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= Jataka Tales: Connecting Animal Rebirths and Key Teachings = The Jataka Tales contain stories of the Buddha who was once born as different animals. Each animal rebirth demonstrates cultural significance in South Asia and outlines the key teachings in Buddhist doctrine. In these stories, the animals who demonstrate anthropomorphic qualities (i.e., connecting animal characters with human characteristics) are directly associated with the Buddha. Many of the Jataka Tales are often depicted in artworks that are located at the Sanchi and Bhurhut archaeological sites as well as others. These sites contain Buddhist stupas that identify the cultural significance of animal hierarchy across South Asia.

The Buddha's Previous Births as Animals
The following table shows the most common animals in the Jataka Tales that the Buddha is directly associated with. These animals are deemed culturally significant in archaeological sites and across South Asian culture.

Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human mental characteristics such as consciousness, emotions, etc. to non-human beings (Mitchell et al., 1997, p. 105). It focuses on how animals in the Jataka Tales adopt human-like qualities in which they can learn how to think, behave, or communicate in a civilized manner that demonstrates the conscious and superficial human psychological state (Mitchell et al., 1997, p. 62).

Buddhist literature highlights the hierarchical aspect between humans and animals where humans have the ability and mental capacity to overcome and dominate animals if necessary (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 160). In Vedic cosmology, the Triple World System is formed from the world of the gods, ancestors, and humans (Jensen, 2020, Week 9, slide 15). This demonstrates the hierarchical aspect where humans are not only ranked higher than animals but also more valued in Buddhist cosmology. In terms of generating merit or karma, animals do not have the mental processes necessary to determine right from wrong (Jensen, 2020, Week 9, slide 105). However, the Jataka Tales counter this hierarchy between animals and humans by attributing human mental capacities to the animals that represent the Buddha. For example, the cycle of rebirth determines the human realm as a positive birth while the animal realm is considered one of the negative births (Jensen, 2020, Week 9, slide 105).

The notion of human identification and dominance towards animals is a common dynamic in Buddhism where it is believed that humans need animals to be human (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 160). For example, Buddhist literature compares the tamed and wild elephants where monks recognized that elephants can rebel and become disloyal when they lose their temper, however, the use of proper training and taming methods allow humans to control the elephant mind in the same way humans control the minds of other humans (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 137). In a way, taming elephants is accepted as a central Buddhist analogy for taming desires (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 137).

 The Monkey's Gift of Honey 

Animals can be seen demonstrating similar devotional practices as if they were human devotees (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 142). This story demonstrates a monkey and elephant who adopt human mental characteristics to engage in Buddhist devotional practices. The Buddha first tames the elephant and influences him to abandon his animalistic ways and engage in spiritual devotion (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 142). As monkeys are known for their rash thinking and behaviour, the Buddha tests the monkey’s humanity by asking him to remove the eggs from a honeycomb without killing the creatures that are living inside (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 142) As a result, the monkey passes the test by abandoning his animalistic impulses and adopting civilized behaviour (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 143). This story concludes that animals have the ability to be humanized and accept religious behaviour which reinforces the notion of anthropomorphism in Buddhist literature.

 The Elephant Meets Ananda 

While the Buddha and the elephant travel to meet with Ananda, the elephant becomes defensive and attempts to attack Ananda due to his animalistic impulses (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 145). When the Buddha tells the elephant that Ananda is his personal attendant, he immediately stops his attack and composes himself to reflect civilized human behaviour (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 145). By demonstrating human consciousness, the elephant tests Ananda before welcoming his presence by observing where he places his belongings (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 145). The elephant thought to himself, “If he is observant, he will not put his belongings on the slab of stone where the Teacher sits,” [and, sure enough,] Ananda put his bowl and robe on the ground. For those who are observant do not place their belongings on the beds or seats of venerable Teachers" (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 145). This story concludes that animals also have the ability to test others and demonstrate human consciousness.

