A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.184

v2.c19.s3.t2.184

² *Lüders* (NGGW 1897, pp. 40 ff.) has shown that the author of the prose of the Dasaratha-Jātaka (No. 461) did not understand the meaning of the Gāthās, and in ZDMG 58, 1904, 689 ff., that the Kṛṣṇa legend is presented "in a degenerate condition" in the prose of the Ghaṭa-Jātaka (No. 355), "as so complicated a legend, separated from its home, was gradually bound to be in course of time." *Hertel*, too (ZDMG 60, 1906, 399 ff.), and *Charpentier* (ZDMG 62, 1908, 725 ff.), have pointed out contradictions between the prose and the verse. Such contradictions, however, assail us at every turn. In No. 128 the prose has a fable about a jackal, whilst both in the verse and the title, the animal is a cat. The fact that Jātaka No. 253 occurs in the Vinayapiṭaka with the same Gāthās, but different prose, is additional proof that, generally speaking, the prose of the Jātakas cannot claim to be authentic.