The 'Garland of Birth-stories' belongs to the Canon of the Northern Buddhists. For the discovery of this work we are indebted to Mr. Brian H. Hodgson, who as early as 1828 mentioned it among the interesting specimens of Bauddha scriptures communicated to him by his old Patan monk, and also procured copies of it. One of these was deposited in the library of the college of Fort William, now belonging to the Bengal Asiatic Society, and was described, in 1882, by RÂgendralÂla Mitra. Another was forwarded to the Paris library. Burnouf, who thoroughly studied other works belonging to the SÛtra and AvadÂna classes, which form part of the Hodgson MSS. in Paris, seems to have had a merely superficial acquaintance with the GÂtakamÂlÂ, if we may judge from the terms with which he deals with it in his 'Introduction À l'histoire du Bouddhisme indien.' p. 54 of the second edition: 'Je dis les livres, quoiqu'il n'en existe qu'un seul dans la liste nÉpalaise et dans la collection de M. Hodgson, qui porte et qui mÉrite le titre de DjÂtaka (naissance); c'est le volume intitulÉ DjÂtakamÂl ou la Guirlande des naissances, qui passe pour[7] un rÉcit des diverses actions mÉritoires de ÇÂkya antÉrieurement À l'Époque oÙ il devint Buddha.' In fact, he has never given a summary, still less a detailed account of its contents. It was not until 1875 that M. FÉer gave such an account in the Journal Asiatique, VII^e SÉr., t. 5, p. 413.

Moreover, Burnouf's statement is not quite correct with respect to the Nepal list. Not one, but three GÂtaka works are named there[8], the GÂtakÂvadÂna (No. 32), the GÂtakamÂl (No. 33), and the MahÂgÂtakamÂl (No. 34). Of these only one, indeed, is extant, viz. No. 33, our 'Garland of Birth-stories.' No. 34 may be the work, containing 550 or 565 GÂtakas, spoken of by the Bauddha monk who imparted so much valuable information to Hodgson[9], or, perhaps, the original of the Tibetan collection of 101 tales, including also our GÂtakamÂlÂ, to which two Russian scholars, Serge d'Oldenburg and Ivanovski, have of late drawn the attention of the public[10]. As to No. 32, its title, GÂtakÂvadÂna, allows the supposition that it is either a collection of GÂtakas and avadÂnas, or that it contains 'great religious exploits' (avadÂna) performed by the Bodhisattva, who afterwards became Buddha, the Lord. Nothing is more common than the use of both terms in a nearly synonymous manner. Our GÂtakamÂl bears also the appellation of BodhisattvÂvadÂnamÂlÂ[11]. In translating GÂtaka by 'birth-story,' I comply with the general use and official interpretation of that term by the Buddhist Church. The original meaning must have been simply 'tale, story,' as Prof. Kern has demonstrated in his 'History of Buddhism in India[12].' Additional evidence of this statement may be drawn from the fact, that in several of the old and traditional headings of these stories the former part of the compound denotes not the Bodhisattva, but some other person of the tale, as VyÂghrÎgÂtaka, 'the Story of the Tigress,' or a thing, as KumbhagÂtaka, 'the Story of the Jar;' BisagÂtaka, 'the Story of the Lotus-stalks,' which are respectively Nos. I, XVII, and XIX of this collection; or an action, as SÎlavÎmamsa(ka)gÂtaka, the common heading of Nos. 86, 290, 305, and 330 in FausbÖll's PÂli GÂtaka, NakkagÂtaka, ibid., No. 32, or a quality, as SÎlÂnisamsagÂtaka, ibid., No. 190.

Some time after M. FÉer's compte-rendu of the Paris MS. was published two new MSS. of the GÂtakamÂl came to Europe. They belong to the valuable set of Sanskrit Buddhist works which Dr. Wright acquired for the Cambridge University Library, and are described by Prof. Cecil Bendall in his excellent Catalogue (1883). Prof. Kern was the first to appreciate the great literary merits of the GÂtakamÂlÂ, and soon planned an edition, availing himself of the two Cambridge MSS. (Add. 1328 and 1415) and the Paris one[13]. This editio princeps was published at the end of 1891 as the first volume of the Harvard Oriental Series of Prof. Lanman. It has every right to bear the name of 'princeps,' not only because Ârya SÛra's work has never been edited before, but on account of the critical acumen and the untiring care of the editor, whose exertions have almost purged the text from the clerical errors and blunders which greatly encumber the Nepal manuscripts[14]. Thus, thanks to Prof. Kern, this masterpiece of Sanskrit Buddhist literature is now accessible to Sanskritists in an excellent edition. I have undertaken to translate it, as I consider it a most valuable document for the knowledge of Buddhism.

