Divyavadana

[Joel H. Tatelman]

Rolf Heinrich Koch asks about translations of the Divyaavadaana, either the
whole anthology or individual stories:

1. V.S. Agrawala, of Banares Hindu University, began work on a full
translation. See his article "Some Obscure Words in the Divyaavadaana",
JAOS 86, 1966, no. 2, pp. 67-75. So far as I know, he died before
completing the project. I have no idea if he left any notes or drafts that
could be incorporated into subsequent work, or if he did so, whether they
could be made available to another researcher.

2. Andy Rotman, a doctoral student at Univ. of Chicago is working on a
translation of the entire Divy. I'm sure he plans to publish it eventually,
but have no idea of when it will be ready and or when it might see the
light of day from between two bookcovers. Andy's translation is based on
the Skt. and Tibetan.

3. A Japanese scholar, whose details I have lost in my recent move to the
U.S., but whose name and address were given to me by Jonathan Silk of
Western Michigan University, is also working on a full translation of the
Divy, but I think it is into Japanese. He is working from the Tibetan and
Chinese as well from as the Sanskrit.

4.  Eugene Burnouf translated 10 Divy stories into French in his
Introduction à l'histoire du Bouddhisme indien (Paris, 1844; 2nd ed. Paris,
1876). He had to work from unedited manuscripts, but also used the Tibetan.
All things considered, a very impressive achievement.

5. Kenneth Ch'en translated most of the Svaagataavadaana (though I think
from Chinese) in an article published in the Harvard Journal of Asiatic
Studies: 'A Study of the Svaagata Story in the Divyaavadaana in its
Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan and Chinese Versions', HJAS 9, 1947, nos. 3-4, pp.
207-314.

6. John Strong has, as you probably know, published an excellent
translation of the A'sokaavadaana based on Mukhopadhyaya's critical edition
(as opposed to Cowell and Neil's editio princeps). See John S. Strong, The
Legend of King A'soka, Princeton University Press, 1983.

7. Jean Przyluski, in his Le Legend de l'Empereur A'soka (Paris, 1923)
translates most if not all versions of the A'soka legend, including those
from Divy. Both Przyluski's and Strong's translations include valuable
studies.

8. D.R. Shackleton Bailey, in "Notes on the Divyaavadaana", JRAS 82, 1950,
pp. 166-184 and JRAS 83, 1951, pp. 82-102, provides valuable textcritical
notes on Cowell and Neil's text, though only for the first 2 or 3 stories.

9. I have prepared an English translation and study of the Puur.naavadaana
(Divy no. 2). This is forthcoming from Curzon Press and should appear in
1998 as The Glorious Deeds of Puur.na: A Study and Translation of the
Puur.naavadaana.

10. Since I don't have all my bibliographical materials with me, this is
all the information I can provide right now. I would also recommend
consulting H. Nakamura's Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical
Notes (Hammamatsu, Japan, 1980; repr. Delhi: M. Banarsidass, 1990, 1994,
etc.), which lists, I am sure, other relevant publications.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Joel Tatelman.




Joel Tatelman,
Visiting Lecturer in Sanskrit,
Department of South Asian Studies,
University of Wisconsin-Madison,
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