3.4. The value and influence of Jataka

The Seventh Dalai Lama wrote, “A poem to transform the mind written with references to a few drops from the ocean of tales on how Buddha practiced the six perfection in his previous lives.”^[1]

Here he indicates that his work refers to the Jātaka tales, the stories of the previous lives of the Buddha, which illustrate how he cultivated the six perfections while a bodhisattva in training.

And the twelfth century Kadampa masters had considered the Rosary of Jātaka Stories by the Indian master Āryasūra to be one of the six essential texts to be studies by all Kadampa monks, and in 1410 Lama Tsongkhapa instituted the tradition of having a senior monk read from this text to the crowd at the full moon ceremony of the Monlam Chenmo Festival.

The primary aim of the Jātakas is to instruct, to teach the people the value of a good life. They serve as instruments of preaching the doctrine. In addition to this didactic purpose, there is no doubt that these stories are meant

⁹³ B. Subrahmanyam, Op. Cit. 21.

⁹⁴ E. B. Cowell, Op. Cit. xxiii.

⁹⁵ Bskal-bzan-rgya-mtsho (Dalai Lama VII), Meditations to Transform the Mind, Trans, ed. Glenn H. Mullin, Snow Lion Publications, 1999: 68.

to amuse and entertain. Each Jātaka is introduced by a simple prose sentence of ethical and religious purport.^[2] Every Jātaka tale conveys a message or moral to the mankind at large, in multifarious ways. The message conveyed by Buddha in these tales has universal application. Buddha while narrating these Jātaka stories brought out the realities and values of human life.^[3]

All ancient civilizations had taken upon them the responsibility of maintaining moral values in society. Though they had different value systems, yet a common factory in those times was propagating moral teachings through storytelling.

In Buddhist Communities too, Jātaka tales were a major source for inculcating in people a deep sense of moral values. Lack of literacy in those days necessitated the appointment of Jātaka storytellers known as Jātakabhāṇakas. The Jātakabhāṇakas would travel far and wide to propagate the message of kindness, compassion, generosity, non-violence, self-sacrifice, charity, refrain from greed etc. through these stories. The Buddha himself used Jātakas stories to explain concepts like karma and rebirth and to emphasize the importance of certain moral values.^[4]

The function of the stories is to teach moral lessons by allegory, but they are also important as illustrating the position that animals occupy side by side with men in the Buddhist world-view. By and large the Jātakas do not exalt animals unduly, for every tale of animal gratitude or affection can be balanced by another showing less worthy traits which animals and men have in common. There is at least one, however, which satirizes a peculiarly

⁹⁶ J.S. Speyer, The Jātakamālā, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1990: xxii.

⁹⁷ B. Subrahmanyam, Op. Cit. 29.

⁹⁸ P.K. Varma and Sandhya Mulchandani. Love and Lust: An Anthology of Erotic Literature from Ancient and Medieval India. Harper Collins Publishers, 2004: 43.

human characteristic, hypocrisy. If the story were not intended to be satirical it would be an injustice to wolves. Whatever other vices it may have, no animal degrades itself with sham piety, either to impress its fellows or to make spiritual capital out of an involuntary deprivation.

The stories seek to inculcate good manners, good sense and good behavior, all of which usually reap an appropriate reward owing to the working of karma by which the result of a volitional act, of body, speech or thought, is suited to the nature of that act. However, Jātaka tales are still listened to today: on special occasions a hsayadaw or other member of the saṃgha may tell the congregation a tale suitably chosen and tailored to the circumstances, and some parents, grandparents and teachers also tell well-loved tales, in simplified form, to youngster.^[5]

The stories were told around some incident then happening, and it is in their relationship with that incident that we find their true lesson. At the close of the story the Buddha always identified the birth so that lines of action and character stand out clearly from the past to the present, sometimes the same, sometimes changed for the better.

The stories as preserved to us are for the most part Indian rather than Buddhist. The ethics they inculcate or suggest are milk for babes; very simple in character and referring almost exclusively to matters common to all schools of thought in India, and indeed elsewhere. Kindnesses, purity, honesty, generosity, worldly wisdom, perseverance, are the usual virtues praised; the higher ethics of the Path are scarcely mentioned.^[6]

⁹⁹ Gerry Abbott & Khin Thant Han, The Folk-tales of Burma: An Introduction, Netherlands: Brill, 2000: 316.

