A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.334

v2.c19.s3.t2.334

13. Vast as the Jātaka book is, and abundant as are its contents, it does not by any means contain the entire wealth of Buddhist tales. Another narrative work which is just as copious as the Jātaka, though of lesser value from a literary point of view, is¹ the collection of "Apadānas" in the Khuddakanikāya, known as the Apadāna. The word apadāna (Sanskrit avadāna) means "heroic deed, glorious deed," the sense being extended also to glorious deeds of self-sacrifice and piety; and the Apadānas, like the Avadānas which are their counterpart in the Buddhist Sanskrit literature, are "tales of the heroic deeds," *i.e.*, the pious works of the saints (which often consist of very commonplace actions performed in adoration of a Buddha). The Apadānas, too, like the Jātakas, have a "Story of the present" and a "Story of the past." Whereas the Jātakas always describe a previous existence of the Buddha, the Apadānas, as a rule, deal with that of a saint, an Arhat. These stories are, therefore, legends of saints. The collection of Apadānas, written entirely in verse, begins with a Buddhāpadāna, containing a glorification of the Buddhas, of the "innumerable kings of the Dhamma, endowed with the 30 perfections,"² and Buddha himself is made to pronounce this glorification. Next comes the Paccekabuddhāpadāna, a glorification of the Paccekabuddhas, who go their solitary way, "like the rhinoceros." The entire "Sutta of the Rhinoceros" (Khaggavisāṇa-Sutta, from Suttanipāta I, 3) is inserted here. The main portion of the work, however, is the Thera-Apadāna, "the Glorious Deeds of the Elders," in 55 sections (vagga) consisting of 10 Apadānas each.³ The last part is the Therī-Apadāna, "the Glorious Deeds of the Lady Elders," in 4 sections, consisting of 10 Apadānas each.⁴ The "glorious deeds" are always related by the saint in question himself. The first heroes of the Thera-Apadāna are the most famous disciples of Buddha: Sāriputta, the great Moggallāna, the great Kassapa and Anuruddha; side by side with these and other well-known names such as Upāli, Ānanda, Rāhula and Raṭṭhapāla¹ among the Theras, and Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, Khemā, Paṭācārā. Kisā-Gotamī, and others, among the Therīs, we meet with a far larger number of names, which are only types and not real personages, *e.g.*, the Theras "Dispenser of fans," "Dispenser of clothes," "Dispenser of mangoes," "Worshipper of footprints," "Water-worshipper" (*i.e.*, the Thera who worshipped Buddha with a gift of water), Theras who are named after some flower offering, like Kimsukapupphiya, and the like. Most of these legends are made on one and the same plan. First of all the Thera (or Therī) tells of the adoration which he (or she) had offered to one of the previous Buddhas, the predecessors of Gotama Buddha, then he (or she) declares the prophecy uttered by that previous Buddha that he (or she) would hear the doctrine of the future Gotama Buddha, and finally relates how this prophecy has come true, and how he (or she) attained to the dignity of an Arhat. Only few of the Apadānas deviate from this stereotyped plan, for instance the very remarkable Buddhāpadāna (No. 387) with the secondary title Pubbakammapiloti, "the Interweaving of the Previous Deeds," in which the Buddha tells of his previous bad deeds in consequence of which he had to suffer countless reincarnations in hells, and the remains of which deeds caused him many an unpleasant experience even in his last existence.