[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Literature, language and dating](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature) › [A History of Indian Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927) › v2.c19.s3.t2.260 # A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.260 A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.260 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c19.s3.t2.260](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s3.t2.260) Neither is there much that is Buddhistic to be found in the robber tales and other narratives of the Jātaka book, in which robbers, vagabonds, dice players and courtesans are the chief characters. All these narratives are very interesting from the point of view of the history of civilisation. The Bodhisatta himself is twice a highwayman.⁴ One of these stories relates how, through a magic spell, a Brahman causes a shower of precious stones to fall, how, for the sake of the treasure thus obtained, two gangs of robbers begin to fight and kill each other, so that only two remain, and how these two also, each wishing to have the sole possession of the treasure, kill each other—exactly like the rogues in \*Chaucer's\* “Pardoner's Tale.”¹ Great is the number of stories that deal with the wickedness of women, a subject which is so inexhaustible to Indians. A whole cycle of such stories is to be found in Jātakas Nos. 61-66, while the Kuṇāla-Jātaka (No. 536) combines in one frame a whole collection of stories and sayings on the same subject. In endless variety, by ever new, sometimes extremely subtle stories, it is attempted to prove that every woman is inclined to conjugal infidelity provided a seducer is available. An especially subtle story is that of the Brahman who, in order to be quite sure, has a girl brought up in his house from the moment of her birth, and after she has grown up and has become his wife, has her strictly guarded in a tower surrounded by seven ramparts, but is, after all, deceived by her in the end; she, however, denies her infidelity, and even subjects herself to an ordeal, which she cleverly forges.² In the Kuṇāla-Jātaka, we find, among others, the story of Kaṇhā (\*i.e.\*, Kṛṣṇā or Draupadī), who, not content with her five husbands, commits adultery with a hunchbacked dwarf, which causes the Pāṇḍavas to renounce the world and retire to the Himālaya.³ This Jātaka, the greater part of which is merely a sermon on the wickedness of woman-kind, attributed to Buddha himself, also abounds in sayings against women, of which we may quote a few especially characteristic ones: - [Previous: v2.c19.s3.t2.259](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s3.t2.259) - [Next: v2.c19.s3.t2.261](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s3.t2.261) - [Up: v2.c19.s3.t2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s3.t2) ## Cites (1) - [Jātaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.jataka.61) — Pāli --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s3.t2.260](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s3.t2.260) · Pramāṇa