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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
Jatakas are fables and stories like the Aesops fables with talking animals and birds a technique used by early civilizations. The Buddha himself used jataka stories to explain concepts like kamma and rebirth and to emphasise the importance of certain moral values. Story tellers made their stories as required. A Jataka bhanaka (jataka storyteller) is mentioned to have been appointed even as early as the time of the Buddha. Such appointments were common in ancient Sri Lanka and among others, King Llanaga (1st century AD) is recorded in the mahavamsa, to have heard kapi jataka from a bhanaka bhikkhu.
In the Buddhist cult this developed into an art after the development of Mahayana Buddhism when theistic elements were introduced into Buddhism. Sihala literature gives us a storehouse of Buddhist jataka stories. Among them are Sasadavata (12th century), Muvadevdavata (12th century), Kausilumina (13th century), Guttila kavyaya and Kavyashekharaya (14th century), Kusa jataka kavyaya and Asadisa da Kava (17th century), Sulu Kalingu da vata (12 century), Ummagga Jataka (13th century), Bhuridatta Jataka (13th century) and Vessantara Jataka are jataka stories re-told in inimitable fashion. Other works such as Amavatura (12th century),Butsarana (12 century) Pajavalia (13th century) which all probably can trace some form of origin from Pali Jatakas of Buddha. Being fables they are not supposed to be taken as history.
Stories similar to jataka stories occur in the Vedas. Some of the Brahmanas and Puranas are simply narrative stories. In many places, the context, the style or the core stories are altered. In Mahayana literature Asvaghos's Sutralankara, Aryashura's Jatakamala and Khsemendra's Avadana Kalpalata are well known as jataka stories. Indian Sanskrt works such as Katha sarit sagara, Dasa Kuamara carita, Panca tantra and Hitopadesa contain similar stories. These stories contributed to the later incomparable works of Kalidasa and Ashvaghosa.
There are also Mahayana jataka stories such as Vyaghri, Dhammasondaka and Seta Gandha Hasti which do not appear in Pali at all. Some jataka stories can be found in Jain literature, such as the story of Isisinga in Suyakadanga, which is the Nalini Jataka. They are found in even the Mahabharata, for example Rsissringa upakhyana. ( See http://www.buddhanet.net/bt_intro.htm) Kurunegoda Piyatissa Buddhist Literature Society Inc New York Buddhist Vihara
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