What is meant by Jataka stories?
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.
Is jataka a folktale?
About the Jataka Tales The Jataka tales are dated between 300 BC and 400 AD. Many of the tales are set in or near Benares, now called Varanasi, a city in north central India on the Ganges River. According to tradition, Buddha began his teaching at Sarnath a short distance from this city.
How are Jataka tales a source of information?
This is because the Jatakas cannot be merely regarded as stories of the previous birth of Budhha and moral values. They not only are valuable books for literature and art but also provide an important insight into the history of the civilization from the period of 3rd century BC.
What do the Jataka stories recount?
Answer: The Jataka Stories recount the many previous births of the Buddha in human and animal lives.
What were Jatakas Class 6?
Jatakas were stories composed by ordinary people, and they were written and preserved by Buddhist monks. Sculptures were also carved on railings and pillars of buildings. They showed the lives of the earliest peoples of towns, villages, and forests.
What is jataka called in English?
Jataka in English. Jataka (Sanskrit) [from the verbal root jan to be born] A birth story; the 550 Jataka tales form one of the books of the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Buddhist canon.
How many jataka are there?
Jataka, (Pali and Sanskrit: “Birth”) any of the extremely popular stories of former lives of the Buddha, which are preserved in all branches of Buddhism. Some Jataka tales are scattered in various sections of the Pali canon of Buddhist writings, including a group of 35 that were collected for didactic purposes.
Which sculpture is based on Jataka tales?
Buddha with the One Hundred Jataka Tales,Thangka painting 13th-14th century,Tibet.
What is the theme of the Jataka tales?
The stories teach the lessons of Buddhism through short morality tales, each of which is said to be a tale from one of the Buddha’s earlier lives. The themes are moral, and sometimes rather dark. In “The Feast of the Dead“, a priest is called upon to sacrifice a goat.
What is called a vihara?
Vihara, early type of Buddhist monastery consisting of an open court surrounded by open cells accessible through an entrance porch. The viharas in India were originally constructed to shelter the monks during the rainy season, when it became difficult for them to lead the wanderer’s life.
How did Gandhara style emerge?
The style was strongly influenced by the art of ancient Greece and Rome but also drew largely from Indian traditions of composition. Gandhara sculpture thus mixed elements of both Western and Eastern art. The Gandhara region had long been a crossroads of cultural influences.
What is the most important character of Gandhara school of art?
Kanishka was a great patron of art. His important buildings and constructions of art are found mostly at Gandhara, Mathura, Kanishkapura and Takshashila. The Kushana period is important for the growth of Gandhara art or otherwise known as the Greeko-Buddhist style.
What gave to Gandhara school of art?
The combination of these Greco-Roman and Indian ideas along with the influence of other foreign traditions such as from China and Iran resulted in the formation of a distinct style known as the Gandhara School of art.
What was Gandhara school of art?
Gandhara school of art was one of the major schools of art in the history of ancient India. One example of the Gandhara style of art is the Bamiyan Buddha statues. It mostly flourished in the areas of Afghanistan and present North-Western India. The prominent locations were Taxila, Peshawar, Begram and Bamiyan.
Which stone is used in Mathura school of art?
red sandstone
Where is Taxila now?
Taxila, located in the Rawalpindi district of Pakistan’s Punjab province, is a vast serial site that includes a Mesolithic cave and the archaeological remains of four early settlement sites, Buddhist monasteries, and a Muslim mosque and madrassa.