Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c18.339

v1.c18.339

Jātakaṭṭhakathā.—A Commentary on the Jātaka. It comprises all the verses of the Jātaka and gives also, in prose, the stories connected with the verses. Each such story is given a framework of introductory episode, stating the circumstances in which the story was related, and each story has at the end an identification of the chief characters mentioned with the Buddha and his contemporaries in some previous birth. The whole collection is prefaced by a long introductory essay, the Nidānakathā, giving the Buddha’s history before his birth as Siddhattha, and also during his last birth, up to the time of the Enlightenment.