A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t2.15

v2.c19.s6.t2.15

The Mahāvastu is more especially valuable as a treasure-trove of Jātakas¹ and other narratives. A good half of the work consists of Jātakas, which are related partly in pure prose, partly in mixed prose and verse, sometimes first in prose and then again in verse. Here again we meet with the Bodhisattva now as a world-ruling king, now as a merchant's son, a Brāhmaṇa, or a Nāga prince, as a lion, an elephant, and so on. Many of the Jātakas are versions of those which we find in the Pāli Jātaka book, sometimes almost literally identical, sometimes with greater or lesser deviations. Thus the Śyāmaka-Jātaka (II, 209 ff.), the touching story of the Brāhman's son whom King Peliyakṣa kills with an arrow, is only a version of the Sāma-Jātaka with which we are familiar. The Kinnarī-Jātaka (II, 94 ff.) corresponds in character, though not in contents, to the Kinnara fairy tales of the Jātaka book. The Kusa-Jātaka appears once (II, 420 ff.) in a recension deviating considerably from the Pāli, a second time (III, 1 ff.) in a metrical version, which shows points of agreement with the Pāli Gāthās.² The story of Nalinī, who seduces Ekaśṛṅga (*i.e.* "Unicorn") has, in the Mahāvastu (III, 143 ff.) been watered down to a very pious legend, though it has still preserved old features which have vanished in the prose of the Pāli Jātaka of Isisiṅga.¹ As in the Pāli Tesakuṇa-Jātaka (No. 521) there is in the Mahāvastu also (I, 271 ff.) the childless King Brahmadatta, who instead of a son, gets three eggs, from which three very wise birds come forth, which instruct him in the duties of a king (rājadharma).²