¹⁰⁰ T. W. R. D, ‘Jath-Jats’. In Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information. Volume 15, eds. Hugh Chisholm. The Encyclopaedia Britannica Company, 1911: 280.

Jātaka Stories are the most ancient moral folklores that are a part of Buddhist Literature and are thought to be in existence since around the third century BCE. These are fables which end up with “Morals” and were used by Buddhist Kings to spread morality among the people through storytelling. Ancient Jātaka Stories were then carried by messengers of various cultures to their own and having given them a flavour of their own, the cultural messengers named them accordingly as per the needs of their cultures. An enormous variety of actual, mythical, magical, and hybrid animals are to be found in Tibetan art.^[7]

In all the Jātakas, the bodhisattva is projected as a hero, a secondary character, a spectator, an animal, a bird etc. These previous Birth Stories were told by the Buddha and narrated by his disciples on various occasions to their followers in support of the Buddhist doctrine, which conveyed a message that the good actions obviously yield a higher and better position in the next birth, while bad actions entail a lower position, as a consequence of which the attainment of Nirvāṇa is postponed or differed.^[8]

Consequently, with Jātaka stories as the root, it gave birth to fables in other parts of the world. The stories abound in information about life and customs of ancient India, and characters and situations that are found everywhere even today. Both literature and history, the Jātaka is a treasure house of Indian heritage.^[9] Through the centuries these stories have been much more than fairy tales. They were, and are, taken very seriously for their moral and spiritual teachings. Like all great myths, the stories are as

¹⁰¹ Robert Beer, The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs, Chicago: Serindia Publications, Inc, 2004: 59.

¹⁰² B. Subrahmanyam, Op. Cit. 507.

¹⁰³ Subodh Kapoor (ed.), ‘Pali Literature’. In The Indian Encyclopeda. Vol. 1, Cosmo Publications, 2002:5407–5408.

much about us as they are about the Buddha. The Jātaka stories, over millennia, have been seminal to the development of many civilisations, the cultivation of moral conduct and good behaviour, the growth of a rich and varied literature in diverse parts of the world and the inspiration for paintings, sculpture and architecture of enduring aesthetic value. The Buddha himself used Jātaka stories to explain concepts like karma and rebirth and to emphasize the importance of moral values.^[10]

For developing moral conduct and good behaviour, there are few more instructive foundation than Jātaka stories. All Jātaka stories hold out advice on how to correct our ways. They played and continued to play in some societies an enormous role in the cultivation of peace and generosity. When Buddhist monks taught children in vihāras, Jātaka stories took a prominent place in primary education. Young sāmaṇeras (novice monks) were required to read and preach effectively. In India these and similar other stories were a principal instrument in the socialization of children, discouraging them from selfishness and laying foundations for family had community solidarity. Jātaka stories speak eloquently of those human values, which contribute, to harmony, pleasure and progress.

The immensely popular Jātaka Tales or “Birth-stories” are an important part of Buddhist literature. The Jātaka stories have contributed many civilizations, moral conduct and good behaviour, a rich and varied literature, and inspired painting, sculpture and architecture of great value.

¹⁰⁴ N. K. Singh, Contemporary Indian Buddhism: Tradition and Transformation, New Delhi: Global Vision Publishing House, 2008: 103.

There are depths of meaning in the enjoyable Buddhist Jātaka Tales. In India these and similar other stories helped in socializing children, discouraging them from selfishness. Jātaka stories hold out advice on how to correct our ways. They were thought up to impart values of sound morality, noble ways of living, honesty, kindness to animals, respect for elders, being grateful, ill of associating with bad people, generosity, and inculcate ideas, faith, and insights relating to wider aspects of life.

