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BOOK REVIEWS

Paiiiiasa-hitaka or Zimme PaIJniisa (in the Burmese Recension) Vol. II (lataka:; 26-50) Edited by Padmanabh S. Jaini. Published by the Pali Text Society, London 19.83 pp. xliii 309 - 584 (Pali Text Society Text Series No. 173).

A collection of birth-stories of the Buddha, th� lataka, is included in the Khuddaka-Nikiiya of the Pali Canon. V Fausboll's edition of the lataka together with its commentary, entitled the latakatthava>JIJana, was published by the Pal i Text Society, London, in six volumes with an index volume forming the seventh, between the years 1877 and 1897. This was reprinted in 1962-1964. Fausboll's edition of the hi/aka contains 547 stories, though the number generally given

550 in referring to the Jataka collection.

, Besides this 'canonical' collection of the liitakas, there are a large numb�r � •. of birth-stories of the Buddha, which have not been included in the Canon.

Leon Feer used the term 'extra- canonical' to refer to these. in the article he contributed to the Journal AsiaUque in 1875 under the title Etudes BOlJddhique�: Lll Jiilakas, an English translation of which, made by G. M. Foulkes, has been published by Susil' Gupta (India) Private Ltd., in Calcutta in 1963. In his artick ,

Feer gave information about isolated 'extra- canonical' jiitakas, and one 'extra­canonical' collection, fragments of which written in Cambodian characters, were found at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, among Pali manuscripts from Siam (Thailand). Feer identified the title of this collection as Panniira-lataklJ, th�'

" Fifty Jatakas.'

It is an edition of the Burmese recension of the PanFi/isa-Jafaka which is the subject of our concern here. latakas 1-25 of this recension, edited by Padmanabh S. Jaini, Professor of Buddhist Studies, University of Californi8, Berkeley, was pubJished by the Pali Text Society, London in 1981 as No. 172 ·of its Text Series (PJ. I hereafter), The preliminary remarks he made in this

volume and the bibliography and the introduction in Vol. II under rev i ew here Pl. II hereafter) give much information ahout previous studies relevant to the Panncisa-lataka, which information can profitably be recapitulated here.

Louis Finot gave a concordance of three recensions of the stories III the Pannasa-Jiitaka in his article, ';Recherches sur la litterature laotimne" published in Paris in 1917, in Vol. XVII of the Bulletin de L'ecole Franc;Qise d' r!xtreme-Orient (BEFEO). One of these recensions is in Laotian, and the other two, the. Cambodian-Thai and the Burmese, arc in Pali. Iaini informs us that Jf three Pali versions of the Paniiiisa-·lataka originating in Cambodia, Thailand and Burma, the Cambodian and Thai collections seem to draw upon a common ;ource, as the texts of both arc aimost identical (Pl. I p.v.) The Pann"sa-Jata!ca �as not known to Buddhist tradition outside the countries of Southeast As;�\.

189 BOOK REVIEW

For information about the Laotian versi on of the Pannasa-Jiitaka, Jaini refers us to H. Deydier's publication of 1952 (PJ. II. p. xl) which. however, is not 1 isted in the bibliography. The reference here is possibly to Deydier's Introduction d fa cnnna;ssance du Laos, which Jaini mentions elsewhere as giving a brief descrip­tion of the Laotian version of the Pannrisa-J ataka (Bulletin of the Sclwo! of Orienta { and African Studies (BSOAS) Vol . XXIX, 3,1966. p 534 note 8). Venerable Hammalave Saddhatissa gives information about the Laotian version of some pf the stories of the Panniisa-Jiitaka in his contribution on Pali Litera/ure from LaoJ to the Memorial Volume publ ished in honor of Bhikkhu Jagdi sh Kashyap (Studies in Pali and Buddhism ed A. K. Narain, Delhi . B. R. Publishing Corporation· 1979 pp 327-40).

