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FEATURES | EASTERN HORIZON 35

Abbot Michael, in 1066 CE. Credit: First page of an 18th-19th century believer. In the Christianized story,
British Library poetical version of Barlaam and an astrologer predicts that the
Josaphat with the title Shāhzādah newly-born son of King Avennir,
Fragments of early versions of ṿe-Tsūfī by Elisha ben Samuel in or Abenner, in India, Josaphat, will
the legend seem to have been Persian in Hebrew characters. become a follower of the Christian
preserved in Manichean texts in Credit: British Library religion. To prevent this, the king
Uighur and Persian from Turfan forbade his son to leave the royal
and it is thought that Manicheans The spread of the legend of Barlaam palace. The young prince was
may have transmitted the Buddha and Josaphat in medieval Europe brought up in ignorance of sickness,
narrative to the West. From there was a cultural phenomenon second old age and death. However, he
the story was translated into to none at the time. Poetic and found out about the dangers to life
Arabic and into Judeo-Persian and dramatised versions of the legend during excursions from the palace
Syriac. An early Greek version is became what would be called when he met a leper and a blind
attributed to St John of Damascus bestsellers, today. In Christian man, a decrepit old man and finally
from circa 675-749 CE in most Europe, these two names were a corpse. To this point the parallels
medieval sources, although recent commonly known and the Buddha between the Buddha narrative and
researches reject this attribution as St Josaphat became a Saint with the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat
as it is more probable that the his own feast day in the Christian are obvious, although names have
Georgian monastic Euthymios calendar: 27 November. been corrupted: King Suddhodana
carried out the translation from became King Avennir and Prince
Georgian into Greek in the 10th Siddhartha became Josaphat, for
century CE. It became particularly Bodhisattva. Then events in the
popular throughout the Christian legend of Barlaam and Josaphat take
world after it was translated into a different turn, and some figures
many different languages in the are mixed up with others, like for
Middle Ages, including Latin, French, example Buddha’s enemy Devadatta
Provençal, Italian, Spanish, English, and Mara, the lord of desire.
Irish, German, Czech, Serbian, Dutch,
Norwegian and Swedish.

Devotional miscellany in Old French
including the legend of Barlaam and
Josaphat on 69 pages, from France
in the first half of the 14th century.
The illustration depicts Barlaam in
black and Josaphat in white dress.
Credit: British Library

Although based on the narrative of
the Life of Buddha, the content of
the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat
was reshaped and supplemented
to make it suitable for the Christian