batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l2536-l2639
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l2536-l2639
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
passage_locator:
label: TABLE I. / INDIAN WORKS. / TABLE II. / THE KALILAG AND DAMNAG LITERATURE.;
lines 2536-2639
start: '2536'
end: '2639'
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: THE KALILAG AND DAMNAG LITERATURE.
summary: A bibliographic table lists versions and translations of the Kalilag and
Damnag literature, beginning with a lost Northern Indian Buddhist work ascribed
to Bidpai and tracing Pēlvī, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Spanish,
Italian, French, German, and English versions and adaptations.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage is a numbered bibliographic table headed as the Kalilag and Damnag
literature.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The first listed item is a lost Buddhist work in a language of Northern India,
ascribed to Bidpai.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: A Pēlvī version dated 531-579 A.D. is attributed to Barzūyē, described as
court physician of Khosru Nushírvan.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:4
text: A Syriac version of the Pēlvī version is said, together with John of Capua's
Latin Directorium, to preserve strong evidence for the contents of the Pēlvī text
and its Buddhist original or originals.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: An Arabic Kalilah wā Dimnah is listed as a version of the Syriac text, made
by Abd-allah, son of Almokaffa, around 750 A.D.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The table lists later translations and adaptations in multiple languages,
including English, German, Greek, Latin, Persian, French, Italian, Hebrew, Spanish,
and other European-language traditions.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: La Fontaine's Fables are listed with editions whose later books are said to
draw from earlier listed works, including the Livre des Lumières and Contes et
Nouvelles.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Bidpai
description: Person to whom the lost Northern Indian Buddhist work is ascribed.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Barzūyē
description: Court physician of Khosru Nushírvan and maker of the Pēlvī version
dated 531-579 A.D.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Khosru Nushírvan
description: Ruler named in relation to Barzūyē as his court physician's patron
or court context.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Abd-allah, son of Almokaffa
description: Translator or adaptor associated with the Arabic version of Kalilah
wā Dimnah around 750 A.D.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: John of Capua
description: Author of the Latin Directorium Humanæ Vitæ, a version of the Hebrew
text written 1263-1278.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: La Fontaine
description: Author of Fables whose later books are described as drawing on earlier
listed works.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: ascribed author or source authority
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The lost Buddhist work is explicitly ascribed to Bidpai.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: translator or version maker
assigned_to:
- fig:2
- fig:4
- fig:5
basis: The passage names these figures in connection with making Pēlvī, Arabic,
and Latin versions.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: role:3
label: court context figure
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Khosru Nushírvan is named as the court ruler associated with Barzūyē.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:4
label: textual witness to lost sources
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The Directorium associated with John of Capua is described as among the best
evidence for the contents of the lost earlier books.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: later adapter of fable material
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: La Fontaine's later books are said to take subjects from earlier listed works.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
symbols: []
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Bibliographic transmission of Kalilag and Damnag literature
summary: The passage lays out a sequence of textual versions from a lost Northern
Indian Buddhist work through Pēlvī, Syriac, Arabic, and later Asian and European
translations and adaptations.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: wisdom and fable literature transmission
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage concerns the Kalilag and Damnag/Bidpai fable tradition and includes
titles such as a book of the wise, the Seven Wise Masters, and moral or didactic
later versions.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: low
cautions: This passage is bibliographic rather than narrative; it does not present
the contents of an individual fable or mythic episode.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The table presents the Kalilag and Damnag literature as a chain of historical
textual transmission from a lost Northern Indian Buddhist work into Pēlvī, Syriac,
Arabic, and later Asian and European versions.
claim_level: historical_contact
target: Kalilag and Damnag / Kalilah wā Dimnah textual tradition
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage documents bibliographic relationships, not direct manuscript
proof or narrative motif-by-motif comparison.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage explicitly identifies the Syriac version and John of Capua's
Latin Directorium as especially important witnesses to the contents of earlier
lost works.
claim_level: historical_contact
target: lost Buddhist and Pēlvī antecedents of Kalilag and Damnag
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The claim is limited to the table's statement about evidentiary value
and does not reconstruct the lost texts' contents.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 2536-2544; Table II items 1-2
quote_or_summary: The table is headed 'The Kalilag and Damnag Literature'; it begins
with a lost Northern Indian Buddhist work ascribed to Bidpai and a Pēlvī version
dated 531-579 A.D. by Barzūyē, court physician of Khosru Nushírvan.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 2545-2550; Table II item 3
quote_or_summary: The Syriac Kalilag und Damnag is listed as a version of the Pēlvī
text and, together with item 15, as preserving strong evidence for the Pēlvī contents
and Buddhist original or originals.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 2551-2558; Table II item 4
quote_or_summary: Kalilah wā Dimnah is listed as an Arabic version of the Syriac
text by Abd-allah, son of Almokaffa, dated about 750 A.D., with recensions and
editions noted.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 2559-2590; Table II items 5-15
quote_or_summary: The table lists English, German, Greek, Latin, Persian, French,
Italian, and Hebrew versions; John of Capua's Latin Directorium Humanæ Vitæ is
said to be among the best evidence for the lost earlier books.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 2591-2629; Table II items 16-27
quote_or_summary: The table continues with German, Ulm dialect, Latin, Spanish,
Italian, and English versions or adaptations, including works connected to Baldo,
Don Juan Manuel, Bonaventure des Periers, Firenzuola, Doni, and North.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 2630-2639; Table II item 28
quote_or_summary: La Fontaine's Fables are listed; the first edition drew mostly
on classical authors and Planudes's Aesop, while the later books of the second
edition are said to be taken from items 12 and 23.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: low
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is a bibliography of textual transmission rather than a narrative
myth passage. Literal bibliographic relationships are clear; motif extraction
is necessarily limited.
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 passage-level mythic symbols from the available symbol list are directly present. The only candidate motif is a cautious wisdom/fable-literature classification based on titles and bibliographic context.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg__l2536-l2639
passage_sha256=41d4470997b398dec606d0a8d993f5a05e2049d71fcfa8bbdff0dafae0a76826