Properly speaking, GÂtakamÂl is a class-name. It has been pointed out above that in the Northern Buddhist Canon several writings of that name have been made known, and though, so far as I know, this appellation does not occur in the book-titles of the PÂli Tripitaka, such texts as the PÂli GÂtaka and the KariyÂpitaka may have some right to be thus designated. That it is a generic appellation is made plain from Somendra's Introduction to the AvadÂnakalpalat of his father Kshemendra. It is said there, verses 7 and 8:—

'There exist many "Garlands of Birth-stories of the Gina" by Gopadatta and other teachers, who, discarding the usual order of the AvadÂnas, gathered tales carptim, and told them at length in elaborate prose (gadya) interspersed with verse, holding themselves free as to the proportions of the two styles, which they made interchange. They all treat of the praise of the Right Path, but, owing to their profoundness, are hard to understand.'

This definition of that class exactly suits the work, the translation of which is here published. This composition consists, indeed, of verse intermingled with flowery prose built up according to the rules and methods of Sanskrit rhetoric; it claims to be a florilegium, a selection of GÂtakas, with the avowed object of rousing or invigorating the true faith in the minds of the reader; and the stories are told at length. It has perhaps been the most perfect writing of its kind. It is distinguished no less by the superiority of its style than by the loftiness of its thoughts. Its verses and artful prose are written in the purest Sanskrit[15], and charm the reader by the elegance of their form and the skill displayed in the handling of a great variety of metres, some of which are rarely to be met with elsewhere[16], and are sometimes adorned with the additional qualities of difficult and refined rhymes, and the like. Apparently SÛra, to whom the GÂtakamÂl is ascribed, was a poet richly gifted by Nature, whose talent must have been developed by thorough and extensive literary studies. Above all, I admire his moderation. Unlike so many other Indian masters in the art of literary composition, he does not allow himself the use of embellishing apparel and the whole luxuriant mise en scÈne of Sanskrit alamkÂra beyond what is necessary for his subject. His flowery descriptions, his long and elaborate sermons, his elegant manner of narration, are always in harmony with the scheme of the whole or the nature of the contents. Similarly, in the choice of his metres he was guided by stylistic motives in accordance with the tone and sentiment required at a given point of the narrative. It is a pity that most of these excellencies are lost in the translation.

Thus much for the philologist and the lover of Oriental literature. To the student of Buddhism it is the peculiar character of the GÂtakamÂl which constitutes its great importance. Although it is styled 'a garland of stories,' it is really a collection of homilies. Each GÂtaka is introduced by a simple prose sentence of ethical and religious purport, which is to be illustrated by the story. The whole treatment of the tale bears the character of a religious discourse. Prof. Cowell, in his preface to the translation of the PÂli GÂtaka, observes that the GÂtaka-legends are 'continually introduced into the religious discourses ... whether to magnify the glory of the Buddha or to illustrate Buddhist doctrines and precepts by appropriate examples[17].' Our GÂtakamÂl has a right to be called a choice collection of such sermons, distinguished by their lofty conception and their artistic elaboration. It is a document of the first rank for the study of ancient Buddhist homiletics, and is for this reason entitled to a place among the Sacred Books of the East.

