Jataka is a specific genre of Buddhist literature central to the corpus of Buddhist folklore. These short narratives about the Buddha’s previous lives serve a didactic purpose and traditionally have been used to inculcate Buddhist doctrines and ethics in novice monks as well as laypeople and therefore are evidenced as the earliest form of Buddhist literature. The jataka tales recount the birth stories of the Bodhisattva, “the enlightened being,” and in each of these tales one of the characters, generally appearing as a man, a deity, or a higher animal species, is identified as a former birth of the historical Buddha. The term jataka is found in ancient categorizations of Buddhist literary styles, and the stories were depicted at the stupas, like Bharhut and Sanchi, the earliest examples of Indian Buddhist monuments, dating back to the third century BCE, and thus have many rituals attached to them that form an integral part of the jataka stories.
Regarded as the sayings of the Lord Buddha, or buddhavacana, and traditionally used to illustrate a point, jataka tales explain a situation or teach a moral lesson. They are considered the most popular and accessible form of all Buddhist literature. Preserved predominantly in Pali, an ancient Indo-Aryan language, these stories are religious fables or educational tales dealing with moral themes and parables that depict the various incarnations or past lives of the Lord Buddha. Skillfully weaving moral and religious teaching into entertaining tales, the 547 jataka tales recount the ways in which the aspiring Bodhisattva or Buddha-to-be perfected various forms of moral and spiritual behavior in his previous human and animal incarnations that ultimately culminated in his final rebirth as Prince Siddhartha, who in turn attained enlightenment and nirvana to become the present Lord Buddha.
Embodying the path to future enlightenment for lay followers of Buddhist doctrine, the jataka tales are one of the largest and most influential tale collections written, memorized, and carried along by monks and laypeople alike. The general function of the collection of jataka tales is to illustrate the ways in which the Bodhisattva or the Buddha-to-be cultivated various virtues and qualities—also known as perfection or “paramita”—that are essential for the attainment of Buddhahood. Many jatakas—like Sasajataka, Brahmanajataka, and others—illustrate the aspiring Bodhisattva’s cultivation of one of these qualities or perfections. These attributes include compassion or loving-kindness, perseverance, forbearance, even-mindedness, morality, wisdom, ascetic detachment, and, most importantly, selfless giving, which are needed for attaining nirvana or enlightenment. This is amply illustrated in the Vessantara Jataka, the longest and the best known of all jataka tales, which depicts the last birth of the Bodhisattva as a prince who willingly gives away everything, including wealth, kinship, and familial ties, in the pursuit of “the perfection of selfless-giving.” Some jataka collections are thus also arranged according to these perfections as jatakamala, or garland of jatakas.
The structure of a jataka tale is well established and is based on the notion that, after enlightenment, the Buddha attained full recollection of his previous lives and used incidents from his former births to comment on and illustrate his doctrines. Each jataka opens with a quote from the first verse, followed by a brief preface that sets out the Buddha’s present reasons for telling the story to his followers. Then the jataka proper, or the story of the past, follows the Buddha as he recollects a significant event, or a series of events or sections, from one of his previous births that explains the purport of the quote first cited. After the story of the past comes the canonical verse or verses in an old form of Pali, and these are then followed by a word commentary. At the end, the consequences of the Buddha’s retelling of the jataka are related, and finally the narrative reaches completion as the “connection” is established through the identification of the births of the Buddha, thus linking the past and the present with an explanation of the identity of the Bodhisattva.
Believed to be told by the Buddha himself when he wanted to clarify his teachings, and later retold by the Buddha’s disciples in their sermons and teachings, these tales were traditionally relayed by monks in the form of sermons to villagers. They then took on a life of their own as orally circulating folk stories. Thus the jataka tales have, from the outset, been closely related to the various forms of storytelling but with a moral purpose. Notably, because of their apparent function of moral instruction for the masses, these stories are typically retold for the lay audience in the vernacular or the local language of the people.
The jataka tales thus exist in various vernacular languages and texts apart from Sanskrit and Pali; they are predominant in the Chinese and Tibetan canons and, most importantly, in the Theravada cultures of Southeast Asia, as well as in the diaspora communities of Southeast Asians abroad, and not least among Asian Americans. The jataka stories have played a major role in the dissemination of Buddhist teachings among the masses. These very popular tales were spread through both oral and written versions of canonical texts and, later, compositions and collections; they are commonly used in sermons, children’s books, plays, poetry, temple illustrations, rituals, and festivals. They are often depicted as frescoes on monastery walls, or dramatically enacted by dancers or puppet performers.
Each tale, whether a moral fable, riddle, or anecdote, becomes a unique narrative that exists in a community of memory rather than as a single written version; modern depictions often recontextualize, elaborate, shorten, or even invert some classical themes to comment on contemporary issues, thereby foregrounding the relevance of the jataka stories in present times. As Buddhist texts, the jataka stories therefore perform not only as a passive retelling of the Buddha’s teachings, but also as part of a self-representation of a particular community in a defined historical context.
These tales thus perform as agents of socialization for the Asian American community as the constant focus of sermons, rituals, festivals, and varieties of art and performance, as well as everyday conversations and moral arguments. These rich stories and popular narratives creatively engage with and successfully adapt the ancient South Asian folk traditions to present and maintain the essential Buddhist worldview to new places and changing times. They are thus a part of the “domestication” process, as it were, of the canonical doctrines of the Buddhist religion, making them accessible to the everyday lives and understanding of the masses for generations. Significantly, as Buddhist cultures have spread to other countries outside South Asia, the jataka genre often draws on local folklore to domesticate existing jataka stories or mold the classic themes so as to make them relevant to new environments and everyday Buddhist life.
