The Jataka tales are a voluminous body of literature native to India concerning the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form
The future Buddha may appear as a king, an outcast, a god, an elephant—but, in whatever form, he exhibits some virtue that the tale thereby inculcates
Often, Jātaka tales include an extensive cast of characters who interact and get into various kinds of trouble - whereupon the Buddha character intervenes to resolve all the problems and bring about a happy ending
In Theravada Buddhism, the Jātakas are a textual division of the Pāli Canon, included in the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka
The term Jātaka may also refer to a traditional commentary on this book
The tales are dated between 300 BC and 400 AD
Mahāsāṃghika Caitika sects from the Āndhra region took the Jātakas as canonical literature and are known to have rejected some of the Theravāda Jātakas which dated past the time of King Ashoka
The Caitikas claimed that their own Jātakas represented the original collection before the Buddhist tradition split into various lineages
According to A
K
Warder, the Jātakas are the precursors to the various legendary biographies of the Buddha, which were composed at later dates
Although many Jātakas were written from an early period, which describe previous lives of the Buddha, very little biographical material about Gautama’s own life has been recorded
The Jātaka-Mālā of Arya Śura in Sanskrit gives 34 Jātaka stories
At the Ajanta Caves, Jātaka scenes are inscribed with quotes from Arya Shura, with script datable to the sixth century
It had already been translated into Chinese in 434 CE
Borobudur contains depictions of all 34 Jatakas from Jataka Mala