This is the Ummagga Jātaka, the longest of the Jātaka stories — the accounts of the Buddha's previous births — retold here in Sinhala. The text is printed in Sinhala throughout, so a reader will need the language to use it.
The story is traditionally read as the clearest illustration of the perfection of wisdom, one of the perfections cultivated by a Bodhisatta. Its subject is Mahaushadha Pandita, the sage whose judgement and quick thinking carry the narrative, and the tale follows how he applies that intelligence to the situations set before him. Where other Jātaka stories turn on generosity or patience, this one turns on cleverness, and that is why it occupies the place it does within the collection.
The Ummagga Jātaka has long been part of Sinhala literary and religious life, familiar to readers from temple sermons and from school reading alike, and it continues to be published for a general Sinhala-reading audience rather than a scholarly one. This edition comes from M. D. Gunasena & Co., a Colombo publishing house with a long association with Sinhala-language books.
It will suit readers who want the story in Sinhala at home or abroad, families keeping Sinhala reading material in the house, and anyone working through the Jātaka literature in the original language.
- Publisher: M. D. Gunasena & Co. (Pvt) Ltd
- Language: Sinhala
- ISBN: 9789552110627
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