[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.t2.280 # A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.280 A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.280 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c19.s3.t2.280](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s3.t2.280) The same purpose as these consolatory stories, namely to comfort those who sorrow for the departed, is pursued also by the consolatory verses of Rāma in the Dasaratha Jātaka (No. 461), which were probably taken from an old Rāma-ballad.¹ Apart from the prose commentary, this Jātaka does not really contain any narrative at all, but only moral sayings. In the same way, Jātaka No. 512, for instance, is nothing but a collection of sayings. Though the prose does relate a legend of the origin of the vice of drink, this legend is nothing but a silly commentators' invention. Only the verses are old which, for the edification of a king, describe, in forceful language, the frightful consequences of the drinking of spirituous liquor, verses which will delight the heart of every abstainer. The ironically used refrain "Therefore buy a full jug of this drink" seems, however, to have been taken from an old drinking song. The dialogue between the Kuru-king Yudhiṭṭhila (Yudhiṣṭhira) and his wise counsellor Vidhūra (Vidura) on the question of who is a "true Brahman," which could just as well be in the Suttanipāta,² also belongs to gnomic poetry. The commentator associates the Mahāmaṅgala-Jātaka (No. 453) with the Maṅgala-Sutta, but in reality it is a collection of sayings, which do not answer the question "What is the best Maṅgala?" but rather the question "What is happiness?"³ The sayings are by no means entirely Buddhistic, but correspond more to the Brahmanical ideal of life. Thus also the sayings in Jātaka No. 473 in reply to the question as to how one can recognise a true friend, are not Buddhistic at all, but, on the contrary, resemble those which we find in Sanskrit gnomic poetry.¹ - [Previous: v2.c19.s3.t2.279](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s3.t2.279) - [Next: v2.c19.s3.t2.281](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s3.t2.281) - [Up: v2.c19.s3.t2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s3.t2) ## Cites (3) - [Jātaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.jataka.461) — Pāli - [Suttanipāta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.suttanipata) — Pāli - [Mahāmaṅgalasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.agama.dirgha.mahamangalasutra) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s3.t2.280](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s3.t2.280) · Pramāṇa