The first story demonstrates a human testing an animal while the second story demonstrates an animal testing a human (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 142). Through these examples, it is understood that true “humanity” is defined not by one’s physicality as a human or animal, but rather by one’s consciousness and mental characteristics (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 142). Although anthropomorphism is demonstrated in Buddhist literature, animals in reality can also demonstrate higher mental capacities through human training and learning how to behave and communicate with humans and other animals.

Key Teachings in the Jataka Tales
In the Duddubha Jataka, the Buddha teaches the notion of integrity and nobility as a hero (Obeyesekere, 2002, p. 95). In this story, the Buddha was once born as a lion who saved animals from drowning in the ocean (Kawasaki & Kawasaki, 1998). A hare felt the ground shake which made him believe that the earth was going to collapse (Kawasaki & Kawasaki, 1998). He started to panic and warned every animal of his beliefs which made them run towards the ocean (Kawasaki & Kawasaki, 1998). The lion saw the herd of animals and let out a ferocious roar which stopped them from running to the ocean and drowning (Kawasaki & Kawasaki, 1998). The lion confirms to the hare and the rest of the animals that it was a piece of ripen fruit that fell from a tree that caused the ground to shake (Kawasaki & Kawasaki, 1998). The overall lesson is to attest to the truth instead of believing what could be rumoured as it may cause one to act irrationally (Kawasaki & Kawasaki, 1998). In this case, the animals who believed in the rumour almost had them running to their death. This story also outlines the cultural significance of the lion's roar as a metaphor for the Buddha's Dharma teachings that can save people from death and lead them on a path to enlightenment.

In the Jambuka Jataka, the Buddha teaches the notion of arrogance as he was once born as a lion (Appleton & Clark, 2019). A jackal stumbles across a lion and begs to spare his life in exchange for his services as an attendant (Appleton & Clark, 2019). The jackal then serves the lion by bringing him meat and eating the leftovers until he grew arrogant and tries to kill an elephant by himself (Appleton & Clark, 2019). The lion advised the jackal that is was impossible for him to take down an elephant because jackals are not born to kill elephants (Appleton & Clark, 2019). As a result of the jackal's ignorance, he ended up getting crushed by the elephant's foot (Appleton & Clark, 2019). This story teaches the consequences of arrogance and to recognize one's place in society in terms of where they stand in the caste system (Jensen, 2020, Week 1, slide 49). In this context, jackals are not born to kill elephants as a part of their food chain, yet the jackal in this story was convinced that he could due to his arrogance.

In the Silavanaga Jataka, the Buddha teaches the notion of compassion and ingratitude as he was once born as an elephant. This story is about an elephant who encounters a lost forester and out of compassion, the elephant brought the forester to his dwelling to stay the night (Appleton & Clark, 2019). The elephant demonstrated civil behaviour by feeding the forester and showing him the way out of the forest (Appleton & Clark, 2019). Upon returning home, the forester made an agreement with ivory workers to obtain the elephant's tusks in exchange for monetary gain (Appleton & Clark, 2019). The forester returns to the elephant three times asking for his tusks and each time the elephant freely grants his requests (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 78). The first time the forester saws off the elephant’s tusks, the second time removing the stumps, and the third time he digs into the elephant's flesh to retrieve every last piece of ivory (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 78). As a result of the forester's greed, he became swallowed up by the earth and fell into the fires of hell (Appleton & Clark, 2019). This story teaches the consequences of ingratitude towards one who was only kind and compassionate. This selfish behaviour inevitably generates bad karma in the sense that it drags the soul down to Naraka (Jensen, 2020, Week 1, slide 65). The Mahakapi Jataka teaches the notion of sacrifice as the Buddha was born once born as a monkey king (Kawasaki & Kawasaki, 1998). The monkeys enjoyed the fruit of the mango tree that grew on a riverbank where they were careful not to let any fruit fall into the river (Kawasaki & Kawasaki, 1998). However, a ripen fruit fell and was picked up and eaten by the king of Benares (Kawasaki & Kawasaki, 1998). The king ordered his men to take him to the tree for more and unknowingly, the monkeys started eating the fruit which upset the king and had his men start shooting the monkeys (Kawasaki & Kawasaki, 1998). By demonstrating his cleverness, the monkey king acted quickly and used his body to form a bridge for the rest of the monkeys to escape the king's men (Kawasaki & Kawasaki, 1998). However, the last monkey (representing Devadatta) saw the opportunity to harm the monkey king in which he succeeded and resulted in the monkey king's death and a funeral pyre in honour of his selfless sacrifice (Kawasaki & Kawasaki, 1998). This story demonstrates the generation of good merit as a result of one's selfless actions towards others. In this context, it is appropriate to suggest that the monkey became liberated through his selfless actions and became closer to becoming the Buddha.

