DIVY?VAD?NA

The fourth-century c.e. Sanskrit Divy?vad?na (Heavenly Exploits) contains thirty-eight biographical narratives that celebrate the lives of paradigmatic figures in Buddhist history, authenticate local dharma traditions, and dramatize the importance of moral discipline, karma (action), d?na (giving), and the power of faith and devotion. Many of the narratives also demonstrate the central role of storytelling, a dimension of Buddhist tradition that has only recently attracted the careful scholarly attention long accorded doctrine, history, and philosophy.

These narratives derive largely from the M?lasar-v?stiv?da Vinaya (twenty-one stories) and the vinayas of other Buddhist monastic schools (nine stories), but also adapt canonical s?tras (chapters 3, 17,34). Two chapters (36, 38) reproduce the work of classical Sanskrit poets.

Among other subjects, the Divy?vad?na portrays the adventures of wealthy merchants who become Buddhist monks (chapters 1, 2, 8, 35), recounts the family and religious lives of Indian kings (chapters 3, 26–29, 37), and describes the origins of the "Wheel of Life," well known in the West from Tibetan paintings (chapter 21). Readers also find the conversion of M?ra, the Buddhist "Satan" (chapter 26), and the love story of Sudhana and Manohar? (chapters 30, 31), and learn both what happens when a man offers his daughter to the Buddha (chapter 36) and when an outcaste woman falls in love with an eminent monk (chapter 33). The Divy?vad?na also includes stories about women who studied Buddhist scripture in their own homes and others who, out of love or jealousy, cast spells, blinded their own sons, or committed mass murder.

In the Divy?vad?na, as in other avad?nas, scholars find a meeting of scriptural, literary, doctrinal, and social themes that informed Indian Buddhism—in short, an indispensable window on the ancient tradition.

See also:Avad?na; Avad?na?ataka

Bibliography

Strong, John S., trans. The Legend of King A?oka. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983.

Tatelman, Joel, trans. The Glorious Deeds of P?r?a. Richmond, UK: Curzon, 2000.

Winternitz, Maurice. A History of Indian Literature, 2 vols., tr. S. Ketkar and H. Kohn. Calcutta: University of Calcutta Press, 1927; New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation, 1977.

Joel Tatelman