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Divyavadana

{{Short description|A Sanskrit anthology of Buddhist avadana tales, many originating in Mulasarvastivadin vinaya texts.}}

The Divyāvadāna or Divine narratives is a Sanskrit anthology of Buddhist avadana tales, many originating in Mūlasarvāstivādin vinaya texts."Fables in the Vinaya-Pitaka of the Sarvastivadin School" by Jean Przyluski, in The Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol.V, No.1, 1929.03 It may be dated to 2nd century CE. The stories themselves are therefore quite ancient{{cite book|last=Winternitz|first=Moriz|title=A History of Indian Literature: Buddhist literature and Jaina literature|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers|page=273|year=1993|isbn=9788120802650}} and may be among the first Buddhist texts ever committed to writing, but this particular collection of them is not attested prior to the seventeenth century.{{cite book|last1=Buswell, Jr.|first1=Robert|authorlink1=Robert Buswell Jr.|last2=Lopez, Jr.|first2=Donald S.|authorlink2=Donald S. Lopez, Jr.|title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2013|page=262|isbn=9781400848058}} Typically, the stories involve the Buddha explaining to a group of disciples how a particular individual, through actions in a previous life, came to have a particular karmic result in the present. A predominant theme is the vast merit ({{IAST|puṇya}}) accrued from making offerings to enlightened beings or at stupas and other holy sites related to the Buddha.

Contents

The anthology contains 38 avadana stories in all, including the well-known Aśokāvadāna "Legend of Aśoka", which was translated into English by John Strong (Princeton, 1983). The collection has been known since the dawn of Buddhist studies in the West, when it was excerpted in Eugène Burnouf's history of Indian Buddhism (1844). The first Western edition of the Sanskrit text was published in 1886 by Edward Byles Cowell and R.A. Neil.Neil, Robert Alexander; Cowell, Edward B.: [https://archive.org/details/pts_divyvadnacol_3720-0688 The Divyâvadâna: a collection of early Buddhist legends], now first edited from the Nepalese Sanskrit mss. in Cambridge and Paris; Cambridge: University Press 1886. The Sanskrit text was again edited by P. L. Vaidya in 1959.Vaidya, P. L. (1959). [http://www.dsbcproject.org/node/7185 Divyāvadāna] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025114015/http://www.dsbcproject.org/node/7185 |date=2014-10-25 }}, Darbhanga: The Mithila Institute of Post-Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning (romanized) The Aśokāvadāna part of Divyavadana compiled during 4-5th century A.D. by sectarian Mathura's Buddhist monks{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJ3eCZVlT48C&pg=PA44 |title=The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art |editor=Kurt A. Behrendt |page=44 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |year=2007 |isbn=9781588392244 }}

Sahasodgata-avadāna, in the opening paragraphs, describe the Buddha's instructions for creating the bhavacakra (wheel of life).Bhikkhu Khantipalo (1995-2011). [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/khantipalo/wheel147.html The Wheel of Birth and Death Access to Insight]

Rudrāyaṇa-avadāna explains how the Buddha gave the first illustration of the Buddha to King Rudrayaṇa. According to this story, at the time of the Buddha, King Rudrayana (a.k.a. Udayana (king) ) offered a gift of a jeweled robe to King Bimbisara of Magadha. King Bimbisara was concerned that he did not have anything of equivalent value to offer as a gift in return. Bimbisara went to the Buddha for advice, and the Buddha gave instructions to have the first drawing of the Buddha himself send the drawing to Rudrayana. It is said that Rudrayana attained realization through seeing this picture.Dalai Lama (1992). The Meaning of Life, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins. Wisdom, p. 45

=List of Stories=

This is the list of stories contained in the Divyāvadāna:[https://www.dsbcproject.org/canon-text/book/364 Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon, Language: Sanskrit, Script: Devanagari]

