Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Religion
Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Jataka stories, English
found their way to the West; and it would be an interesting task for
an Assyrian or Hebrew scholar to trace the evidence of this ancient
overland route in other ways.
SUMMARY.
To sum up what can at present be said on the connexion between the
Indian tales, preserved to us in the Book of Buddhist Birth Stories,
and their counterparts in the West:--
1. In a few isolated passages of Greek and other writers, earlier than
the invasion of India by Alexander the Great, there are references to a
legendary Æsop, and perhaps also allusions to stories like some of the
Buddhist ones.
2. After Alexander’s time a number of tales also found in the Buddhist
collection became current in Greece, and are preserved in the poetical
versions of Babrius and Phædrus. They are probably of Buddhist origin.
3. From the time of Babrius to the time of the first Crusade no
migration of Indian tales to Europe can be proved to have taken place.
About the latter time a translation into Arabic of a Persian work
containing tales found in the Buddhist book was translated by Jews into
Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. Translations of these versions afterwards
appeared in all the principal languages of Europe.
4. In the eleventh or twelfth century a translation was made into Latin
of the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat, a Greek romance written in the
eighth century by St. John of Damascus on the basis of the Buddhist
Jātaka book. Translations, poems, and plays founded on this work were
rapidly produced throughout Western Europe.
5. Other Buddhist stories not included in either of the works mentioned
in the two last paragraphs were introduced into Europe both during the
Crusades and also during the dominion of the Arabs in Spain.
6. Versions of other Buddhist stories were introduced into Eastern
Europe by the Huns under Genghis Khān.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account