Jataka Tales

Definition

A large body of stories of the previous births (jatis) of the Buddha as a bodhisattva, in human and animal form, part of the Khuddaka Nikaya within the Sutta Pitaka of the Buddhist canon.

Key points

• Each tale shows the bodhisattva practising a moral virtue (such as generosity, patience or truthfulness) in a past life before becoming the Buddha.
• There are about 547 Jatakas in the Pali collection; they were composed and added over several centuries and are written in Pali.
• They are a vital source for the social and economic life of the time (guilds, trade routes, towns, occupations and folk culture of the Gangetic plain).
• Jataka scenes are a major theme of early Buddhist art, carved on the railings and gateways of the stupas at Bharhut and Sanchi and painted on the walls of the Ajanta caves.
• They survive also in later Sanskrit and vernacular forms and spread across Buddhist Asia.

Why it matters for CAPF

The Jataka-bodhisattva (past lives of the Buddha) link, their place in the Sutta Pitaka, and their depiction in the art of Bharhut, Sanchi and Ajanta are standard culture and source facts.

Common confusion

Jatakas are stories of the Buddha's earlier births (not his single final life), and they form part of the Sutta Pitaka, not a separate scripture; they double as a literary source and as the subject of stupa and cave art.

Parent note

mahajanapadas jainism and buddhism