The Jātakas were very popular in Asia, especially in the Buddhist countries, and had a marked influence on the development of the narrative literature of many peoples. In some countries the longer Jātaka tales are still performed in dance, theatre, and recitation. Sri Lanka in particular has been nourished by Jātaka stories. Even later works of drama are based on Jātaka stories.^[11]

In all Buddhist countries the Jātaka tales were the major source for developing the character of the people. They were used widely in preaching by monks and lay preachers. They usually used these stories in their sermons. Even Mahinda, who introduced Dharma into Sri Lanka, used these stories to illustrate the truth of the teachings.^[12] Some were even used by the Buddha in his teachings, and from him his followers learned them and passed them into popular use in society. Even earlier, the same types of stories were present in Vedic literature.^[13] Many of the stories probably predate the Lord Buddha. Many of the tales come from the Pāli scripts and some 550 stories at least are known to be in existence. Like the Pañcatantra,

¹⁰⁵ James R. Brandon, Theatre in Southeast Asia, USA: the President and Fellows of Harvard College, 1967: 23–25

¹⁰⁶ N.A.Wanasundera, Cultures of the World: Sri Lanka, New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2002:116.

¹⁰⁷ Ruchi Sugan, Tales of Buddha, Delhi: Veena Publications, 2004: xi.

Aesop’s fables, and Grimm’s fairytales. The Jātaka Tales have defined a moral code through easy-to-interpret verses. Similar tales have also been found in Tibet, in china, the Middle East and through Europe.^[14]

According to Felix Adler, there are other fables, notably the socalled Jātaka tales, which deserve attention. The Jātaka tales contain deep truths, and are calculated to impress lessons of great moral beauty.^[15] Quaint humor and gentle earnestness distinguish these legends and they teach many wholesome lessons among them the duty of kindness to animals.^[16]

The general function of the Jātakas, then, is to illustrate how the bodhisattva, in life after life, cultivated various virtues on the bodhisattva path that ultimately contributed to his attainment of Buddhahood. Accordingly, most Jātaka portray the bodhisattva as an exemplary figure, highlighting such features as his wisdom, compassion, and ascetic detachment. Many Jātakas, in fact, are explicitly intended to illustrate the bodhisattva’s cultivation of one of the six or ten perfections needed for the attainment of Buddhahood.^[17]

The Jātaka genre was thus used to assimilate an enormous variety of traditional Indian folklore into the Buddhist fold including some tales whose moral lessons were not especially true of the massive Pāli Jātaka collection, much of whose contents are likely non-Buddhist in origin, including many traditional animal fables, folktales, and fairy tales.

¹⁰⁸ T.W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth-Stories (Jātaka Tales): the Commentarial Introduction, New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1999: xl.

¹⁰⁹ Felix Adler, The Moral Instruction of Children, D. Appleton, 1908: 27.

¹¹⁰ Ellen. C. Babbitt, More Jātaka Tales, Varanasi: Pilgrims Publishing, 2003: introduction.

¹¹¹ Reiko Ohnuma, Bodily Self-Sacrifice in Indian Buddhist Literature, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2009: 36.

This section dealing with the literary significance of the Jātakas will be concerned, as its title indicates, primarily with a discussion of the value of the stories as pieces of literature.

It is divided broadly into 4 sub-sections as follows:^[18]

1. The intellectual milieu in which the stories originated and flourished;this will include some general remarks on their content and form, followed by a brief description of the arrangement of the stories

2. Individual Jātakas in the Pāli Canon;

3. The Longer Jātakas and.

4. Assessment of the stories as pieces of literary merit.

Several scholars have studied the Jātaka literature from various angles. Richard Fick has studied these Jātakas from the social point of view, keeping always in view, the caste and the priest. Roy Chaudhary has studies these stories to draw the political history of ancient India. Rhys Davids and N.S. Subba Rao have studies and drawn the economic conditions that prevailed during the early centuries of Christian era. Beni Prasad in his work, The State in Ancient India, has exhaustively dealt with the administrative aspects. B.C. Sen in his work, Studies in Jātakas, has drawn political and administrative matters. Ratilal N. Mehta in his work, Pre-Buddhist India, studied the Jātakas from several aspects such as political, administrative, economic, social and geographical survey of ancient India.^[19]

¹¹² A.S. Kulasuriya. ‘Op. Cit. 13.

¹¹³ Ratilal N. Mehta, Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jātaka Stories. Examiner Press, 1939:3. See. B. Subrahmanyam, Jātakas in South Indian Art, Delhi: BKP, 2005: preface.

