Once the Buddha Was a Monkey

Once the Buddha Was a Monkey PDF Author: Āryaśūra
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226782158
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
Here is one of the most entertaining masterpieces of Sanskrit literature rendered in an English translation that fully captures the original's artistry and charm. Written most probably in the fourth century A.D., the Jatakamala is generally considered the masterpiece of Buddhist literature in Sanskrit. In elegant, courtly style, Arya Sura retells thirty-four traditional stories about the Buddha in his previous incarnations, human and animal. Whether as a king, a brahmin, a monkey, or a hare, the Great One is shown in assiduous pursuit of virtue and compassion. Though primarily intended as exemplary tales illustrating the Buddhist virtues, these stories also provide a vivid picture of life at a high point in ancient Indian culture—city life in ordinary households or at the royal court, and country life against a backdrop of mountain, desert, and jungle. Fresh study of the Sanskrit manuscripts, now scattered in libraries all over the world, has enabled Peter Khoroche to make this new translation faithful to the original in both style and content. His explanatory notes will assist student and general reader alike in appreciating this classic from an ancient and exotic civilization. “The general reader will be highly grateful for this new translation which, besides being beautifully printed, is rounded off with a very informative and reliable introduction.”—Renate Söhnen-Thieme, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies “One would be a fool not to welcome the chance to read this book.”—Richard Gombrich, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature

Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature PDF Author: Amaresh Datta
Publisher: Sahitya Akademi
ISBN: 9788126011940
Category : Indic literature
Languages : en
Pages : 936

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Book Description
A Major Activity Of The Sahitya Akademi Is The Preparation Of An Encyclopaedia Of Indian Literature. The Venture, Covering Twenty-Two Languages Of India, Is The First Of Its Kind. Written In English, The Encyclopaedia Gives A Comprehensive Idea Of The Growth And Development Of Indian Literature. The Entries On Authors, Books And General Topics Have Been Tabulated By The Concerned Advisory Boards And Finalised By A Steering Committee. Hundreds Of Writers All Over The Country Contributed Articles On Various Topics. The Encyclopaedia, Planned As A Six-Volume Project, Has Been Brought Out. The Sahitya Akademi Embarked Upon This Project In Right Earnest In 1984. The Efforts Of The Highly Skilled And Professional Editorial Staff Started Showing Results And The First Volume Was Brought Out In 1987. The Second Volume Was Brought Out In 1988, The Third In 1989, The Fourth In 1991, The Fifth In 1992, And The Sixth Volume In 1994. All The Six Volumes Together Include Approximately 7500 Entries On Various Topics, Literary Trends And Movements, Eminent Authors And Significant Works. The First Three Volume Were Edited By Prof. Amaresh Datta, Fourth And Fifth Volume By Mohan Lal And Sixth Volume By Shri K.C.Dutt.

Jâtakamâla

Jâtakamâla PDF Author: Jat̀akas
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Jatakamala : Stories From The Buddha's Previous Births

Jatakamala : Stories From The Buddha's Previous Births PDF Author: A.N.D Haksar
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 9788172234553
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Jatakamala is a famous work in both sacred Buddhist and classical Sanskrit literature. It recounts thirty-four stories of the Buddha's previous births, and his good deeds in those earlier incarnations as a god, man or an animal. Written in elegant Sanskrit prose and verse in the fourth century A.D., these tales were later translated into Chinese and Tibetan. Several feature in the Ajanta cave paintings. Their colourful backgrounds range from a sea voyage to a battle scene, a forest fire to a royal hunt and from the charms of the harem to the horrors of hell. Popular through the ages, they remain highly readable today, both for their timeless message of compassion and concord, and the vivid, dramatic imagery with which it is presented. Twelve of these tales are not found in any other collection including the Pali Jataka texts. Arya Shura, the author of the Jatakamala, is known in tradition as a saintly teacher and an authority on prosody. In all probability he was a Buddhist monk. No details are available of his life, except that he wrote several other works, some of which are extant only in Tibetan and Chinese translations.

Once a Peacock, Once an Actress

Once a Peacock, Once an Actress PDF Author: Haribhatta
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022648596X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Peter Khoroche’s translation of Arya Sura’s "Jatakamala” (ca. fourth century) has sold more than fifteen-hundred copies in each of its editions. We now have a new translation of the "Jatakamala” by Haribhatta, a later contemporary of Arya Sura’s. Like the earlier volume, this one contains rare examples of the earliest extant writings from Sanskrit’s classical period. To date, six of the thirty-four stories from the work are still lost to time, but even in its truncated form, the tales, in Khoroche’s splendid, fluid renderings, amply illustrate the Buddha’s single-minded devotion to the good of all creatures in each of his incarnations. Here we have stories of an actress and a peacock, as noted in the title, but also tales of kings and monkeys, sages and fools, lions and elephants, princes and fairies, in equal measure entertaining, surprising, and moving--in addition to edifying. These unique tales of bravery, romance, sex, death, and, ultimately, rebirth, will be greeted by a very appreciate audience.

Didactic Narration

Didactic Narration PDF Author: Alexander Peter Bell
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
ISBN: 9783825851347
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Across the Himalayan Gap

Across the Himalayan Gap PDF Author: Tan Chung
Publisher: Gyan Publishing House
ISBN: 9788121206174
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 608

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Book Description
An anthology of 40 Indian authors that parades various Indian perspectives on China, her civilization, history, society and development. It is a fruition of a project launched by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) where Sino-Indian studies is a special window. A scholarly work.

Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: A to Devo

Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: A to Devo PDF Author: Sahitya Akademi
Publisher: New Delhi : Sahitya Akademi, c1987-c1989
ISBN:
Category : Government publications
Languages : en
Pages : 1018

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Jatakamala

Jatakamala PDF Author:
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781983457104
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
The Jatakamala or Garland of Birth Stories by Aryasura retells in Classical Sanskrit 34 of the Buddha's previous lives, illustrating the virtues he pursued during the time he was striving in previous births before attaining Awakening. The text was beautifully translated by the Dutch scholar J S Speyer and published in 1895 as the first book in the Sacred Books of the Buddhists series. The "Garland of Birth-stories" belongs to the Canon of the Northern Buddhists. An English translation of this famous collection of Jataka stories, including one not found in the Pali collection (with an embedded reading of the text). The book first published in1895.

Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives (Volume 1)

Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives (Volume 1) PDF Author: Aryashura
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479885835
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 548

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Book Description
The Garland of Past Lives is a collection of thirty four stories depicting the miraculous deeds performed by the Buddha in his previous rebirths. Composed in the fourth century C.E. by the Buddhist monk Aryashura, the text’s accomplished artistry led Indian aesthetic theorists to praise its elegant mixture of verse and prose. The twenty stories in this first volume deal primarily with the virtues of giving and morality. Ascetics sacrifice their lives for hungry tigers, kings open their veins for demons to drink their blood, helmsmen steer their crew through perilous seas, and quail chicks quench forest fires by proclaiming words of truth. The experience is intended to arouse astonishment in the audience, inspiring devotion, through the future Buddha’s transcendence of conventional norms in his quest to acquire enlightenment and save the world from suffering. The importance of such stories of past lives in traditional Buddhist culture, throughout Asia and up to today, cannot be overestimated.