Reading Notes: Jataka Part B

For this week I read: The Bull That Demanded Fair Treatment, The Bull that Proved His Gratitude, Horse that Held Out to the End, The Monkey that Saved the Herd, The Mallard that Asked for Too Much, The Merchant Who Overcame All Obstacles, The Elephant that Was Honored in Old Age, and The Faithful Friend. 

In The Bull That Demanded Fair Treatment, the common theme of the importance of respectful treatment of all living things is shown. This theme is consistent in most stories, and is usually only acceptably broken when the object of disrespect has compromised their own personal integrity in some way. Again in this story, the main character traits were played out through dialogue, either to the self or to other characters in the story. In The Bull that Proved His Gratitude, a similar story comes about - there is a bull treated very well, he wants to make a living for his owner, he pulls some heavy things, and in the end is rewarded by further adoration from his owner. This second iteration is different, however, because the bull was not as clever in devising means and as headstrong personally as the first story. Here, he simply asks for what he's owed, takes it straight home, and overall carries out a more simple story. 

In The Horse that Held Out Til the End, I like that they ended the story with a sum of the lesson intended to be learned. This one was not wrapped up in a poem like some of the others, but the effect was still there. I also noticed in this one, as well as the first two, when the Buddha is in an animal form, the story usually mentions in some way what the animal is fed. I suppose this pays homage to the importance of food as social standing in traditional Indian stories. 

The Monkey that Saved the Herd reminded me of my old favorite, the Crocodile and the Monkey, because in this story too, the evil character explains his intended method of eating/overcoming the protagonist. He is foiled of course, but because of this it occurred to me that not only is the incarnation of Buddha normally portrayed as the morally upright standard in stories, but also more clever as a whole. But there are exceptions to this, as in The Merchant Who Overcame All Obstacles. Although this incarnation of Buddha was extolled in the end for finding a solution to his problems, it was his poor judgement call to discard supplies in the beginning of the story that necessitated a creative solution later. 

I was confused as to why The Mallard that Asked for Too Much was titled that way - it seems to me that the wife was the one who asked for too much in the story, not the mallard. He was the more rational character, and it was only because of her greediness and trickery that he lost his golden feathers. Maybe something was lost in translation? 

I really liked The Elephant that Was Honored in Old Age because it stressed the importance in these old tales of justice for actions done, but also justice for strength of character and morality. The old she-elephant had done many things in service to the King, but she was ultimately honored because of her character, and the justice due her was carried out. I also was made curious in The Faithful Friend about elephants and how aware they were of their emotional capacities back when these tales were written. Because of modern studies, we know that elephants grieve and have an emotional range more similar to that of humans than one would initially think. I wonder if this story came about because they knew of this emotional ability of elephants back then, or if it is just another case of the common animal personification of these stories. 

This photo shows a mother elephant with two of her young - I am fascinated and touched by stories of elephants and how similar their family ties are to ours. They truly have a depth that is not common in most of the animal world, and I think this shows in the respect they were paid among ancient cultures even before we knew that much about them. 

Citations: 

• The Bull that Demanded Fair Treatment: Shedlock, M. L. (n.d.). The Bull That Demanded Fair Treatment. Retrieved March 27, 2019, from http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/browse/display.php?author=shedlock&book=eastern&story=treatment
• The Bull that Proved His Gratitude: Shedlock, M. L. (n.d.). The Bull That Proved His Gratitude. Retrieved March 27, 2019, from http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/browse/display.php?author=shedlock&book=eastern&story=gratitude
• The Elephant that Was Honored in Old Age: Shedlock, M. L. (n.d.). The Elephant That Was Honored in Old Age. Retrieved March 27, 2019, from http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/browse/display.php?author=shedlock&book=eastern&story=honored
• The Faithful Friend: Shedlock, M. L. (n.d.). The Faithful Friend. Retrieved March 27, 2019, from http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/browse/display.php?author=shedlock&book=eastern&story=faithful
• The Horse that Held Out to the End: Shedlock, M. L. (n.d.). The Horse That Held Out to the End. Retrieved March 27, 2019, from http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/browse/display.php?author=shedlock&book=eastern&story=horse
• The Mallard that Asked for Too Much: Shedlock, M. L. (n.d.). The Mallard That Asked for Too Much. Retrieved March 27, 2019, from http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/browse/display.php?author=shedlock&book=eastern&story=mallard
• The Merchant Who Overcame All Obstacles: Shedlock, M. L. (n.d.). The Merchant Who Overcame All Obstacles. Retrieved March 27, 2019, from http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/browse/display.php?author=shedlock&book=eastern&story=merchant
• The Monkey that Saved the Herd: Shedlock, M. L. (n.d.). The Monkey That Saved the Herd. Retrieved March 27, 2019, from http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/browse/display.php?author=shedlock&book=eastern&story=herd