English for Students

Jataka Tales

Jataka Tales, like the tales of panchatantra are very old and have a long tradition of being passed on from generation to generation serving as source for moral behaviour for humans in general. These stories are stories of wisdom, and morals written around 300 B.C in a language called PALI, which were later translated and distributed to people across the world. These stories are mainly about past incarnations of Buddha, and are meantto teach the values of self-sacrifice, honesty,morality and other didactic values to a common person. They are a total of 547 in number. They really make interesting reading just like the counterparts in Panchatantra. Here we shall begin with a small collection of these stories, and shall expand them in the course of time.

Here we go:

• The Doe Sets Her Husband Free

• The Greedy Crow

• The Jackal Saved The Lion