SÛra took his thirty-four holy legends from the old and traditional store of GÂtaka-tales. Almost all of them have been identified with corresponding ones in other collections, both of Northern and Southern Buddhism. So far as I could control those parallels or add to them, I have taken care to notice them at the beginning or at the end of each story. The author himself in his introductory stanzas declares his strict conformity with scripture and tradition; and, however much he has done for the adornment and embellishment of the outer form of his tales, we may trust him, when he implies that he has nowhere changed their outlines or their essential features, but has narrated them as they were handed down to him by writing or by oral tradition. Wherever his account differs from that preserved in other sources, we may infer that he followed some different version. Sometimes he passes over details of minor importance. For instance, in the second story he avoids the hideous particulars of the eye-operation, dwelt upon in the PÂli GÂtaka. The same good taste will be appreciated in Story XXVIII, when the cruel act of the wicked king against the monk KshÂntivÂdin has to be told, and in Story VIII. Stories XVII, XXII, XXXI are much simpler than their parallels in the holy PÂli book, which are unwieldy, encumbered as they are by exuberance of details. I cannot help thinking that SÛra omitted such particulars purposely. For the rest, he does not pretend to tell stories new or unknown to his readers. He acknowledges their popularity; he puts the story of the tigress at the beginning, in order to honour his teacher, who had celebrated that GÂtaka. He often neglects to give proper names to the actors in his tales. For instance, of Agastya, Ayogriha, Kuddabodhi, the heroes of the GÂtakas thus named, it is nowhere said that they were so called. GÛgaka, the BrÂhman who begged the children from Visvantara, consequently a well-known figure in the legend, is only named 'a BrÂhman.' In the same story (IX) MadrÎ, the wife of the hero, is introduced as a well-known person, although her name had not been mentioned before.

That he closely adheres to the traditional stock of legends is also shown by a good number of his verses. Generally speaking, the metrical part of the GÂtakamÂl admits of a fourfold division. There are laudatory verses, praising and pointing out the virtues of the hero; these are commonly found in the first part or preamble of the tale. There are descriptive verses, containing pictures of fine scenery or of phenomena. Further, there are religious discourses, sometimes of considerable length, put in the mouth of the Bodhisattva; they have their place mostly at the end[18]. The rest consists in verses treating of facts in the story, and it is chiefly there that we find again the gÂthÂs of the corresponding PÂli GÂtakas. It is incontestable that in a great many cases SÛra worked on the same or a very similar stock of gÂthÂs as are contained in the Sacred Canon of the Southern Buddhists. For the sake of reference I have registered those parallel verses in a Synoptical Table, which is placed at the end of this book (pp. 337-340). Sometimes the affinity is so striking that one text will assist the interpretation and critical restitution of the other. SÛra's stanza, V, 11, for example, has not been invented by the author himself; it is a refined paraphrase in Sanskrit of some PrÂkrit gÂth of exactly the same purport as that which in FausbÖll's GÂtaka III, p. 131, bears the number 158. By comparing pÂda c in both, it is plain that in the PÂli text no ought to be read instead of vo[19]. It must have been sacred texts in some popular dialect, not in Sanskrit, that underly the elaborate and high-flown verses of SÛra. This is proved, among other things, by the mistake in XIX, 17, pointed out by Prof. Kern in the Various Readings he has appended to his edition.

As I have already remarked, each story is introduced by a leading sentence, expressing some religious maxim, which, according to Indian usage, is repeated again at the end as a conclusion to the story, being preceded by evam or tathÂ, 'in this manner.' But, as a rule[20], the epilogues are not limited to that simple repetition. They often contain more, the practical usefulness of the story thus told being enhanced by the addition of other moral lessons, which may be illustrated by it, or by pointing out different subjects of religious discourses, in connection with which our tale may be of use. Most of these epilogues, in my opinion, are posterior to SÛra. Apart from the argument offered by some remarkable discrepancies in style and language and the monkish spirit pervading them, I think it highly improbable that, after the author had put at the head and at the end of each GÂtaka the moral maxim he desires to inculcate upon the minds of his readers by means of the account of a certain marvellous deed of the Bodhisattva, he should himself add different indications for other employments to serve homiletical purposes. It is more likely that these accessories are of later origin, and were added when the discourses of SÛra had gained so great a reputation as to be admitted to the Canon of Sacred Writings, and had come to be employed by the monks as a store of holy and edifying sermons for the purposes of religious instruction.

