Jatakamala: Stories from the Buddha’s Previous Births

The Jatakamala is a famous work in both Buddhist and Sanskrit literature. It recounts thirty-four stories of the Buddha’s previous births, and his virtuous deeds in those incarnations-as a god, man or animal.  Written by Arya Shura in the fourth century AD in elegant Sanskrit prose and verse, these tales were later translated into Chinese and Tibetan. Some of these tales are depicted in the Ajanta cave paintings. Their colourful backgrounds range from a sea voyage to a battle scene, a forest fire to a royal hunt, and from the charms of harem to the horrors of hell. Against these are presented a gamut of predicaments in the course of doing what is right. Twelve of these tales are not found in any other collection, including the Pali jataka texts. Popular through the ages, they remain highly readable today, both for their timeless message of compassion and concord, and the vivid and dramatic imagery with which it is presented.