J?TAKA, ILLUSTRATIONS OF

Visual j?takas do not simply illustrate verbal j?takas (birth stories) but share equal status with them. Each is a unique narrative belonging to a genre of stories existing in a community of memory rather than in a specific verbal version. Except for the Vi?vantara J?taka, individual j?takas are rarely narrated in isolation. They usually participate in larger texts, which occasionally have counterparts in literary genres. Since these larger texts are expressions of different Buddhisms in various times and places, j?taka narratives should be viewed in their embedded textual and sociocultural contexts.

Despite the acknowledged antiquity of the 547 P?li verse j?takas, the earliest datable physical j?taka narratives are the visual ones on the Bh?rhut st?pa railing (ca. first century b.c.e.). With the exception of the coping reliefs, the Bh?rhut j?takas belong to a larger text that includes other kinds of narratives, such as incidents from the Buddha's life, avad?nas, and "legends" concerning historical figures. The Bh?rhut coping takes the form of an s-shaped lotus vine-cum-garland, within each of whose lower curves a j?taka is narrated. Hence, the coping functions as a unified text of the J?takam?l? (garland of j?takas) genre.

The Borobudur st?pa contains another sculpted example of a unified j?taka cycle within a larger monumental text, which is possibly an extended biography of the Buddha. Similar cycles proliferate in the murals of the pre-Tang (ca. 421–640 c.e.) Silk Road cave monasteries of Kucha and in various media in Burmese st?pas and temples from the eleventh century onward, especially at Pagan. Burma has the longest and most prolific tradition of visual j?takas, which ceramists, painters, and woodcarvers narrate individually, in small groups, or in cycles. For example, glazed tiles line the upper circumambulatory terraces of the Ananda Tem-ple, composing a cycle of 554 j?takas, prefaced by events from the Buddha's last birth on the lower terraces. The main hall narratives of Aja??a's fifth-century caves 1 and 17 compose monumental j?tak?mal?s, which are framed and bracketed by the cave's porch, shrine antechamber, and shrine. The latter narrate important events from the Buddha's ministry and represent cosmic landscapes and beings often shown worshiping the Buddha.

How do visual j?takas function? Buddhist texts do not narrate j?takas concerning other buddhas and all buddhas perform the same deeds in their last births. Thus, the significant presence of j?takas in a Buddhist monastery indicates that ??kyamuni Buddha and his worship are the focus of Buddhist practice and belief there. Further, visual j?takas re-create the Bodhisattva's marvelous deeds as models to be imitated and as transcendental actions to be worshiped, characterizing his nature as human and supramundane. Architecture and style express this visually, as in the j?taka cycles painted on the sloping ceilings of the Kizil caves and in the idealized naturalism of paintings at Aja???. Finally, j?taka cycles allow Buddhist pilgrims to follow the Buddha's steps by walking through his previous lives.

See also:Buddha, Life of the, in Art; Dunhuang; S?tra Illustrations

Bibliography

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Cummings, Mary. The Lives of the Buddha in the Art and Literature of Asia. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, 1982.

Dehejia, Vidya. Discourse in Early Buddhist Art: Visual Narratives of India. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1997.

Girard-Geslan, Maud, et al. Art of Southeast Asia, tr. J. A. Underwood. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.

Schlingloff, Dieter. Studies in the Aja??? Paintings: Identifications and Interpretations. Delhi: Aja??? Publications, 1987.

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Leela Aditi Wood