From the foregoing analysis of the literary significance of the Jātakas, it would have become clear that the stories achieve a high degree of literary merit. The generality of the tales contained in the large Pāli collection possess poetic features of structure, content, form, arrangement and language which would match away compilation of stories in any language or literature. The orderly structure of the stories may sometimes appear to be somewhat stilted and artificial, but it still is quite characteristic of the Pāli Collection. The structure and form of such tales helps one to understand that particular feature marks it out from other similar collections. The smaller Sanskrit collection, the Garland of Birth Stories mentioned above, appeals to the reader for quite other reasons.

Apart from their literary value, this fact alone makes the Jātaka collection of great interest; beside which, this is the “most reliable, the most complete, and the most ancient collection of folk-lore now extant in any literature in the world.^[20] This helps to establish the close connection between the Jātaka Tales and the folk-lore of ancient India. E.B. Cowell stresses this link in his preface to the UNESCO translation of the Jātaka Tales: “The Jātakas themselves are of course interesting as specimens of Buddhist literature; but their foremost interest to us consists in their relation to folk-lore and the light which they often throw on those popular stories which illustrate so vividly the ideas and superstitions of the early times of civilization. In this respect they possess a special value, as, although much of their matter is peculiar to Buddhism, they contain embedded with it an

¹¹⁴A.K. Coomaraswamy, Buddha and the Gospel of Buddhism, Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2003: 289.

unrivalled collection of folk-lore. They are also full of interest as giving a vivid picture of the social life and customs of ancient India.”^[21]

The literary value of the Jātaka was in any case seen as minimal, thanks to the large amount of repetition and omission, as well as the sometimes crude content. In any case they are stories, and therefore ‘low culture’, thus the only other interest in them was as folklore, albeit as “the most reliable, the most complete, and the most ancient collection of folklore now extant in any literature in the world.”^[22] Indeed, for T.W. Rhys Davids, the fact that Jātakas are ancient folklore is what gives them real historical value, since they provide insight into more ‘primitive’ cultures, and form ‘a priceless record of the childhood of our race’.^[23]

It has been remarked earlier that these stories originated, developed and spread in lands and among peoples where a belief in the notion of recurrent lives (punabbhava) was prevalent. They show that such a view of life, a belief that all beings had already had previous lives and would have them in the future as well, was an integral part of the psychological equipment of both narrators and hearers. They illustrate poignantly the operation of karma, the law of moral action, by demonstrating how the Bodhisatta shaped his destiny through unending efforts on behalf of, and for: his welfare of, all beings. In the animated world of these stories, the relationship between action and its result can be clearly seen, increasing our awareness of how the actions of sentient beings shape their experience. Reflection on the Jātakas offers an opportunity to observe the workings of

¹¹⁵ K.A. Panicker, Op. Cit. 99.

¹¹⁶ T. W. Rhys Davids. Buddhist India, Delhi: Motilal, 2008: 206.

¹¹⁷ T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories, London, 1880: lxxix.

karma in everyday life and to appreciate more fully the moral choices open to individuals and society in the modern world.

This section is concerned with discussing briefly:^[24]

1. The influence of the Piṭakas in the life of the people;2. Their sociological value under which reference will be made to the role of the story collection as an instrument for the propagation of the faith in addition to surviving as a vehicle of Buddhist propaganda. The stories have to be viewed and appreciated as they doubtless were in the days when they were first recounted, against the background of the notions of kamma i.e. the view that every action produces a reaction, a resultant effect, and that of punabbhava (rebirth). Both in the eyes of the narrators as well as the hearers, the Bodhisatta is an ideal being who, in all his previous existences, has demonstrated through precept and practice, one or more of the great virtues or Perfections (pārami);

3. A reference to some popular stories as standard texts for the Bodhisatta ideal;

4. The story collection as the common property of all Buddhist countries. In that sense, the stories are the chief witnesses of popular Buddhism; and 5. The role of the temple in the writing, transmission, preservation and propagation.

