JASTROW, Morris, Jr., American Orien talist: b. Warsaw, Poland, 13 Aug. 1861. He was a son of the preceding and coming to Philadelphia with his parents in early childhood (1866), he was trained in the schools of that city, was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1881, and from the Univer sity of Leipzig 1884, receiving the degree of Ph.D., after which he spent another year in the study of Semitic languages at the Sorbonne, the College de France and the Ecole des Langues Orientales Levant Vivantes. He had intended to devote himself to the Jewish ministry, carry ing on for this purpose theological studies at the Jewish Seminary of Breslau (Germany) while pursuing the study of Semitic languages at German universities. On his.return to the United States in 1885 he was appointed assist ant to his father in Philadelphia, which position he voluntarily resigned after one year, in order to devote himself entirely to linguistic and archaeological studies. He gradually extended his field to include the history of religions. He has been connected with the University of Pennsylvania since 1885, first as instructor in Semitic languages and afterward, in 1891, ap pointed to the chair of Semitic languages which position he still holds. In 1888 he was made assistant librarian of the university, and in 1898 librarian-in-chief. His published works are 'Religion of the Assyrians and Babylonians' (1898) ; 'Two Grammatical Treatises of Ahn Zakariyya Hayyug' (1897) ; 'A Fragment of the Babylonian Dibbarra Epic" (1891) ; 'The Study of Religion' (1901) ; 'Aspects of Reli gious Practice and Belief among the Babylo nians and Assyrians' (1911); 'Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens' (3 vols., 1905 12), an enlarged and entirely rewritten Ger man edition of the English work above, to gether with a separate volume of illustrations bearing on the religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians; (Bildermappe zur Religion Babylo niens und Assyriens> (1912) ; 'Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions' (1914) ; 'Babylonian Assyrian Birth Omens and Their Cultural Sig
(1914) ; and
ous Bible dictionaries, to the 'Jewish Encyclo pedia,' 'Encyclopedia Britannica,' 'Interna tional Encyclopedia,' to 'Webster's Dictionary,' etc. A bibliography of his books, monographs and papers, covering the years 1885-1916, was compiled and published (for private circulation) by Profs. A. T. Clay and J. A. Montgomery.
Ji.SZBERANY, Hungary, town of the District of Szolnok, on the Zagyva, 40 miles east of Budapest. It is situated in an agricultural district and has a trade in grain and livestock. There is an agri cultural school, a museum and an interesting Franciscan cloister. Pop. 29,675.
JATAKA, a collection of 547 stories of the different births of Buddha, known to have been in existence as early as 380 ac. The book is written in the Pali language and forms a part of the Buddhist sacred canon. It is evi dent that the identification of Buddha with the heroes of the fables and stories current in India began soon after his death. The leading character in each fable was made a Bodhisatta, one who is destined through rebirths to be come a Buddha, and the stories deal with the perfections," generosity, goodness, renun ciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, resolution, kindness and equanimity. The ex istence of the Jataka stories in the original Pali text forms a valuable contribution to the knowledge of folklore, as its antiquity insures its freedom from Western influences or color ing. On the other hand, various versions found their way through Sanskrit and Old Persian into European literature and form the basis of many Western fairy tales and fables, among them those of 2Esop. Bas-reliefs illustrating the Jatakas were in existence as early as the middle of the 3d century p.c. The Jataka was trans lated into English under the direction of E. B. Cowell assisted by Chalmers, Rouse, Francis and Neil (7 vols., Cambridge 1895-1913). An earlier edition of the Jataka in the Pali text was edited by Fausboll (7 vols., London 1879‘ 97). The introduction to the old Jataka book in the original Pali gives a life of Buddha which was translated into English by T. W. Rhys Davids (London 1880). Consult Kern, H., Sanskrit text (Cambridge, Mass., 1891; Eng. trans., Speyer, J. S., Oxford, 1895) ; 'Buddhist India) (chap. XI, London 1903) ; Kuhn, E, 'Barium and Joasaph' (Munich 1893) ; Cunningham, A., The Stipa of Barhut' (London 1879).