In the Garahita Jataka, the Buddha teaches the notion of impermanence as he was once born as a monkey who became the king's attendant (Appleton & Clark, 2019). As a result of the monkey's many years of service to the king, he was released back into the forest where he told the other animals about his life with humans and explained their lack of knowledge regarding impermanence (Appleton & Clark, 2019). This story demonstrates the reversal of humans rather than animals who lack the higher mentalities of realizing the truth of impermanence (Ohnuma, 2017, pp. 11–12). Specifically, humans can fail to recognize and follow the teachings of the Dharma due to the worship of inanimate objects and attaching themselves to worldly pleasures that will cease to exist (Ohnuma, pp. 11–12). This story also demonstrates the anthropomorphic qualities that are adopted by animals in which they are capable of understanding the value of impermanence in Buddhist literature.

In the Nandivisala Jataka, the Buddha teaches the notion of kindness as he was once born as a bull named who was raised by a Brahmin (Appleton & Clark, 2019). As the bull was treated well throughout his life, he wanted to show his gratitude to the Brahmin by pulling 100 cards for a wager (Appleton & Clark, 2019). As the bull was about to pull the carts the Brahmin shouted, "now, you rascal, pull" which offended the bull as there was no reason for the Brahmin to insult him and thus, resulted in the Brahmin losing his money (Appleton & Clark, 2019). The bull then went to the Brahmin and said that he should not have abused him and to have another competition (Appleton & Clark, 2019). This time, before pulling the 100 carts, the Brahmin stroked the bull's back and said, "now then, my fine fellow, pull" (Appleton & Clark, 2019). When hearing these kind words, the bull pulled the carts with one heave and they won the competition (Appleton & Clark, 2019). The overall lesson is to treat others with kindness in a way that will not only be reciprocated but will also generate good karma in one's afterlife.

Cultural Significance of Animals in South Asia
 Lion 

Certain animals in South Asia symbolize the imperialism of the earlier Mauryan pillars and their capitals (Shaw, 2013, p. 144). The most frequently depicted animal capital is the lion, which represents Sakyasimha, the lion among the Sakya clan, and the imperial force of the Mauryan empire (Shaw, 2013, p. 144). Figure 1 shows the Asokan Rampurva lion capital in Sanchi. Figure 2 shows the only one Mauryan bull capital at Rampurva. It is also believed that the Allahabad pillar was originally crowned by a bull, rather than a lion (Shaw, 2013, p. 268). The lion is closely associated with the Buddha and the lion's roar presents a metaphor of the Buddhist teachings of the Dharma (Analayo, 2009, p. 7). The lion's roar also signals fear not only in animals but also in other beings such as deities (Analayo, 2009, p. 7). This is because it reminds them about the teaching of impermanence in which deities are believed to live long lives, however, the lion's roar symbolizes a revelation of truth where they too, will cease to exist (Analayo, 2009, p. 7).

The lion creates fear through his ferocious roar as a symbol of Buddhist teaching, therefore, when one follows the Dharma, their fear becomes effectively translated into religious motivation to attain nirvana (Analayo, 2009, p. 7). Creating fear can also be valuable where it replaces one's "complacency" with "urgency” (Analayo, 2009, p. 7). This is because the lion’s roar demonstrates a teaching strategy to urge and lead people towards enlightenment (Analayo, 2009, p. 7). This cultural significance of the lion's roar in relation to the Buddha's Dharma proposes that although lions may have the negative connotation of ferociousness and instilling fear in others, they also have the positive function of leading people on the path to liberation (Analayo, 2009, p. 7).   Elephant 

Similarly, the elephant is closely associated with the Buddha as he is one of the favoured animals in Buddhist literature (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 143). In South Asia, elephants are consistently celebrated in Sanskrit literature for their power, grace, intelligence, and having a close association with agricultural fertility (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 135). Figure 3 shows the temporal and spatial patterns of elephant depictions in temples. These depictions identify the cultural significance of royalty that is associated with elephants and Hindu deities such as Indra and Vishnu (Shaw, 2013, p. 56).