This section is devoted mainly to supplementary information from the Buddhist Jātakas. Therefore, the Jātakas may be taken as influenced by conditions during the Sātavahana period, and their historical detail infiltrated

¹¹⁸ A.S. Kulasuriya, Op. Cit. 19.

by such tradition as was then extant. Social conditions had changed considerably in some cases from the time of the Buddha.^[25]

Most of the moral narratives, sayings and pious legends are the common property of Indian didactic poetry, it has been claimed and are only partly of Buddhist origin. It has also been stated that there is nothing specifically Buddhistic in the short anecdotes, humorous tales and jokes that frequently occur in the Jātakas. They give also particulars of the life of people of all classes, about some of whom there is scarcely any other information in Indian literature. The stories appeal to all strata of the population. They are understandable not only to the wise but even to the simple-minded. Only the all-too-clever will smile at them indulgently, they have not lost their human appeal and continue to exert a deep influence on the life of peoples. In Thai Land, the Jātakas were already popular during the Sukhothai period, and remain an essential feature of Thai literature and art today.^[26]

It need hardly be mentioned that this influence is to be felt mostly in Buddhist lands like Sri Lanka, Burma, Siam and Cambodia where crowds of people would listen with rapt attention for hours when bhikkhus, during full-moon nights and on other religious occasions, recite the stories of the Buddha’s former lives. It has been reported that even in Tibet, tears in the eyes of sturdy caravan men have been seen, when sitting around the camp fire, listening to tales of the Bodhisatta’s suffering and sacrifices. For ordinary people, the Jātakas are not merely literature or folklore, but something that happens in their very presence and profoundly affects their

¹¹⁹ A. R. Desai, State and Society in India, Popular Prakashan Pvt. Ltd, 2011: 102.

¹²⁰ Arne Kislenko, Culture and Customs of Thailand, USA: Greenwood Press, 2004: 44.

own life, something that moves them to the core of their being, because it is present reality to them.

Purpose of the Jātakas:

The primary aim of the Jātakas is to instruct, to teach the people the value of a good life. They serve as instruments of preaching the doctrine. In addition to this didactic purpose, there is no doubt that these stories are meant to amuse and entertain. Many are in the form of animal fables that teach something about morality, not unlike Aesop’s fables. Many of the stories are charming and light-hearted, and some of these have been published in sweetly illustrated children’s books.^[27]

The Jātaka tales are a veritable of wisdom. They have had a profound influence over mankind since time immemorial and find reflection not just in Indian literature, but the literature of the whole world. The advent of the animal related stories as a significant genre in French literature during the middle ages was apparently inspired by the Jātakas.^[28]

Another aspect of the influence of the Jātakas on the broad masses of the people, which included a relatively small group of learners and a much larger group of hearers, concerns the problem of the transmission of texts. Several elements were involved in this process of transmission. The first group referred to above was drawn from the monastic community consisting of trainee monks, attached to individual temples, while the latter comprised the much larger community of lay persons, drawn from all walks of life. Then there was the preacher or reciter of the text, who was usually an erudite

¹²¹ Zena Sutherland, The Best in Children’s Books: The University of Chicago Guide to Children’s Literature, 1973–1978, USA: The University of Chicago, 1980: 241.

¹²² Shanti Lal Nagar, Jātakas in Indian Art, Parimal Publications, 1993: 41.

monk, and of course the book or the written text.^[29] The overall purpose of the Pāli Jātakas is to show how the Buddha lived many lives with the goal of realizing enlightenment. All beings are potential Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Each is able to feel compassion for the sufferings of others and act selflessly to ease the pain of all beings. The Jātakas also remind us that everything is food for something else, part of an all-encompassing food chain which does not end with humans.^[30]

As the common property of all Buddhist countries, the Jātakas, as mentioned earlier, have spread well beyond the confines of the Indian subcontinent, into other parts of Asia, through Tibet, Mongolia, and Central Asia to China, Korea and Japan in the Far East. They have been the chief vehicle of Buddhist propaganda, and the chief witnesses of popular Buddhism. The Buddhist texts belong to a later date, are relatively younger than the Indian texts, and therefore carry the doctrinal imprint of a time, far separated from the original texts, which themselves were already separated by some four hundred years at least of oral tradition, from the time of the Buddha. The Tibetan and Chinese texts of the Jātaka stories, for example, reflect the dynamic unfolding of Buddhist stories, which necessarily underwent a process of modification and elaboration, in the course of transmission.^[31] By reading these stories, children and adults can develop their knowledge and learn how to face the difficult experiences of modern life. They can easily develop human values and good qualities like patience, forbearance, tolerance and the four sublime states of mind loving kindness,

¹²³ A.S. Kulasuriya. Op. Cit. 20.