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|

  1. {{IAST|Koṭikarṇa-avadāna}}
  2. {{IAST|Pūrṇa-avadāna}}
  3. {{IAST|Maitreya-avadāna}}
  4. {{IAST|Brāhmaṇadārikā-avadāna}}
  5. {{IAST|Stutibrāhmaṇa-avadāna}}
  6. {{IAST|Indrabrāhmaṇa-avadāna}}
  7. {{IAST|Nagarāvalambikā-avadāna}}
  8. {{IAST|Supriya-avadāna}}
  9. {{IAST|Meṇḍhakagṛhapativibhūti-pariccheda}}
  10. {{IAST|Meṇḍhaka-avadāna}}
  11. {{IAST|Aśokavarṇa-avadāna}}
  12. {{IAST|Prātihārya-sūtra}} (The miracles at Śrāvastī)
  13. {{IAST|Svāgata-avadāna}}
  14. {{IAST|Sūkarika-avadāna}}
  15. {{IAST|Cakravartivyākṛta-avadāna}}
  16. {{IAST|Śukapotaka-avadāna}}
  17. {{IAST|Māndhātā-avadāna}}
  18. {{IAST|Dharmaruci-avadāna}}
  19. {{IAST|Jyotiṣka-avadāna}}
  20. {{IAST|Kanakavarṇa-avadāna}}
  21. {{IAST|Sahasodgata-avadāna}}
  22. {{IAST|Candraprabhabodhisattvacaryā-avadāna}}
  23. {{IAST|Saṅgharakṣita-avadāna}}
  24. {{IAST|Nāgakumāra-avadāna}}
  25. {{IAST|Saṅgharakṣita-avadāna}}
  26. {{IAST|Pāṃśupradāna-avadāna}}
  27. {{IAST|Kunāla-avadāna}}
  28. {{IAST|Vītaśoka-avadāna}}
  29. {{IAST|Aśoka-avadāna}}
  30. {{IAST|Sudhanakumāra-avadana}}
  31. {{IAST|Toyikāmaha-avadāna}}
  32. {{IAST|Rūpāvatī-avadāna}}
  33. {{IAST|Śārdūlakarṇa-avadāna}}
  34. {{IAST|Dānādhikaraṇa-mahāyānasūtra}}
  35. {{IAST|Cūḍāpakṣa-avadāna}}
  36. {{IAST|Mākandika-avadāna}}
  37. {{IAST|Rudrāyaṇa-avadāna}}
  38. {{IAST|Maitrakanyaka-avadāna}}

}}

Selected English translations

class="wikitable"
Author

! Title

! Publisher

! Notes

! Year

Joel Tatelman

| Heavenly Exploits (Buddhist Biographies from the Dívyavadána), {{ISBN|978-0-8147-8288-0}}

| New York University Press

| English translation of stories 1, 2, 30 and 36 with original Sanskrit text

| 2005

Andy Rotman

| Divine Stories, {{ISBN|9780861712953}}

| Wisdom Publications

| English translation of the first seventeen stories

| 2008

Andy Rotman

| Divine Stories, Part 2 , {{ISBN|9781614294702}}

| Wisdom Publications

| English translation of stories 18-25, 31, 32, and 34-37.

| 2017

Original Sanskrit

class="wikitable"
Title

! Publisher

! Notes

! Year

दिव्यावदानम्, http://www.dsbcproject.org/canon-text/book/364

|[http://www.dsbcproject.org/ Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon]

|Sanskrit original in Devnāgri script

|2007

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [https://archive.org/details/pts_divyvadnacol_3720-0688 The Divyâvadâna: a collection of early Buddhist legends] by E. B. Cowell (English transliteration)
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20160728050059/http://dli.ernet.in/handle/2015/406067 Divyavadana] (1959) by P. L. Vaidya (Sanskrit)

Category:Sanskrit texts

Category:Early Buddhist texts

Category:Indian anthologies

Category:Indian folklore

Category:Indian literature

Category:Indian legends