This insight enables Becker to make use of Andy Rotman's important analysis of the role of prasada in Buddhist
avadana texts, in his Thus I Have Seen: Visualizing Faith in Early Indian Buddhism (2009).
In India, most older forms of historical discourse appearing in the Buddhist
Avadana literature or the Hindu and Jain epics and Puranas were written in verse, and in extension thereof associated with various performative traditions of memorization and recitation.
Caption: Shakyamuni Buddha with
Avadana legend scenes, Tibet, 19th century, pigment on cloth, 33 5/8 x 22 1/4".
At the end of this essay, while delineating the visual representation of
Avadana literature in the mural paintings of the Kizil caves, The sutra of the wise and foolish is presumed 'to be a compilation of lecture notes collected in Khotan' (p.
A similar point is made by Chris Clark in his study of
Avadana literature where he observes that venerating Buddha relics is as efficacious as venerating the Buddha himself (27).
El Mahavastu incorpora ademas numerosas jataka y
avadana, historias en si mismas, como fragmentos pseudobiograficos de las vidas anteriores de Sakyamuni.
What is interesting however is that this story finds artistic depiction in a series of murals called the 'Simhala
Avadana' in the 5th Century monastic caves of Ajanta in Western India.
It is significant that the painters at Ajanta draw from both the Jatakas as well as
Avadana literature and some of the Jatakas are painted more than once.
(34) Besides we know a number of paintings where the written explanations below the scenes refer explicitly to the texts which they illustrate: the life of Milarepa by gTsang-smyon, of Padmasambhava according to the Padma thang-yig Steelbrag-ma,
Avadana series according to the dPag-bsam 'khri-shing, etc.
Budda ga nazo toku sanze no monogatari: Diviya
avadana zenyaku [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [A Complete Japanese Translation of the Divyovadana].
This is of course a very common theme in the wider jataka and
avadana genre to which this tale belongs.
(35) This accords with the spirit of the
Avadana stories painted on the walls of the main room of central-pillar caves.
