Dear Bh Santi, Dan, Gunnar, Ole, Piya, Rett, Thomas and friends,

happy new year.

Thanks for this wonderful discussion. I notice that there is more to
talk about Tolkien and the story of Saint Josaphat than C.S.Lewis.

The movie Chronicles of Narnia opened only about a week ago in
Australia, and I watched it on Boxing Day (December 26). I have never
read the book, but by watching the movie, I have to say the story
lacks the depth compared to Lord of the Rings. Probably, it was
really intended for children.

It is interesting to note what Ole has mentioned about Buddhism
influencing early Christianity, especially the Bible (correct me if I
wrong). This is a very minor field of study, but I understand there
is some interest in the public. I have read some information on this
topic, but got to say I am neither a proponent or opponent that
Buddhism has influenced Christianity in any way. We only has very
faint idea, if any, of the influence of Indian thoughts in the Roman
Empire around the birth of Christianity. For example, we know that
Asoka had sent missionaries to parts of the Greek empire. I would be
happy to see more research being carried out in this area.

Some of the Jataka Stories were first translated into Persian, and
later retranslated into Greek, Latin and Hebrew. Some believed these
formed the basis for Aesop's Fables, Sindbad the Sailor and The
Arabian Nights.

The story of Josaphat followed quite a similar journey, first into
Persian, and after some time Greek, and then Latin, and some others
in between. This is not surprising for two main reasons: 1.
Geographically, India is closer to Persia than the rest. 2.
Considering how culturally isolated Europe was in the Middle Ages,
information flow was, if possible at all, a slow and deliberate
process.

So, Josaphat becoming a Catholic saint was definitely not a direct
Indian influence. As for whether C.S.Lewis (or Tolkien) read the
Jataka stories or not, I think we are not sure. Although some would
argue no and some would do otherwise, I am more interested in the
wealth of foreign literature available to Cambridge Literature
professors like Lewis during his time.


metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Ole Holten Pind wrote:

The Jataka verses were composed in northern India. The Jataka prose
is a 5th (?) century A.D. Sri Lankan Pali rewriting of the original
Pali prose of which only that of the Kunalajata has survived.