The Pali text of the first twenty-five stories of th� Cambodian-Thai recen­sion of the Pannasa Jatuka was published by the Instilut Bouddhique (Phnom Pcuh) in five volumes, during the years 1953-1962. Prince Damrong made an abllidged Siamese translation of this recension and published it with the originall Pali verses in Bangkok in 1926. This translation was published again in 1956, irl. two volumes, under the title Pannyii1 Chudok (Panniisa . Jiiraka ) . by the Fine : Arts Department of the National Library, Bangkok (BSOAS XXIX p 535 note 11). This ;econd edition contains 61 stori:=s instead of the traditional 50 founditi the ::ambodian version. Jaini reports that D. M. Fickle's doctoral dissertation ofl i979 �n Historical and Structural Study of 'he Panniisa Jdtaka (Microfilms International \nn Arbor, M ichigan , publication No. 79-8731) contains long summaries ·of tr:e: [hai stories basect on Prince Darnrong's translation PJ. II. p. xl).

The BUimese recension of the Panniisa-Jiitaka, popularly known as �imn;e ')alFlilsa (Chi eng Mai Fifty) was edited anonymously and published by' tht Ianthawaddy Press, Rangoon. in 1911. This edition had no introduction, critical pparatus or var iant readings. It has long been out of print and only a fe'.\' opies are said to be found today ev�n in Burma (BSOAS XXIX p. 534 'tnote 0; Pl. I p.v) .

l In this context, Jaini's edition of the Panntisll-Jiitaka is most welcc-pe ,11

be first critical study of the work. Only a few stories of the collection. hOld �ccived the attention of scholars earlier. One of these is the Samlltfdtz,hoso iitaka, a critical edition and a translation of which, along with aniritr�dubon ealing with the manuscr ipt material of the collections and the peculi�riii s of leir language, was published by Mme. G Terral in Paris in BEFEO XL I I, r 1

. ' • . . J

956 pp 249-351, under the title, Samuddaghosajeitaka: conte Pali tire aa' PidilJasa itaka (BSOAS XXIX p. 534 note 8). A translation and an .analysis, the eliimajataka of the collection appeared in 1959 under the naIIle of .. ¢hal � . . 1 iartini G. (BEFEO XLIX pp 609-16) . The Sudhanukumiirajiitaka of the co tion . •

'as studied by Jaini in relation to the Kinnarijiitaka of the M.ahava 1. .• . tne' '! udhanakumaravadana of the Divytivad/ina and some Burmese and Thai s " ical '\ lays based on the story in his article 'The Story of Sudhana .and M",llJ ara: . (l analysis of the texts and the Borobudur reliefs (BSOAS XXIX 3. I' pp. "';! 33-558 ) . Jai·ni evaluated the historical importance of anoth.er . story �. t�e. .�

.J

RA.TNA HANDURUKANDE

Pannasa-Jataka, viz. the Va!!ungulirajajataka in the article, 'On the Buddha Ima!.'. , which he contr ibuted to the Jagdilh Kashyap Memorial Volume (ed. A. K. Narc'

" Delhi 1979 pp. 183-188). This hitaka contains a reference to the f irst image the Buddha and provides literary evidence lending authenticity for the first tir' to the oral traditions of the Chinese travellers Fa-Hsien and Hiuen-Tsa pertaining to the existence of a sandal-wood image of the Buddha carved dud: the Buddha's lifetime: Jaini gives the relevant excerpts from the jlitaka in r

, article.

Jaini says that he first became interested in the problem of the Panna&

Jiitaka on reading Terral's study of the Samuddaghosajataka. Noting that t1-' , Burmese portion of the article was based solely upon the Rangoon edition (I

,1911, Jaini looked for manuscripts of the Panfiasa-Jiitaka in libraries in Rangoo] Mandalay and Pagan, during a visit to Burma in 1961. Meeting with littJ success, he learnt from all elderly M ahdthera, the chief abbot of Pagan, that th ' work was considered apocryphal and disapproved of by King Myndon of Mandala,

.' (1853-1878), resulting in only a very few m anuscripts of the work being fount.

