batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l1231-l1266
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l1231-l1266
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
passage_locator:
label: THE BIRTH STORIES. / INDEX 339
/ INTRODUCTION. / THE KALILAG AND DAMNAG LITERATURE.; lines 1231-1266
start: '1231'
end: '1266'
translation: Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: The passage argues that Planudes may have known Phaedrus only with difficulty,
while Buddhist Birth Stories and other Indian tales had already reached Europe
in multiple languages before Planudes. It states that many so-called Aesop fables
have been traced to Buddhist or Indian sources, and that some stories later returned
to India through modern translations, including a Sanskrit translation by Narayan
Balkrishna Godpole.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage says the work of Phaedrus was based on that of Babrius and was
available only in very rare manuscripts until the end of the sixteenth century.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The passage says versions of Buddhist Birth Stories and other Indian tales
had appeared in Europe before Planudes in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Spanish.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The passage says many of Planudes' stories had been clearly traced back to
Buddhist Birth Stories and other Indian tales.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The passage says some fables of Babrius and Phaedrus found in Planudes were
possibly derived by those authors from Buddhist sources.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The passage states that the so-called Aesop's fables were first collected
in the Middle Ages and that many had been traced to the Buddhist Jataka book.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The passage says some stories Planudes borrowed indirectly from India were
later restored to India through translations, including a Sanskrit translation
by Narayan Balkrishna Godpole.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Phaedrus
description: A Latin poet who calls himself a freedman of Augustus in the title
of his work.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Augustus
description: Named as the person whose freedman Phaedrus calls himself.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Planudes
description: A compiler or transmitter whose stories are discussed in relation to
Phaedrus, Babrius, and Indian sources.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Babrius
description: An author whose work is described as a basis for Phaedrus and whose
fables may have been derived from Buddhist sources.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Narayan Balkrishna Godpole
description: A Master of the Government High School at Ahmadnagar who published
a second edition of a Sanskrit translation of the common English version of the
fables.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Unnamed Englishman
description: A translator said to have translated a few of the stories into several
languages spoken in India.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: fable author
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:4
basis: Phaedrus and Babrius are named in connection with fables and literary sources.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: role:2
label: patron-status reference
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Augustus is mentioned only as the person in relation to whom Phaedrus identifies
himself as freedman.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: medieval compiler or transmitter
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Planudes is described as having stories that may have come from earlier European
and Indian channels.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: modern translator
assigned_to:
- fig:5
- fig:6
basis: The passage describes translations into Indian languages and Sanskrit.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
symbols: []
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Scholarly account of transmission of fables
summary: The passage discusses whether Planudes knew Phaedrus and contrasts this
with the earlier presence in Europe of Buddhist Birth Stories and Indian tales
in several languages.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Attribution of so-called Aesop fables to Indian sources
summary: The passage summarizes the claim that the medieval collection called Aesop's
fables contains many stories traced to the Buddhist Jataka book and is probably
largely derived from Indian sources.
figure_refs: []
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:3
label: Return of translated fables to India
summary: The passage says stories borrowed indirectly from India later returned
there in altered form through translations into Indian languages and Sanskrit.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Return of stories to an original home
taxonomy_refs:
- return
basis: The passage describes stories borrowed indirectly from India as being restored
to their original home through later translations.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: low
cautions: This is a literary-historical metaphor in the passage, not a narrative
motif within a mythic story.
- id: motif:2
label: Wisdom tale transmission
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage concerns fables and Jataka stories transmitted across languages
and collections, with many traced to Buddhist or Indian sources.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
confidence: low
cautions: The passage does not recount the content or moral of any tale; the wisdom
classification is inferred from the genre context of fables and Jatakas.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage claims that many so-called Aesop fables have been traced back
to the Buddhist Jataka book and that almost all are probably derived from Indian
sources in one way or another.
claim_level: historical_contact
target: So-called Aesop's fables compared with Buddhist Jataka and Indian tale sources
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage reports a broad scholarly conclusion but does not provide
individual tale examples within this line range.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage says some fables of Babrius and Phaedrus found in Planudes were
possibly derived from Buddhist sources.
claim_level: historical_contact
target: Fables of Babrius and Phaedrus in Planudes compared with Buddhist sources
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: low
limitations: The passage itself marks this derivation as possible and gives no specific
fable-level evidence in the excerpt.
- id: claim:3
claim: The passage states that versions of Buddhist Birth Stories and other Indian
tales had reached Europe before Planudes in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Spanish,
supporting a transmission context for shared fable material.
claim_level: historical_contact
target: Pre-Planudes European versions of Buddhist Birth Stories and Indian tales
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The excerpt identifies languages and timing generally but does not
specify manuscripts or exact routes in the provided lines.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 1231-1237
quote_or_summary: Phaedrus, a Latin poet calling himself a freedman of Augustus,
may have been known to Planudes; his work, based on Babrius, was rare in manuscripts
until the end of the sixteenth century.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 1238-1245
quote_or_summary: Buddhist Birth Stories and other Indian tales had appeared in
Europe before Planudes in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Spanish, and many of Planudes'
stories had been traced back to this source.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 1244-1247
quote_or_summary: Some fables of Babrius and Phaedrus found in Planudes are described
as possibly derived by those authors from Buddhist sources.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 1251-1257
quote_or_summary: The passage states that the so-called Aesop's fables are not really
Aesopian, were collected in the Middle Ages, and include many tales traced to
the Buddhist Jataka book, with almost all probably derived from Indian sources.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 1258-1266
quote_or_summary: Stories Planudes borrowed indirectly from India are said to have
been restored to India through translations, including translations by an Englishman
into Indian languages and a Sanskrit translation by Narayan Balkrishna Godpole.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: low
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is literary-historical rather than a narrative myth passage.
Transmission claims are explicit, but motif extraction is limited and requires
review.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
No literal symbolic objects from the available symbol taxonomy occur in the passage; symbols are therefore left empty.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg__l1231-l1266
passage_sha256=3bf30f3bd2e1f0a5897e9dd7fb4b8e1af6c91134babfc5e2c9d1c5e7ae161ba3