ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



117 



On Budhism. By the Rev. D. J. GoGEHLY.- — ( Read 6th 

 November, 1847.^) 



The book named Pansiya panas jataka, or five hundred 

 and fifty births, has, by many writers, been represented as one 

 of the sacred books of the Budhists : it is not, however, pro- 

 perly entitled to that character, not being included in either 

 of the three Pitakas, but being a comment on a poetical book 

 called Jataka, or births, which is one of the fifteen books con- 

 tained in the fifth grand division of the Sutra Pitaka. It 

 probably received the name of Jataka after the comment had 

 been written, for a very large portion of it has no reference 

 either to Budha or to his births, but consists of moral apho- 

 risms, proverbs, similitudes and tales ; some of the latter, 

 indeed, professing to be accounts of the previous transmigra- 

 tions of Groutama. 



The sacred book called Jataka is in a poetical form, 

 without any mixture of prose, the verses consisting of four or 

 six lines. It is divided into chapters called Nipata, according 

 to the number of verses contained in each Jataka ; the first, or 

 Eka-nipata, containing about 150 Jatakas, each consisting of 

 a single verse. The comment gives a critical explanation 

 of the verses, either defining the meaning of each word, or 

 selecting for exposition those which are obscure ; and, in ad-* 

 dition to these critical remarks, appends to each J ataka a 

 legend, explanatory of its general intention, and containing an 

 account of circumstances connected with a supposed previous 

 existence of Goutama during the time he was a Bodhi-satwayo, 

 or candidate for becoming a Budha. The sacred text is scarce, 

 but the legendary part of the comment is in the hands of mul- 

 titudes, it having been very well translated from Pali into 

 Singhalese ; and the tales form a considerable portion of the 