¹²⁴ David R. Loy, ‘Loving the World as Our Own Body: The Non-dualist Ethics of Taoism, Buddhism, and Deep Ecology’. In Asian and Jungian Views of Ethics, ed. Carl B. Becker, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc, 1999: 101.

¹²⁵ A.S. Kulasuriya. Op. Cit. 22.

compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. The major purpose of these stories is to develop the moral and ethical values of the readers. Without them, people cannot be peaceful and happy in their hearts and minds. And the reader will find that these values are very different from those of the wider, violently acquisitive, ego-based society.

 

Footnotes and references:

[back to top]

[1]:

Bskal-bzan-rgya-mtsho (Dalai Lama VII), Meditations to Transform the Mind, Trans, ed. Glenn H. Mullin, Snow Lion Publications, 1999: 68.

[2]:

J.S. Speyer, The Jātakamālā, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1990: xxii.

[3]:

B. Subrahmanyam, Op. Cit. 29.

[4]:

P.K. Varma and Sandhya Mulchandani. Love and Lust: An Anthology of Erotic Literature from Ancient and Medieval India. Harper Collins Publishers, 2004: 43.

[5]:

Gerry Abbott & Khin Thant Han, The Folk-tales of Burma: An Introduction, Netherlands: Brill, 2000: 316.

[6]:

T. W. R. D, ‘Jath-Jats’. In Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information. Volume 15, eds. Hugh Chisholm. The Encyclopaedia Britannica Company, 1911: 280.

[7]:

Robert Beer, The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs, Chicago: Serindia Publications, Inc, 2004: 59.

[8]:

B. Subrahmanyam, Op. Cit. 507.

[9]:

Subodh Kapoor (ed.), ‘Pali Literature’. In The Indian Encyclopeda. Vol. 1, Cosmo Publications, 2002:5407–5408.

[10]:

N. K. Singh, Contemporary Indian Buddhism: Tradition and Transformation, New Delhi: Global Vision Publishing House, 2008: 103.

[11]:

James R. Brandon, Theatre in Southeast Asia, USA: the President and Fellows of Harvard College, 1967: 23–25

[12]:

N.A.Wanasundera, Cultures of the World: Sri Lanka, New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2002:116.

[13]:

Ruchi Sugan, Tales of Buddha, Delhi: Veena Publications, 2004: xi.

[14]:

T.W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth-Stories (Jātaka Tales): the Commentarial Introduction, New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1999: xl.

[15]:

Felix Adler, The Moral Instruction of Children, D. Appleton, 1908: 27.

[16]:

Ellen. C. Babbitt, More Jātaka Tales, Varanasi: Pilgrims Publishing, 2003: introduction.

[17]:

Reiko Ohnuma, Bodily Self-Sacrifice in Indian Buddhist Literature, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2009: 36.

[18]:

A.S. Kulasuriya. ‘Op. Cit. 13.

[19]:

Ratilal N. Mehta, Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jātaka Stories. Examiner Press, 1939:3. See. B. Subrahmanyam, Jātakas in South Indian Art, Delhi: BKP, 2005: preface.

[20]:

A.K. Coomaraswamy, Buddha and the Gospel of Buddhism, Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2003: 289.

[21]:

K.A. Panicker, Op. Cit. 99.

[22]:

T. W. Rhys Davids. Buddhist India, Delhi: Motilal, 2008: 206.

[23]:

T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories, London, 1880: lxxix.

[24]:

A.S. Kulasuriya, Op. Cit. 19.

[25]:

A. R. Desai, State and Society in India, Popular Prakashan Pvt. Ltd, 2011: 102.

[26]:

Arne Kislenko, Culture and Customs of Thailand, USA: Greenwood Press, 2004: 44.

[27]:

Zena Sutherland, The Best in Children’s Books: The University of Chicago Guide to Children’s Literature, 1973–1978, USA: The University of Chicago, 1980: 241.

[28]:

Shanti Lal Nagar, Jātakas in Indian Art, Parimal Publications, 1993: 41.

[29]:

A.S. Kulasuriya. Op. Cit. 20.

[30]:

David R. Loy, ‘Loving the World as Our Own Body: The Non-dualist Ethics of Taoism, Buddhism, and Deep Ecology’. In Asian and Jungian Views of Ethics, ed. Carl B. Becker, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc, 1999: 101.

[31]:

A.S. Kulasuriya. Op. Cit. 22.