About the Book: Jatakamala: Stories from the Buddhas Previous Births
The Jatakamala is a famous work in both Buddhist and Sanskrit literature. It
recounts thirty-four stories of the Buddhas previous births, and his virtuous
deeds in those incarnations as a god, man and animal. Written by Arya Shura in
the fourth century AD in elegant Sanskrit prose and verse, these tales were
later translated into Chinese and Tibetan. Some of these tales are depicted in
the Ajanta cave paintings. Their colourful backgrounds range from a sea voyage
to a battle scene, a forest fire to a royal hunt, and from the charms of a harem
to the