On account of these considerations, I have bracketed in my translation such part of the epilogues as seemed to me later interpolations. Yet I did not think it advisable to omit them. They are not without importance in themselves. They allow us an insight into the interior of the monasteries and to witness the monks preparing for preaching. Moreover, some of them contain precious information about holy texts of the Northern Buddhists, which are either lost or have not yet been discovered. In the epilogue of VIII there is even a textual quotation; likewise in that of XXX, where we find the words spoken by the Lord at the time of his Complete Extinction. As to XI, see my note on that epilogue. In XII and XXI similar sayings of holy books are hinted at.

Concerning the person of the author and his time, nothing certain is known. That he was called Ârya SÛra is told in the manuscripts, and is corroborated by Chinese tradition; the Chinese translation of the GÂtakamÂlÂ, made between 960 and 1127 A.D., bears Ârya SÛra on its title as the author's name (see Bunyiu Nanjio's Catalogue, No. 1312). Tibetan tradition, too, knows SÛra as a famous teacher, and as the author of our collection of stories. TÂranÂtha identifies him with Asvaghosha, and adds many more names by which the same great man should be known. It is, however, impossible that two works so entirely different in style and spirit as the Buddhakarita and the GÂtakamÂl should be ascribed to one and the same author.

As to his time, Dr. d'Oldenburg observes that the terminus ante quem is the end of the 7th century A.D., since it seems that the Chinese traveller I-tsing speaks of our 'Garland of Birth-stories.' If No. 1349 of Bunyiu Nanjio's Catalogue of the Chinese Tripitaka, being a SÛtra on the fruits of Karma briefly explained by Ârya SÛra, is written by our author—and there seems to be no reasonable objection to this—SÛra must have lived before 434 A.D., when the latter work is said to have been translated into Chinese. This conclusion is supported by the purity and elegance of the language, which necessarily point to a period of a high standard of literary taste and a flourishing state of letters. Prof. Kern was induced by this reason to place SÛra approximately in the century of KÂlidÂsa and VarÂhamihira, but equally favourable circumstances may be supposed to have existed a couple of centuries earlier. I think, however, he is posterior to the author of the Buddhakarita. For other questions concerning the GÂtakamÂlÂ, which it would be too long to dwell upon here, I refer to Prof. Kern's preface and d'Oldenburg in Journ. Roy. As. Soc. 1893, pp. 306-309.

TÂranÂtha, the historian of Tibetan Buddhism, has preserved a legend which shows the high esteem in which the GÂtakamÂl stands with the followers of the Buddha's Law. 'Pondering on the Bodhisattva's gift of his own body to the tigress, he [viz. SÛra] thought he could do the same, as it was not so very difficult. Once he, as in the tale, saw a tigress followed by her young, near starvation; at first he could not resolve on the self-sacrifice, but, calling forth a stronger faith in the Buddha, and writing with his own blood a prayer of seventy Slokas, he first gave the tigers his blood to drink, and, when their bodies had taken a little force, offered himself[21].' In this legend I recognise the sediment, so to speak, of the stream of emotion caused by the stimulating eloquence of that gifted MahÂyÂnist preacher on the minds of his co-religionists. Any one who could compose discourses such as these must have been capable of himself performing the extraordinary exploits of a Bodhisattva. In fact, something of the religious enthusiasm of those ancient apostles of the MahÂyÂna who brought the Saddharma to China and Tibet pervades the work of SÛra, and it is not difficult to understand that in the memory of posterity he should have been represented as a saint who professed the ethics of his religion, non disputandi causa, as Cicero says of Cato, ut magna pars, sed ita vivendi.

It was no easy task to translate a work of so refined a composition, still less because there is no help to be had from any commentary. The Sanskrit text has none, and the Chinese commentary mentioned by Bunyiu Nanjio is not translated. Repeated and careful study of the original has led me to change a few passages of the translation I formerly published in the Bijdragen voor Taal-Land-en Volkenkunde van Ned. IndiË, vols. viii and x of the fifth 'Volgreeks.' Moreover, I have adapted this, which may almost be styled a second edition, to the wants and the arrangements of the 'Sacred Books of the East.'

J. S. Speyer.

Groningen, April 16, 1895.

GÂTAKAMÂLÂ

OR

GARLAND OF BIRTH-STORIES

BY

ÂRYA SÛRA.

Om! Adoration to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas!