A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t3.104

v2.c19.s6.t3.104

The Jātakamālā³ by the poet Sūra or Āryaśūra,⁴ resembles the Kalpanāmaṇḍitikā very closely as far as style is concerned. "Jātakamālā" or "Garland of Jātakas," is however, really a generic term. Various poets have written Jātakamālās, *i.e.*, they have produced free renderings of selected Jātakas in ornate poetical language, in a mixture of prose and verse. Āryaśūra, too, does not trouble to invent new stories, he re-tells the old legends in ornate, elegant language. The style, both in the prose and the verse, is the Kāvya style, but lofty and refined, more artistic than artificial. In the same way as the Jātakas were intended for the use of the monks in their sermons, so the Jātakamālā, too, is intended for the purposes of the preachers. Yet the poet, who was perhaps himself a court preacher, certainly had in view only monks who preached in court circles in which Sanskrit poetry was understood and appreciated. The work contains 34 Jātakas, which, like the 35 Jātakas of the Cariyāpiṭaka, are intended to illustrate the Pāramitās, or “perfections” of a Bodhisattva. Almost all the narratives occur also in the Jātaka book,¹ and 12 in the Cariyāpiṭaka. Among the few stories which are not found in the Pāli collection of Jātakas, is the first one, which tells how the Bodhisattva sees a hungry tigress who is about to devour her young ones, and kills himself so as to provide food for her. This very characteristic story is given here in brief extracts: