So saying, she seizes the Bodhisattva by the foot and throws him up into the air. The second is the narrative of the story of the Ramayana. It occurs in the Dasharatha Jataka.94  It comprises only a part of the Ramayana, set against a Buddhist background. Here Sita appears as the sister of Rama. The whole story of Ravana' stealing of Sita and the consequent struggles of Rama and Lakshmana to win her back, the faithful service of the monkeys and the narrative relating to it, is absent here.

In all these stories, wherever a woman appears, the statements are harsh, and sometimes there are unkind reflections. The stories of the Jatakas thus give us an insight into the general attitude of the times. They give us a clue to account for the change in the attitude of the law givers beginning with Manu, who are unsympathetic to women and do not entertain any good opinion of them. Hence it can safely be asserted that the later law-codes were to a great extent influenced by Buddhism.

NOTES

1. Indische Studien, Vol. I, pp. 232-346.

2. Yajnavalkya I. 60.

3, Yajnavalkya, 1. 57.

4. Vishnu Sam. XXIV. 27-32.

5. Vishnu Sam. XXIV. 33-36.

6. Vishnu Sam. XXIV. 5-8.

7. Ibid. LIX. 6.

8. Ibid. XXIV. 22.

9. Markandeya Purana 31, 3-8.

10. Parasara Samhita. -Acharakandam pp. 58-60.

11. Vishnu Purana 11, 23.

12. Gautama D S. 14-13.

13. Parasara Samhita-Acharakandam I. 2, P. 61.

14. Parasara Smrti I, 2, 61.

15. Parasara Smrti I, 2, 63-Madhavacharya.

16, Parasara, Samhita-Acharakandam I. 2, 63.

17. Parasara Samhita-Acharakandam I. 2, 63.

18. Baudh. D.S. I. 1, 2, 1-6.

19. Matula duhitripitrisvasrduhitriparinayat.