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha postpones his enlightenment and goes through these hundreds of lives so that he gains enough experience to leave behind a body of teaching for others. The hundreds of lives are not confined to that of humans; they include animals, birds, serpents ... The Jatakas are also unique in that the Buddha himself narrates the experiences to his disciples usually with respect to a question raised by them.
Normally the Jatakas are retold for children as moral stories but there is much more to them. The stories represent the Bodhisatta's attempt to attain the 10 perfections - giving, restraint, renunciation, wisdom, strength, acceptance, truthfulness, resolve, loving kindness and equanimity.
Penguin Classics recently brought out The Jatakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisatta, translated from the Pali by Sarah Shaw.
Extensive introduction
Of the hundreds of stories, 26 have been selected to cover all the 10 perfections. Shaw's extensive Introduction gives the reader an idea of how the stories evolved; the historical background, the geographical setting, the language and the texts from which they are derived and the stories in the modern context are discussed in great detail.
The main part of the book begins with a translation of the Bodhisatta's vow and his enumeration of the 10 perfections in verse. Each story is preceded by an individual introduction that explores the perfection on which the story is based and also identifies links with other similar tales from other cultures.
The story itself is divided into the present and the past — why the Buddha chose to tell that particular story. Often the catalyst is a remark by one of the monks, a lay follower or to clarify his rules. Some of the stories are the more popular ones, often having been retold for children. Some others are not so well known, a couple being quite new. Given the general Indian tendency to avoid anything to do with sex or body functions, it is quite obvious why stories like "The rustic story" (p. 87) or "the story of the tortoise" (p. 104) have not been retold. The ancients, it seems, had no such problems.
Explanations
The book has been well planned with explanations on specific terms used in each chapter. The bibliography at the end is not confined to the Jatakas alone. Instead it covers most of the points raised in the Introduction.
Since many of those around the Buddha's also played their part in his past lives, each story ends with him identifying who was whom as for example, "At that time, the foolish caravan leader was Devadatta (his cousin)... and I was the wise caravan leader." The others include his senior disciples Sariputta, Mogallana, Kassapa, Ananda, his wife Yasoda identified as Rahula's mother and his son Rahula. An appendix identifies the main players and the stories in which they appear.
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