Elephants were also an extremely important economic and military resource because people preserved the species by creating "elephant-forests" (Singh, 2016, p. 290). The wild elephant is also a natural symbol for the forest-dwelling monk and serves as an effective mirror for the Buddha (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 136). Specifically, the Buddha is the original model for abandoning household life and retreating into the forest to attain enlightenment (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 136). During the Phase ll Establishment of Temple 40 in Sachi, there were mostly elephants and their young depicted as bringing lotus flowers and garlands to honour the sacred Tree (Shaw, 2013, p. 87). This depiction is culturally significant as the sacred tree is commonly referred to as the Bodhi tree where the Buddha attained enlightenment.

 Bull 

The bull highlights the discourses relating to masculinity, sex, the body, and male sociality as described in Buddhist literature and art (Powers, 2009, p. 8). This demonstrates the conformity to ideal norms of how men should appear and hold themselves in mainstream society by portraying heterosexuality and dominance (Powers, 2009, p. 23). In both ancient and contemporary India, a man who is unable to bore a male heir is seen as a negative reflection on his masculinity (Powers, 2009, p. 38). Women who desire sons to become the next heir must continuously observe a white bull every morning and evening (Powers, 2009, p. 52). Since bulls are a symbol for masculinity, this practice is believed to increase the chances for women to give birth to a son by concentrating on white objects (Powers, 2009, p. 128)

Elephants and bulls are often depicted together in South Asian culture because they were frequently depicted on early coins from cities and archaeological sites such as Vidisha, Eran, and Ujjain (Shaw, 2013, p. 141). Figure 4 shows depictions of a bull and elephant on the same coin (Shaw, 2013, p. 268). This also included combined lion-elephant capitals that were found on coins (Shaw, 2013, p. 177).

 Monkey 

The monkey is the most prominent wild animal in Buddhist literature and becomes an image for the human mind who thinks and acts impulsively as a result of their animalistic behaviour (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 143). The monkey can reject his animalistic ways by attributing human mental characteristics and adopting civilized behaviour in Buddhist literature. Similarly, it is the impulsive “wildness” that the human mind can overcome through spiritual discipline (Ohnuma, 2017, p. 143).

Exploration of Animal Hierarchy in the Jataka Database
Although the database contains a limited number of Jataka stories, I expected at least one of the four animals: lion, elephant, bull, monkey, to feature the most in the texts. In a hierarchical aspect, the monkey, elephant, lion, and bull are ranked respectively. By collecting a representative sample from the available options of animals in the "Stories in Text" search bar, I concluded the top-ranked animals who are featured the most in the Jataka stories. I suggest that this hierarchy could be a strong indication of animal significance in the South Asian context based on my previous research conducted on the lion, elephant, bull, and monkey. Lastly, it is interesting to note that out of all the available options of animals in the database, the monkey features the most while the bull features the least in the Jataka texts. By conducting a similar search using the same set of animals for the "Stories in Art", I noticed a significantly low number of animal features in art compared to the features in texts. However, the elephant and monkey continues to rank first and second of the hierarchy. It is interesting to note that while the lion and the bull also demonstrate a cultural significance in South Asia, they resulted in a low number of features at the archaeological sites of Bharhut, Sanchi, and Kanaganahalli. Again, this database is limited not only limited in Jataka stories but also in archaeological sites. However, my external research outside of this database concludes that the lion and bull are depicted in artworks located in other archaeological sites in India such as the Dhammayazika temple, Tajpur, Dhakna village (Shaw, 2013, p. 12).