Subarhamamokkha and the Nine-tailed Dog: the Implications of Eating Test for the Hero and Ecological Consciousness in the Isan Jataka Tale Subarhamamokkha and the Nine-tailed Dog: the Implications of Eating Test for the Hero and Ecological Consciousness in the Isan Jataka Tale

Abstract

The Subarhamamokkha Jataka is regarded as an Isan folktale that employs the Buddhist Dharma and guidelines for daily life. The plot depicts the protagonist physically and mentally triumphing over tests and obstacles. Those virtues signify the traditional characteristics of a Buddhist hero based on the Jataka Tales. In this tale, eating is one of the tests which reveal Isan folkways of life traditions and food as well as philosophical implications and local culture. Subarhamamokkha and the Nine-tailed Dog is a combination of a Jataka Tale and an Isan folktale that reflects the intertwined relationship between humans and nature through the depiction of folktale elements including magical animals, contributing to the resolution of the conflict in the plot. In this light, eating is also a test of the Jataka hero as a bodhisattva according to Buddhist belief.  This article offers a new way of reading the Isan folktale through an ecocritical lens to examine eating and food as a test of wisdom for the folktale hero and to examine eating as a cause of suffering.  Viewing the act of eating with the idea of gastronomy can reflect the dynamic social and cultural contexts. Second, studying the close relationship between humans, animals, and nature implicates the ecological consciousness of the tale through the imagination of didactic literature. Reading literature through an animal studies approach can also reveal the interconnection between humans and other species.