[INDOLOGY] Enkidu and Ṛṣyaśṛṅga

[Jonathan Silk]

I'm away from my desk so I can't check anything,  but let's remember that
the stories of the jātaka are not(nearly) as old as the verses.  this fact
may our may not be relevant in this case...

Jonathan

Prof. dr. J.A. Silk
Professor in the study of Buddhism
Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, LIAS
Herta Mohr building 2.142
Witte Singel 27A
2311 BG Leiden
The Netherlands

Guest Professor, PI of ERC-Project BEST
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Department für Asienstudien, Institut für Indologie und Tibetologie
Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
80539 München
Deutschland

website: www.OpenPhilology.eu
copies of my publications may be found at
https://leidenuniv.academia.edu/JASilk

On Mon, 19 Oct 2026, 12:14 Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY, <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> I am not sure that there is an important spatial distance - it's quite
> direct from Mesopotamia to the Indus and beyond via the sea route. Recall
> that the Baveru JAtaka makes clear that seafaring to Babylon (Babbilu) was
> well-known to early Buddhists. And there are other cases in which
> apparently Near Eastern tales are found in Buddhist materials - another is
> Solomon's judgement, which has a well-known parallel in "Mahosadha's
> judgement," from the commentary on the MahomaggajAtaka and conveniently
> given in Andersen's Pali Reader.
>
> Matthew T. Kapstein
> Professor emeritus
> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, Paris
>
> Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies Emeritus
> The University of Chicago Divinity School
>
> Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
>
> https://ephe.academia.edu/MatthewKapstein
>
> https://vajrabookshop.com/product/the-life-and-work-of-auleshi/
>
>
> https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501716218/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-i/#bookTabs=1
>
>
> https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501771255/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-ii/#bookTabs=1
>
> https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/60949
>
> Sent with Proton Mail <https://proton.me/mail/home> secure email.
>
> On Monday, October 19th, 2026 at 7:40 AM, Hélène de Brux via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
> Dear Valerie,
>
>
> You may look into Giacomo Benedetti’s 2015 article in the Journal of Asian
> Civilizations 38(1) “The story of Ekaśṛṅga in the Mahāvastu with its
> parallels,” where he discusses its similarity with the story of Enkidu and
> its line of transmission, as well as refers to previous studies on the
> subject.
>
>
> With best wishes,
>
> Hélène
>
>
> *Dr. Hélène de Brux*
> Postdoctoral fellow
> École française d'Extrême-Orient, Paris
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 19, 2026 at 12:54 AM Valerie Roebuck via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Dear Colleagues
>>
>> While listening recently to a dramatisation of the Epic of Gilgamesh on
>> BBC Radio 4, I was very struck by the similarity of the story of the taming
>> of the wild man Enkidu with that of the (temporary) taming of the sage
>> Ṛṣyaśṛṅga/Ekaśṛṅga (Pali Isisiṅga) found in the Mahābhārata and the
>> Jātakas. In view of the rather large disparity in space and time between
>> these accounts, is there any possibility of a common influence? Has anyone
>> looked into this?
>>
>> Thank you
>>
>> Valerie J Roebuck
>> Manchester, UK
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
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