Vessantara Jataka. The Story of the Birth of Vessantara

The Vessantara Jataka is a very well-known and popular story both in Asia and beyond about the past birth of the Buddha Gotama. In the Theravada tradition, it is the last and most significant of the 547 Jatakas. This story narrates the penultimate birth of Gotama, in which the Bodhisattva, achieving unparalleled generosity, gives away his wife and children. Versions of this Jataka exist in other canonical traditions, in the Sanskrit version, in Chinese, in Tibetan, as well as versions in Newar, Sogdian, Hotanese, Thai, Burmese, Sinhalese, and other languages.