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RENUNCIANT STORIES ACROSS TRADITIONS: A NOVEL APPROACH TO THE ACTS OF THOMAS AND THE BUDDHIST JĀTAKAS A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Vishma Kunu May 2018 Examining Committee Members: Vasiliki Limberis, Advisory Chair, TU Department of Religion Marcus Bingenheimer, TU Department of Religion Khalid Blankinship, TU Department of Religion Montserrat Piera, External Member, TU Department of Spanish and Portuguese ABSTRACT This study brings excerpts from the Acts of Thomas (Act 1.11-16 and Act 3.30- 33) together with two Buddhist jātakas (Udaya Jātaka - #458 and Visavanta Jātaka -#69) to consider how stories might have been transmitted in the early centuries of the common era in a milieu of mercantile exchange on the Indian Ocean. The Acts of Thomas is a 3rd century CE Syriac Christian text concerned with the apostle Thomas proselytizing in India. The jātakas are popular didactic narratives with a pronounced oral dimension that purport to be accounts of the Buddha’s previous lives. Syriac Christians possessed knowledge about Indian religious practices linked to renunciation, and it is plausible that they adapted Buddhist jātakas to convey Christian ideas in the account of Thomas journeying to India and converting people there. Epigraphic evidence from the western Deccan in India attests to yavana, or Greek, patronage of Buddhist institutions in cosmopolitan settings where ideas and commodities circulated. Against the grain in scholarship on early Christianity that tends to privilege Latin and Greek sources, this project moves the lens of analysis eastward to consider Indian influence on early Christianity as expressed in the Acts of Thomas. A literary comparison of the texts under consideration with reference to the historical and cultural context of exchange reveals similar models of renunciant practices in Buddhism and Christianity that establishes new grounds for consideration of interconnectivity across ‘East’ and ‘West.’ ii For my loving parents, Vishnu Kunu and Betty Tiwary iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation exists because of the academic advice and emotional support of many people. Dr. Vasiliki Limberis’ tireless and compassionate encouragement of my ideas that solidified over time, and her clear direction on pathways to follow, stand out to me as an exemplary model of an educator and scholar. Dr. Marcus Bingenheimer’s incisive, and at times, painful, feedback on earlier verisons of this document pushed me to think through historical questions in Buddhism and Christianity resulting in a better finished product. I am grateful to Dr. Khalid Blankinship and Dr. Montserrat Piera for serving on my committee and offering insights on content and speaking to the value of this project in our areas of study. Dr. Douglas Duckworth and Dr. Jane Evans made invaluable contributions to my work at the examination stage, working with me to establish areas of concentration and design useful reading lists. Prior to studying at Temple, Dr. Glenn Wallis significantly influenced my thinking about Buddhist narratives and he is largely responsible for this analysis, and my perseverance in academia. Finally, I am indebted to Mrs. Lorraine Sankar for teaching me how to write at Tunapuna Hindu School in Trinidad and recognizing my potential. Temple University yielded friendships that I cherish professionally, and personally. Linda Jenkins, even after her retirement, continues to be a source of administrative advice and a fountain of wisdom. Dr. Holly Gorman and I forged a bond while we both lived in Philadelphia but it became rock solid when she willingly worked on my footnotes. Dr. Sandy Haney, Dr. Kin Cheung, Vincent Moulton, and Adam Valerio have been stimulating partners in conversation, and good friends. As a faculty member at Valencia College in Orlando, FL, I have the privilege of working alongside iv exceptional people. Dr. Luz Elena Rodriguez Hernandez pushed me to write without mincing words and is my loudest cheerleader. Ana Caldero, Kourtney Bladwin, and Dr. Angela Blewitt perpetually supported and inspired me to press on with this project while teaching and pursuing tenure, and I am fortunate to be in their company. Lastly, I am grateful for the patience and guidance of my family and old friends during this process. My parents, Vishnu and Betty, and my siblings, Lisa, Tricia, and Gary, are a bottomless well of sustenance and comic relief. My niece, Jessica, wanted to attend my dissertation defense to yell, “That’s my aunt up there!” My enduring friends Maribel Bodre and Karen Sankar never let me forget who I am and effortlessly motivate me to follow my heart and my hunches. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ ii DEDICATION ....................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1. LOCATING THE ACTS OF THOMAS AND THE PĀLI JĀTAKAS ................1 The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Context .........................................2 The Acts of Thomas in Context ....................................…………………..18 The Jātakas in and out of the Pāli Canon ..................................................31 The Jātakas in Scholarship ........................................................................39 Comparing the Acts of Thomas with Pāli Jātakas .....................................48 2. MARITIME TRADE AND ‘EAST’/’WEST’ INTERCONNECTIVITY ......55 Looking East of Rome in Light of Trade ...................................................58 Looking East of Edessa ..............................................................................66 History and Fiction in the Acts of Thomas .................................................80 3. BUDDHISM, TRADE, AND PATRONAGE IN THE WESTERN DECCAN .........................................................................................................93 Buddhism and Mercantile Activity in the Western Deccan .......................96 Buddhist Patronage in the Western Deccan in the Sātavāhana Period ....102 vi Andrapolis as Locus for Christain Proselytization ..................................115 4. TWO RENUNCIATION STORIES IN CHRISTIANITY AND BUDDHISM ..................................................................................................122 A Comparison of the Udaya Jātaka and Acts of Thomas 1.11-16 ...........128 A Comparison of the Visavanta Jātaka and Acts of Thomas 3.30-33 .....151 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................163 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................166 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Division of the Tipiṭaka …………………………………………….…………...35 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Kanheri Cave 90, Avalokiteśvara litany……………………………………......105 2. Karla Cave 8, Great Chaitya………………………..…..………………………108 3. Indian ship on coin of Vasiṣṭhīputra Pulumāvi ……..…….................................112 ix INTRODUCTION The Christian, apocryphal Acts of Thomas (AT) and the Buddhist, Pāli jātakas may appear at first to be an odd pair for analysis in a single study since the former is an early Christian narrative concerning the exploits of the apostle, Thomas, in India, and the latter, a compendium of stories purporting to be accounts of the Buddha’s previous lives. However, it is compelling to draw them together considering the facts that the AT and the jātakas are popular, literary productions of the ancient world hinged in a single religious figure, and it was a common practice to borrow freely from narratives, especially where oral traditions of storytelling were prevalent, as in India. The AT and the jātakas stem from two religious traditions with missionary orientations in environments teeming with mercantile exchange on the Indian Ocean in the early centuries of the common era. Trade influenced, and facilitated, the exchange of ideas and commodities with people moving eastward and westward in this historical context. These texts have not been brought together in scholarly considerations previously, and my contention is that it is a fruitful endeavor to compare two stories from the AT (Act 1.11-16 and Act 3.30-33), with the Udaya (#458) and Visavanta (#69) Jātakas. This reveals their glaring thematic similarities, and allows for consideration of how the narratives were deployed in each context to achieve specifically, Christian and Buddhist didactic aims. The AT is a 3rd century CE product of Syriac Christianity and is one of the five major Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles that are non-canonical literary works centered on individual apostles as they spread the new religion of Christianity. These narratives are recognized as sharing some of the features of contemporary Greek novels that reflect the x expansive, geographic horizon of the times following the ventures of Alexander the Great and the advent of Hellenistic culture.
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