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Appleton, Naomi: Jätaka Stories in Theraväda Buddhism: Narrating the Bodhisatta Path. Farnham and New York: Ashgate, 2010. 176 pp.
Jätaka stories are stories of the Buddha's former births. They are known from sources in both Sanskrit (the Jätakamälä by Äryasüra), and Pâli, a Middle Indie language that is the religious language of Theraväda Buddhism. Editions and trans- lations of the jätakas have been available for over a century, and they are enjoyable tales to read. But, rather curiously, even though these editions and translations have been available since the late nineteenth century, there has been relatively little study of these stories. This neglect is significant because the jätakas play an impor- tant role in Theraväda Buddhism, especially in its popular forms.
As Naomi Appleton's title indicates, the Pâli language jätakas of Theraväda Bud- dhism are the focus of her book. The eight chapters of her book cover the major themes in the jätakas and jätaka research. Chapter one...