Sutapa Chaudhuri
See also Kaundinya and Soma; Tibetan American Folklore and Folktales
Further Reading
Appleton, Naomi. 2010. Jataka Stories in Theravada Buddhism: Narrating the Bodhisatta Path. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate.
Cowell, E. B., ed. 1990. The Jataka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births. 3 Vols. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass.
Holt, John Clifford. 2003. Jataka Tales. South Asian Folklore: An Encyclopedia, edited by Margaret A. Mills, Peter J. Claus, and Sarah Diamond. London: Routledge.
Jones, John Garrett. 1979. Tales and Teachings of the Buddha: The Jataka Stories in Relation to the Pali Canon. London: Allen and Unwin.
Ohnuma, Reiko. 2004. Jataka. Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Vol. I, edited by Robert E. Buswell. New York: Macmillan Reference USA/Thomson/Gale.
Jataka Tales—Primary Document
Two Jataka Tales (1912)
The Asian American Buddhist tradition features stories commonly known as jataka tales. These tales date back to the third century BCE and depict various episodes in the former lives of the Buddha. Typically, they were used to teach a variety of Buddhist doctrines to novice monks and new converts, with animals, deities, and humans populating the stories. The two stories in this collection are from Ellen C. Babbitt’s Jataka Tales (1912). Babbitt’s compilation derived from the work of E. B. Cowell, professor of Sanskrit at the University of Cambridge, who studied and translated jataka tales from 1895 to 1907. Her book introduced many new readers in the West to the jataka tales and further encouraged the study of South Asian religious and folk traditions.
“The Turtle Who Couldn’t Stop Talking”
A TURTLE lived in a pond at the foot of a hill. Two young wild Geese, looking for food, saw the Turtle, and talked with him. The next day the Geese came again to visit the Turtle and they became very well acquainted. Soon they were great friends.
“Friend Turtle,” the Geese said one day, “we have a beautiful home far away. We are going to fly back to it to-morrow. It will be a long but pleasant journey. Will you go with us?”
“How could I? I have no wings,” said the Turtle.
“Oh, we will take you, if only you can keep your mouth shut, and say not a word to anybody,” they said.
“I can do that,” said the Turtle. “Do take me with you. I will do exactly as you wish.”
So the next day the Geese brought a stick and they held the ends of it. “Now take the middle of this in your mouth, and don’t say a word until we reach home,” they said.
The Geese then sprang into the air, with the Turtle between them, holding fast to the stick.
The village children saw the two Geese flying along with the Turtle and cried out: “Oh, see the Turtle up in the air! Look at the Geese carrying a Turtle by a stick! Did you ever see anything more ridiculous in your life!”
The Turtle looked down and began to say, “Well, and if my friends carry me, what business is that of yours?” when he let go, and fell dead at the feet of the children.
As the two Geese flew on, they heard the people say, when they came to see the poor Turtle, “That fellow could not keep his mouth shut. He had to talk, and so lost his life.”
“The Banyan Deer”
THERE was once a Deer the color of gold. His eyes were like round jewels, his horns were white as silver, his mouth was red like a flower, his hoofs were bright and hard. He had a large body and a fine tail.
He lived in a forest and was king of a herd of five hundred Banyan Deer. Nearby lived another herd of Deer, called the Monkey Deer. They, too, had a king.
The king of that country was fond of hunting the Deer and eating deer meat. He did not like to go alone so he called the people of his town to go with him, day after day.
The townspeople did not like this for while they were gone no one did their work. So they decided to make a park and drive the Deer into it. Then the king could go into the park and hunt and they could go on with their daily work.
They made a park, planted grass in it and provided water for the Deer, built a fence all around it and drove the Deer into it.
Then they shut the gate and went to the king to tell him that in the park nearby he could find all the Deer he wanted.
The king went at once to look at the Deer. First he saw there the two Deer kings, and granted them their lives. Then he looked at their great herds.
Some days the king would go to hunt the Deer, sometimes his cook would go. As soon as any of the Deer saw them they would shake with fear and run. But when they had been hit once or twice they would drop down dead.
The King of the Banyan Deer sent for the King of the Monkey Deer and said, “Friend, many of the Deer are being killed. Many are wounded besides those who are killed. After this suppose one from my herd goes up to be killed one day, and the next day let one from your herd go up. Fewer Deer will be lost this way.”
The Monkey Deer agreed. Each day the Deer whose turn it was would go and lie down, placing its head on the block. The cook would come and carry off the one he found lying there.
One day the lot fell to a mother Deer who had a young baby. She went to her king and said, “O King of the Monkey Deer, let the turn pass me by until my baby is old enough to get along without me. Then I will go and put my head on the block.”
But the king did not help her. He told her that if the lot had fallen to her she must die.
Then she went to the King of the Banyan Deer and asked him to save her.
“Go back to your herd. I will go in your place,” said he.
The next day the cook found the King of the Banyan Deer lying with his head on the block. The cook went to the king, who came himself to find out about this.
“King of the Banyan Deer! did I not grant you your life? Why are you lying here?”
“O great King!” said the King of the Banyan Deer, “a mother came with her young baby and told me that the lot had fallen to her. I could not ask any one else to take her place, so I came myself.”
“King of the Banyan Deer! I never saw such kindness and mercy. Rise up. I grant your life and hers. Nor will I hunt any more the Deer in either park or forest.”
Source: Babbitt, Ellen C. Jataka Tales. New York: The Century Co., 1912.