I in the monasteries of Burma. The abbot's information was based on an ora

. tradition current in his young days. Prince Damrong also refers to this traditio,

in his preface to the first edition of the Pafinasa-Jataka published in 1926. II 1962, Jaini was able to obtain a photocopy of a manuscript dated S akaraj 1169

! i.e. 1807 A. D., found in a monastery in Mandalay, This manuscrip; 1 which was not the basis for the Rangoon edit ion, provided Jaini with material I for a critical edition of the Burmese recension of the Pafinrisa Jiitaka. Using , the Rangoon edition as the main text, laini gives variant readings from the

unpublished Mandalay manuscript in the notes to his carefully edited text of l the PaFifiasa-Jataka (BSOAS XXIX pp . 534-5; PJ. I pp. v, vi) .

Volume I of Jaini 's edition of the Pafinasa-Jataka contains the Pali text of 'the following 25 stor ies, on pages 3-308: A dittareljajataka; Tulakapa1Jtj;fajataka; SammajiJlakum(irajiitaka; Arindamajataka; Sumbhamittajataka; Sam uddaghosaja taka>' Danacaga (Cagada'1a) jataka: DhammikarJa1Jc)itarajajataka: Siridharamahasejjhijataka>· Sankhapattarajaj(j£alw; Sudhanukumarajataka; Narajivajataka; DasapaFihavisajjanajcttaka,' Surupa r74aja taka; Kambalariijajataka; Gopalakasulajataka; Siricudama1Jirajajataka; Atthaparikkharajiitaka; Sirivipulakittirajajafaka; Sattadhanujatdi<:a; Candakuma�ajataka; 'S�ilhitrl,ajajataka: Ratanapajjotajataka; D\Jesisaha'rLsajiitaka and the Viriyapa�t¢itajataka

The pagination of Volume 1 is continued in Volume II, which contains the next 25 stories on pages 309-568. The titles of the stories in this volume are:

Vipularajajc;taka: M ahapadumaj ataka; M ahc/Suraunarajajataka; Brahmaghr)sariijajataka; Setamiuikajiita.'<a: ArivachattaJiitaka; Subhaddariijajataka: Bahalaputtajiitaka; Bodilira iataka; Pradipaddnajataka; Velamajiitaka; Va!!angu!iriijajiitaka; Sirasakumiira./ataka,· SO)J.anandariijajataka; Suva'J"1akumiirajiilaka; BrahmakumiiraJtitaka; Sucikatiipasajiitaka; 4.kkharalikhitajataka; Va¢4hanajataka; Akatann 'ljiitaka; Dukammartijajataka; Viviida-­�ataka; Sidtlhisiiracakkavattijiitaka; Silajataka and Mahasudassanaj iitaka.

The introduction which precedes the text in PJ. II seeks to trace the origin )f the stories in the Panfiasa-jiitaka which remained unknown to the Buddhists

191 BOOK REVIEW

of India and Sri Lanka over a long period of time . laini observes that tt narrators of the stories h'ld inexh'lustible sources to draw from, viz. the Avadari literature in Sanskrit ani the A!!h�kath,js in Pali. However, he says that ther is no doubt that the MahanipllJa section (Jataka Nos 538-547) of the canonic2 liJal(a, which obviousl y served as the model for the form adopted by the �uthor of the collection, was the primary source. Stressing the need to identify thes sources, none of which are acknowledged by the authors of the stories, in orde to establish the historical rehtionship of the collecti6n to the extant Buddhis literature, laini gives a critical analysis of each of the stories in the Paiiniisa jataka. In this analysis, he points out textual similarities between the s[Orie: in the collection itself, traces the connection of the stories with the Pali , text!

and their A nhakathas, and also non - Pali literature; attempts to identify all) motifs in the stories which, not usually found in the extant literature, would appear to be the innovations of Southeast Asian Buddhists; and draws attention to places and instances where artistic representations of the stor ies are found.

laini warns the readers against taking the elements of plot he gives in his analysis of the stories as anything approaching total plot summaries. adding the good news that a complete summary of each story prepared by him is l)�ing published under the t itle, Synopse� of the Jdtakas of the Zimmi Pa'IJ1J.iisa by the Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies, University of Ca lifornia, BerkdT He gives the further information that the late Miss. I. B Horner worked at the translation of this text until the last days of her life . It is to be hoped that the Pali Text Society will take the initiative in having this transl a t i ') 1

published, and completed if Miss. Horner had not translated all the storh .

