Heavenly Exploits

'Now an ambitious new publishing project, the Clay Sanskrit Library brings together leading Sanskrit translators and scholars of Indology from around the world to celebrate in translating the beauty and range of classical Sanskrit literature...Published as smart green hardbacks that are small enough to fit into a jeans pocket, the volumes are meant to satisfy both the scholar and the lay reader. Each volume has a transliteration of the original Sanskrit text on the left-hand page and an English translation on the right, as also a helpful introduction and notes. Alongside definitive translations of the great Indian epics - 30 or so volumes will be devoted to the "Mahabharat" itself - Clay Sanskrit Library makes available to the English-speaking reader many other delights: The earthy verse of Bhartrihari, the pungent satire of Jayanta Bhatta and the roving narratives of Dandin, among others. All these writers belong properly not just to Indian literature, but to world literature' - "LiveMint". 'The Clay Sanskrit Library has recently set out to change the scene by making available well-translated dual-language (English and Sanskrit) editions of popular Sanskritic texts for the public' - "Namarupa". A fine addition to an esteemed series...Tatelman has a fine appreciation for lively storytelling, and his work corrects the tendency to neglect this important means of conveying the teachings - a tendency that has long characterized the field of Buddhist studies, despite the fact that monastic libraries across the Buddhist world are chock-full of these kinds of tales...Tatelman's translation makes for a particularly good study aid in that it is faithful to the Sanskrit (which is printed on facing pages) without much loss of elegance. The syntax of the English approximates that of the Sanskrit, which makes for easy Sanskrit training. Given the paucity of adequate Sanskrit textbooks (not to mention texts useful for the student of Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit), this volume thus stands out as an excellent teaching tool' - H-Buddhism@H-Net. This selection of religious biographies from the early centuries C.E. offers a delightful introduction to a literary genre that has played an essential part in Buddhist self-understanding for over two thousand years. "The Heavenly Exploits" are 'Buddhist Biographies from the Divyavadana'. The worldly face of religious literature, these lively morality tales have inspired audiences across Asia for more than two millennia. This volume contains four of the thirty-eight Buddhist biographical stories in the 'Divyavadana', or Heavenly Exploits. Where religion meets the world, these tales present something for everyone. It is co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation.