Barlaam and Josaphat

By: Richard Gottheil, Joseph Jacobs

A romantic tale under this title, giving extracts from the life of Buddha and some of his parables in Christian form, which has led to the adoption of the two titular heroes, as unofficial saints, into the calendar of the Catholic Church, thus making Buddha a saint of the Christian Church. The story is of a heathen king who was warned that a son would come to him and would change his faith in later years. In order to prevent this, the king keeps his son shut up from all knowledge of sin, disease, and death, until, going out one day from his palace, he sees a leper and a funeral, and so learns of the existence of evil. A sage comes to him and teaches him a new faith; he exchanges clothes with the sage and goes away. On his return there is a public disputation between the old and new faiths, in which the latter is victorious; thereupon the prince becomes an ascetic.

The Hebrew version of the tale was identified by Steinschneider ("Z. D. M. G." v. 91) under the title ("Prince and Dervish"), translated or adapted by Abraham ibn Ḥasdai, the first edition of which appeared in Constantinople, 1518, and others at Mantua 1557, Wandsbeck 1727, Frankfort-on-the-Oder 1766 (with German translation), Frankfort-on-the-Main 1769, Zolkiev 1771, Fürth 1783, Leghorn 1831, Lemberg 1870, Jitomir 1873, and Warsaw 1884. A German paraphrase by W. A. Meisel appeared at Stettin in 1847, and a second edition at Budapest in 1860. An earlier translation into German is contained in a Munich manuscript, written in Hebrew characters, No. 345. A Yiddish version appeared at Lublin in 1874. The exact origin of Ibn Ḥasdai's version is difficult to trace, though several Arabic translations and one Georgian have been recently discovered.

The relation of these various editions to one another and to the Greek, which is the original of the western European versions, may be indicated by a comparative table of the chief parables contained in most of them.

The Hebrew contains, besides those mentioned in the following table, ten which are not found in most of the other versions: Bird and Angel (ix.), Cannibal King (xii.), Good Physician (xiv.), King and Pious Shepherd (xvi.), Oasis and Garden (xvi.), Hungry Bitch (xvii.), Power of Love (xviii.), Eel and Dog (xxiii.), Language of Animals (xxiv.), and Robbers' Nemesis, only in Hebrew ( = Jataka, No. 48).

The numbers in the subjoined table are those in the respective editions.

The last two are certainly from Indian sources, and yet are found only in the Hebrew version of the "Barlaam," which would seem to imply that it is closer to the original Buddhist source than any of the others. This is, however, not definitely proved, as the latter part of the Hebrew version diverges after chapter xxvi. from the legend of the life of Buddha, and does not resume the ordinary course of the legend until chapter xxxv. According to F. Hommel, Ibn Ḥasdai took his tales from an original Arabic source, an abstract of which exists in a Halle manuscript. The exact position of the Arabic versions must be settled before Ibn Ḥasdai's source can be determined. There are a few traces of the use of "Barlaam and Josaphat," or at least of the tale of "The Three Friends," in Jewish literature, by Baḥyah, "Kad Haḳemaḥ," p. 12, and in Pirḳe R. El. cxxxiv.; but there is no evidence in either case that the story was taken direct from the "Barlaam."

Bibliography:

Weisslovits, Prince und Derwisch, ein Indischer Roman Enthaltend die Jugendgeschichte Buddha's in Hebräischer Darstellung, etc., 1890;

I. Levi, Revue Etudes Juives, xviii. 83 et seq.;

Steinschneider, Hebr. Uebers. pp. 863-867;

E. Kuhn, Barlaam und Josaphat, Munich, 1893;

Wiener, Bibliotheca Friedlandiana, pp. 186, 187;

Jacobs, Barlaam and Josaphat, 1896.

Principal characters of a Christianized version of a legend of Buddha. Josaphat, son of a 4th-century king in India, who persecuted the Christians, was kept in seclusion to prevent his conversion, which had been foretold. Bar1aam, a hermit, succeeded in converting him. His father later became a Christian and surrendered his throne. After ruling for a while, Josaphat resigned the crown and joined Barlaam in the desert. The legend is widely diffused. Barlaam and Josaphat are mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, 27 November; in the Greek calendar, 26 August.

The principal characters of a legend of Christian antiquity, which was a favourite subject of writers in the Middle Ages. The story is substantially as follows: Many inhabitants of India had been converted by the Apostle St. Thomas and were leading Christian lives. In the third or fourth century King Abenner (Avenier) persecuted the Church. The astrologers had foretold that his son Josaphat would one day become a Christian. To prevent this the prince was kept in close confinement. But, in spite of all precautions, Barlaam, a hermit of Senaar, met him and brought him to the true Faith. Abenner tried his best to pervert Josaphat, but, not succeeding, he shared the government with him. Later Abenner himself became a Christian, and, abdicating the throne, became a hermit. Josaphat governed alone for a time, then resigned, went into the desert, found his former teacher Barlaam, and with him spent his remaining years in holiness. Years after their death, the bodies were brought to India and their grave became renowned by miracles. Barlaam and Josaphat found their way into the Roman Martyrology (27 November), and into the Greek calendar (26 August). Vincent of Beauvais, in the thirteenth century, had given the story in his "Speculum Historiale". It is also found in an abbreviated form in the "Golden Legend" of Jacobus de Voragine of the same century.The story is a Christianized version of one of the legends of Buddha, as even the name Josaphat would seem to show. This is said to be a corruption of the original Joasaph, which is again corrupted from the middle Persian Budasif (Budsaif=Bodhisattva). Still it is of historical value, since it contains the "Apology" presented by the Athenian philosopher Aristides to the Emperor Adrian (or Antoninus Pius). The Greek text of the legend, written probably by a monk of the Sabbas monastery near Jerusalem at the beginning of the seventh century, was first published by Boissonade in "Anecdota Graeca" (Paris, 1832), IV, and is reproduced in Migne, P.G., XCVI, among the works of St. John Damascene. The legend cannot, however, have been a work of the great Damascene, as was proved by Zotenberg in "Notices sur le livre de Barlaam et Josaphat" (Paris, 1886) and by Hammel in "Verhandl. des 7 interneat. Orientalisten Congresses", Semit. Section (Vienna, 1888). Another edition of the Greek was made by Kechajoglos (Athens, 1884). From the original Greek a German translation was made by F. Liebrecht (Münster, 1847). Latin translations (Minge, P.L., LXXIII), were made in the twelfth century and used for nearly all the European languages, in prose, verse and in miracle plays. Among them is prominent the German epic by Rudolph of Ems in the thirteenth century (Königsberg, 1818, and somewhat later at Leipzig). From the German an Icelandic and Swedish version were made in the fifteenth century. At Manila the legend appeared in the Tagala language of the Philippines. In the East it exists in Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, Armenian, and Hebrew.----------------------------------- Muller, Migration of Fables in Contemp. Review (July, 1870); Idem, Selected Essays (London, 1881); Liebrecht in Jahrbuch fur romanische und englische Litteratur II; Braunholz, Die erste nichtchristliche Parabel des Barlaam u. Josaphat, ihre Herkunft und Verbreitung (Hale, 1884); Kahn, B.U.J., eine bubiliographiasch-litteraturgeschichtliche Studie. FRANCIS MERSHMAN Transcribed by Rev. David Maher The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York