This is the first Indian edition of Speyer's English translation of Aryasura's Gatakamala (Garland of Birth Stories). The work belongs to the Canon of the Northern Buddhists. It contains thirty-four Gataka legends woven into the ethical and religious discourses that either magnify the glory of the Buddha or illustrate Buddhist doctrine and precepts by appropriate examples.

The book is a first-rate document for the study of Mahayana Buddhism. Interspersed with the moral maxims the accounts of the marvelous deeds of the Bodhisattva are meant to inspire the reader with a stronger faith in the Buddha or an extraordinary zeal for self-sacrifice.

The translation is authentic and authoritative. The reader will derive adequate knowledge and inspiration as from the original text.