Generating English Blurbs for Jatakas

Meta Updates
1

Continuing the discussion from German blurbs for Jataka stories complete:

OK, so here is a quick extraction:

JatakaDPPN.pdf (563.3 KB)

Perhaps, Bhante @sujato you could say if you think the quality/style is good. Obviously the formatting needs lots of work, but I didn’t want to continue without getting your opinion first.

Copyright is not a problem from the DPPN since it is long in the public domain (AFAIK).

My vote would be to AI translate Ven. @sabbamitta’s German blurbs and then have someone proofread them.

2 Likes
2

As it happens, just yesterday I downloaded the full DPPN from there and tried to put it all in a single clean HTML file. Not as easy as I’d hoped!

Ideally we could:

  • put it all in one file,
  • then put each entry in one line,
  • then use regex to delete everything except Jatakas,
  • then sequence them based on reference details in the entry.

In fact, I have just done that very thing. excepting only the last item.

jataka-full.zip (239.1 KB)

This contains the DPPN entries for pretty much all the Jatakas. I haven’t tested or checked it at all. It requires a careful going-over to ensure each entry is correct and usable.

The file is essentially a tsv, with the numbers in the first column. It can be opened in a text editor or a spreadsheet.

If anyone wants to take it from here and do the hand editing, I’d be thrilled!

3 Likes
3

Looks like we both did the same thing!

Honestly I don’t have hugely strong opinions. I have to say, Malalasekera’s work is pretty awesome in terms of identifying things and clarifying details. Obviously it’s too much in some cases, but it’s a solid foundation.

2 Likes
4

https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/English-Texts/Jataka/index.htm#gsc.tab=0

Also, this translation already has the summary for each story.

2 Likes
5

Oh yes this would be much better. And we should really use these updated translations, too! Not sure if it’s worth spending time over though. Ultimately we should have proper segmented translations.

But for now, if anyone wants to read the Jatakas, they really should do it on Anandabodhi’s site.

3 Likes