The Tham Vessantara-jAtaka - Khamkoo

one of the nine ANgas 11 or divisions of the Buddha’s teachings as number seven. The
JAtaka is, as already explained, a story of the Buddha’s former births, while he was still
in search of Enlightenment. Belonging to the Khuddaka-nikAya, the JAtaka contains a
collection of 547 stories of the Master’s former lives. Here the exact number of the
JAtakas is a matter of controversy: some say the total number is 550; but in fact the PALi
Text has only 547 12 stories. Most scholars are of the opinion that the number of the
JAtaka Stories is 550. 13
The JAtaka evolves a structure which is quite distinctive on its own. We shall
now look at briefly the various elements which make the JAtaka a distinctive form. Each
story is assigned a number according to the number of the verses associated with that
particular story, as indicated by the following table:
Book JAtaka numbers Number of verses PALi-nipAta (section)
1 1-50 1 Eka
2 151-250 2 Duka
3 251-300 3 Tika
4 301-350 4 Catukka
5 351-375 5 PaGca
6 376-395 6 Cha
7 396-416 7 Satta
8 417-426 8 ATTha
11
The nine divisions or Angas are: Sutta, Geyya, Veyyakarana, GathA, UdAna, Itivuttaka, JAtaka,
Abbhutadhamma and Vedalla.
12
Fausbøll, The JAtakas.
13 KhemapAlI, The Critical Edition of the VessantaradIpanI, Intro. p.4. Skilling, JAtaka and PaGGAsa-jAtaka
in South-East Asia, pp. 124-125.
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