--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Gunnar Gällmo <gunnargallmo@...> wrote:

>
> --- Nina van Gorkom <vangorko@...> skrev:
>
> > Gunnar, I also heard the opposite that the prose was
> > the original,
> > not the verse. But these Jatakas were also rehearsed
> > at the Great
> > Councils.
>
> Weren't all the atthakatha rehearsed there?
>
> In VRI, Jatakapali contains only the verses,
> Jatakatthakatha also the stories, so I think they are
> commonly regarded as commentary (same as the stories
> in the Dhammapada commentary, for example).
>
> But I don't think Buddhaghosa created those stories
> from scratch.

The stories were taken from originals which were in ancient Sinhala.
Buddhaghosa and other commentators also edited and polished the
ancient Sinhala commentaries and this is clearly stated in the
preamble to the Dhammapada commentary. (This also relates to the
discussion in the other thread to the similarities and differences
between Sunhala and Pali. If the two langauges at the time of
Buddhaghosa were as different as they are today, his task would have
been enormously more difficult.)

Mahinda

Mahinda