On Versions, Parallels and Comparisons: Textual and Visual Jātakas in Early India

Dr Naomi Appleton and Dr Chris Clark (University of Edinburgh)

Abstract

Although both art historians and textual scholars have long been interested in jātaka stories, in the current field of Buddhist Studies such scholars tend to operate in different spheres. In this lecture – and the larger project to which it belongs – we seek to place visual and textual jātakas side by side and to ask what this approach reveals about the genre and its varied expressions and uses. We will explore a particular cluster of stories about a generous elephant king, and use this to address three related questions: Firstly, what do we mean when we call a story a “version” of another story? Secondly, to what extent is it helpful to think of visual jātakas as “versions” of textual jātakas? Thirdly, and most importantly, what can studies of story clusters across textual and visual sources reveal about uses of and attitudes towards jātakas?  During the lecture we will also briefly introduce a new resource that we are currently developing: an online searchable database of jātaka stories in early Indian texts and art.

Bio

Naomi Appleton is Senior Lecturer in Asian Religions at the University of Edinburgh. Her primary research interest is the role of stories in the construction, communication and challenge of religious ideas in South and Southeast Asia. She is the author of Jātaka Stories in Theravāda Buddhism (Ashgate 2010), Narrating Karma and Rebirth: Buddhist and Jain Multi-life Stories (CUP 2014) and Shared Characters in Jain, Buddhist and Hindu Narrative (Routledge 2017), as well as numerous articles on related themes. She has recently returned to researching jātaka literature, with a Leverhulme-funded project exploring the genre across early Indian Buddhist texts and art. 

Chris Clark is a Research Assistant at the University of Edinburgh, working on the creation of an online searchable database of Jātaka stories in the texts and art of South Asia. Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh, he was a Research Assistant at the University of Sydney, and taught at the Australian National University and Deakin University. His various publications explore a range of research interests, including Pāli language and literature, Sanskrit language and literature, and Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia.