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CAMBODIAN NARRATIVES: TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE VESSANTARA JATAKA – TAASA Review June 2015

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This article was originally found in the June 2015 edition of TAASA Review (Volume 24, Issue 2, Page 7).

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Tuy Danel & Martin Polkinghorne T he previous lives of the Buddha, also known as Jātaka, are depicted, recited and performed throughout mainland Southeast Asia and maintain an important didactic and legitimising role in the religious life of Theravāda communities.

In them the Buddha appears as animals, humans, and gods to perform some form of appreciable moral virtue.

While there are 547 known Jātaka in Cambodia, the final ten are the best known...