The 'Garland of Birth-stories' belongs to the Canon of the Northern Buddhists. For the discovery of this work we are indebted to Mr. Brian H. Hodgson, who as early as 1828 mentioned it among the interesting specimens of Bauddha scriptures communicated to him by his old Patan monk, and also procured copies of it. One of these was deposited in the library of the college of Fort William, now belonging to the Bengal Asiatic Society, and was described, in 1882, by Râ_g_endralâla Mitra. Another was forwarded to the Paris library. Burnouf, who thoroughly studied other works belonging to the Sûtra and Avadâna classes, which form part of the Hodgson MSS. in Paris, seems to have had a merely superficial acquaintance with the _G_âtakamâlâ, if we may judge from the terms with which he deals with it in his 'Introduction à l'histoire du Bouddhisme indien.' p. 54 of the second edition: 'Je dis les livres, quoiqu'il n'en existe qu'un seul dans la liste népalaise et dans la collection de M. Hodgson, qui porte et qui mérite le titre de _Djâtaka_ (naissance); c'est le volume intitulé _Djâtakamâlâ_ ou la Guirlande des naissances, qui passe pour[7] un récit des diverses actions méritoires de Çâkya antérieurement à l'époque où il devint Buddha.' In fact, he has never given a summary, still less a detailed account of its contents. It was not until 1875 that M. Féer gave such an account in the Journal Asiatique, VII^e Sér., t. 5, p. 413. [7] I have spaced the words that prove my statement. Moreover, Burnouf's statement is not quite correct with respect to the Nepal list. Not one, but three _G_âtaka works are named there[8], the _G_âtakâvadâna (No. 32), the _G_âtakamâlâ (No. 33), and the Mahâ_g_âtakamâlâ (No. 34). Of these only one, indeed, is extant, viz. No. 33, our 'Garland of Birth-stories.' No. 34 may be the work, containing 550 or 565 _G_âtakas, spoken of by the Bauddha monk who imparted so much valuable information to Hodgson[9], or, perhaps, the original of the Tibetan collection of 101 tales, including also our _G_âtakamâlâ, to which two Russian scholars, Serge d'Oldenburg and Ivanovski, have of late drawn the attention of the public[10]. As to No. 32, its title, _G_âtakâvadâna, allows the supposition that it is either a collection of _G_âtakas and avadânas, or that it contains 'great religious exploits' (avadâna) performed by the Bodhisattva, who afterwards became Buddha, the Lord. Nothing is more common than the use of both terms in a nearly synonymous manner. Our _G_âtakamâlâ bears also the appellation of Bodhisattvâvadânamâlâ[11]. In translating _G_âtaka by 'birth-story,' I comply with the general use and official interpretation of that term by the Buddhist Church. The original meaning must have been simply 'tale, story,' as Prof. Kern has demonstrated in his 'History of Buddhism in India[12].' Additional evidence of this statement may be drawn from the fact, that in several of the old and traditional headings