Tuesday, November 3, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org

Jataka and Narrative

Pali Buddhist narrative literature, birth stories, and traditional accounts of the Buddha's past and final lives.

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Texts

Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I — T. W. Rhys DavidsT. W. Rhys Davids’s 1880 English translation of the opening of the Pāli Jātaka commentary from V. Fausböll’s edition: the Nidānakathā, the commentary’s introduction on the past lives and last life of the Buddha, and the Birth Stories of Book I, Nos. 1–40, with the translator’s long introduction on the history of the tales in India and their migration to the West.Eastern Stories and Legends — Marie L. ShedlockMarie L. Shedlock’s 1920 New York edition of twenty-nine Buddhist Birth-stories (Jātakas) and one other Buddhist tale, retold or adapted for children and their teachers from T. W. Rhys Davids’s and the Cambridge Press’s translations from the Pali, with a foreword by Rhys Davids, an introduction by Annie Carroll Moore and Shedlock’s notes for teachers.Jataka Tales — Ellen C. BabbittEllen C. Babbitt's 1912 simplified prose retellings, for children, of eighteen Jataka birth-stories of the Buddha — not a scholarly translation from the Pali.NidanakathaThe Introduction to the Jataka — a sweeping chronicle from the Bodhisatta's first vow under Buddha Dipankara through twenty-four Buddhas to the historical life of Gotama, encompassing the entire arc of Buddhist cosmic history.Sasa JatakaA Jataka tale of the Buddha's past life as a selfless hare who offered his own body to a hungry brahmin — the origin of the hare in the moon.The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India — W. H. D. RouseW. H. D. Rouse’s 1897 retelling for children of twenty-eight tales from the Jātaka, the Buddhist collection of stories of the Buddha’s former births, among them The Giant Crab, The Talkative Tortoise, The Monkeys and the Gardener, The Goblin City and Lacknose, published in London by David Nutt.The Jataka, Vol. I — tr. Robert ChalmersRobert Chalmers's 1895 translation of the first 150 Jataka birth-stories of the Buddha (Book I, Ekanipata), from the Pali under E.B. Cowell's editorship.The Jataka, Vol. II — tr. W.H.D. RouseW.H.D. Rouse's 1895 translation of Jataka birth-stories 151-300 (Books II-III, Dukanipata and Tika-Nipata), from the Pali under E.B. Cowell's editorship.Vessantara JatakaThe greatest of the Jataka tales — the story of Prince Vessantara, whose boundless generosity cost him his kingdom, his children, and his wife, yet earned him the merit to become the Buddha.