The analysis of the stories in the introduction is followed by a discu��l(1n of the place, date, and authorship of the work and the- linguistic peculiarit>. of its language. The trad it ional claim that the Paiiiiiisa-Jitaka originated in Chieng Mai in what is now northern Thailand is indicawd by the title of the Burmese recension, Zimme PWlJ;Zasu. However, as many as twenty stories tb:l t are

exclusive to the Zimme PalJ1Jasa as ind icated by the concordance of h;r(�:. given by Finot , may have, in Ja ini's opinion, been added in BUrma to the orig inal stock. Commenting on the absence in these stories of any allus.kl h

events of h istorical importance of this area, such as wars, or the arr'iva I of learned monks from Sri Lanka, laini points out that there is only one stray reference to Sihaladipa in the SuvalJIJakumiirajeitaka. The lower limit of the dati: of the compilation of the Bur mese version of the Paiiiiasa·-Jdtaka is sctll1 �h�

twelfth century A· D. while the upper limit is given as 1589 A. D., a date provided by the oldest manuscript which is in Laotian characters.

The introduction is informative and well-written except for a few odd turns of phrase such as: Sakka ......... departs back to heaven (p.xx); The story part in our text takes place ... (p.xxii); the story is almost word for word identical with the Nidllnakatha (p.xxii); The usurper king P\tts out a bounty for anyone (p�xxiii); This AiicaoavatT has imprisoned there many princesses (p . xxv); Day and night he would spend praising the three jewels (p.xxx). I noted the following printing

RATNA HANDURUKANDE

errors in the introduction: cemetary for cemetery (p.xiv); Sakkha for Sak (pp xx,xxii), Samen.era for samat).era (p.xxiv) ; Ummadayantisala. for Ummadayan saHi (p.xxv) ; yakkhanT for yakkhinT (p.xxv) ; Ananada for Ana nda (p xxi ' ) . P of the introduction gives the date of a publication of the lnstitut BOilddhi� (Phnom Penh) as 1953-61 while its date given in the bibliography is 1953-19E I am unable to check this. G. Terral's publication of 1956 l isted in ti' bibliography has to be corrected to read as appearing in BEFEO XLVI I, (compare PJ. I p. v and BSOAS XXIX p. 534 note 8) and not XLIX, 1.

The following indexes are given at the end of Vol. II of Jaini's editio of the Pannasa-Jataka. A. Index of Names (I noted here that the page:; we aI" referred to under the entry Afijanavati contain in fact the reading Aiicnnavat Aiijanavati occurs in a note on p 250, which page is not listed in the inde" 268 is a misprint for 248 in the list of pages under Anjanavati: ) ; B. Index 0

Words, Forms and Spellings peculiar to PanntiSa-Jataka; C. Index of Minol Addit ions ; D. Index of Emendations; and E. Index of Variant Readings in the Rangoon Edition and the Mandalay Manuscript. These indexes will be of value,

\ as is hoped by the editor , in studies pertaining to the Punnasa -Jiitaka and

linguistic studies of tl� Burmese usage of Pali.

In the course of his discuss ions relating to the Pannasa-Jdtaka, Professor Jaini has repeatedly drawn attention to the need for a comparative study of all the known recensions of the text , and a separate study of its language_ He bas also po inted out its value which extends far beyond the sphere Of

philology, part icularly with reference to the Sanskrit Avadana literature and to

various aspects of popular Southeast Asian Buddhism. One must hope that he who has take n su�h pains in studying the text and is conversant with the problem, will himself undertake these further studies and bring to its culmi a­

tion the rich contribution he has already made to the study of Buddhist narrative

iiterature, III presenting a two-volume edition of the Burmese recension or the

Pa'nna sa -Jataka.

Ratna Hand:lrukande