THE JĀTAKA
OR
STORIES OF THE BUDDHA'S FORMER BIRTHS
No. 406.
GANDHĀRA-JĀTAKA.
"Villages full sixteen thousand," etc.—The Master told this when dwelling in Jetavana, concerning the precept on the storing up of medicines 1. The occasion however arose in Rājagaha. When the venerable Pilindiyavaccha went to the king's dwelling to set free the park-keeper's family 2, he made the palace all of gold by magic power: and the people in their delight brought to that elder the five kinds of medicine. He gave them away to the congregation of Brethren. So the congregation abounded in medicines, [364] and as they received the medicines, they filled pots and jars and bags in this way and laid them aside. People seeing this murmured, saying, "Those greedy priests are hoarding in their houses." The Master, hearing this thing, declared the precept, "Whatever medicines for sick brethren [sc. are received, must be used within seven days]," and said, "Brethren, wise men of old, before the Buddha appeared, ordained in heresy and keeping only the five precepts, used to chide those who laid aside even salt and sugar for the next day; but you, though ordained in such a rule of salvation, make a hoard for the second and the third day," and so he told the tale of old.In the Central Region, in the kingdom of Videha a king named Videha was ruling at the time. These two kings had never seen each other, but they were friends and had great trust the one in the other. At that time men were long-lived: their life was for thirty thousand years. Then once, on the fast day of the full moon, the king of Gandhāra had taken the vow of the commands 1, and on the dais in the middle of a royal throne prepared for him, looking through an open window on the eastern quarter, he sat giving to his ministers a discourse on the substance of the law. At that moment Rāhu was covering the moon's orb which was full and spreading over the sky. The moon's light vanished. The ministers, not seeing the moon's brightness, told the king that the moon was seized by Rāhu. The king, observing the moon, thought, "That moon has lost its light, being marred by some trouble from outside; now my royal retinue is a trouble, and it is not meet that I should lose my light like the moon seized by Rāhu: I will leave my kingdom like the moon's orb shining in a clear sky and become an ascetic: why should I admonish another? I will go about, detached from kin and people, admonishing myself alone: that is meet for me." So he said, "As ye please [365] so do," and gave over the kingdom to his ministers. When he gave up his kingdom in the two kingdoms of Kashmir and Gandhāra, he took the religious life, and attaining the transcendental faculty he passed the rains in the Himālaya region devoted to the delight of meditation. The king of Videha, having asked of merchants, "Is it well with my friend?" heard that he had taken the religious life, and thought, "When my friend has taken the religious life, what should I do with a kingdom?" So he gave up the rule in his city of Mithila, seven leagues in extent, and his kingdom of Videha, three hundred leagues in extent, with sixteen thousand villages, storehouses filled, and sixteen thousand dancing girls, and without thinking of his sons and daughters he went to the Himālaya region and took the religious life. There he lived on fruits only, dwelling in a state of quietude. Both of them following this quiet life afterwards met, but did not recognise each other: yet they lived together in this quiet life in friendliness. The ascetic of Videha waited upon the ascetic of Gandhāra. On a day of full moon as they were sitting at the root of a tree and talking on things relating to the law, Rāhu covered the moon's orb as it was shining in the sky. The ascetic of Videha looked up, saying, "Why is the moon's light destroyed?" And seeing that it was seized by Rāhu, he asked, "Master, why has he covered the moon and made it dark?" "Scholar, that is the moon's one trouble, Rāhu by name; he binders it from shining: I, seeing the moon's orb struck by Rāhu, thought, "There is the moon's pure orb become dark by trouble from outside; now this kingdom is a trouble to
me: I will take the religious life so that the kingdom does not make me dark as Rāhu does the moon's orb": and so taking the moon's orb seized by Rāhu as my theme, I forsook my great kingdom and took the religious life." "Master, were you king of Gandhāra?" [366] "Yes, I was." "Master, I was the king Videha in the kingdom of Videha and city of Mithila: were we not friends though we never saw each other?" "What was your theme?" "I heard that you had taken the religious life and thinking, "Surely he has seen the good of that life," I took you as my theme, and leaving my kingdom took the religious life." From that time they were exceedingly intimate and friendly, and lived on fruits only. After a long time's dwelling there they came down from Himālaya for salt and vinegar, and came to a frontier village. The people, being pleased with their deportment, gave them alms and taking a promise made for them houses for the night and the like in the forest, and made them dwell there, and built by the road a room for taking their meals in a pleasant watered spot. They, after going their rounds for alms in the frontier village, sat and ate the alms in that hut of leaves and then went to their dwelling-house. The people who gave them food one day put salt on a leaf and gave it them, another day gave them saltless food. One day they gave them a great deal of salt in a leaf basket. The ascetic of Videha took the salt, and coming gave enough to the Bodhisatta at the meal time and took to himself the proper measure: then putting up the rest in a leaf basket he put it in a roll of grass, saying, "This will do for a saltless day." Then one day when saltless food was received, the man of Videha, giving the alms-food to the man of Gandhāra, took the salt from the roll of grass and said, "Master, take salt." "The people gave no salt to-day, where have you got it?" "Master, the people gave much salt one day before: then I kept what was over, saying, "This will do for a saltless day." "Then the Bodhisatta chid him, saying, "O foolish man, you forsook the kingdom of Videha, three hundred leagues in extent, took the religious life and attained freedom from attachments, and now you get a desire for salt and sugar." And so admonishing him he spoke the first stanza:—
[367]
Villages full sixteen thousand with
their wealth you threw away,
Treasuries with wealth in plenty: and you're hoarding here to-day!
Videha, being thus chidden, did not endure the chiding but became
estranged, saying, "Master, you see not your own fault, though you see
mine; did you not leave your kingdom and become religious, saying, "Why
should I admonish another? I will admonish myself alone": why then are you
now admonishing me?" So he spoke the second stanza:—Treasuries with wealth in plenty: and you're hoarding here to-day!
Candahar and all its province, all its
wealth, you threw away,
Giving no more royal orders: and you're ordering me to-day!
Giving no more royal orders: and you're ordering me to-day!
Hearing him the Bodhisatta spoke the third stanza:—
It is righteousness I'm speaking, for I
hate unrighteousness:
Righteousness when I am speaking, sin on me leaves no impress.
The ascetic of Videha, hearing the Bodhisatta's words, said,
"Master, it is not meet for one to speak after annoying and angering
another, even though he speaks to the point: [368] you are speaking very
harshly to me, as if shaving me with blunt steel," and so he spoke the
fourth stanza:—Righteousness when I am speaking, sin on me leaves no impress.
Whatsoever words, if spoken, would to
others cause offence,
Wise men leave those words unspoken, though of mighty consequence.
Then the Bodhisatta spoke the fifth stanza:—Wise men leave those words unspoken, though of mighty consequence.
Let my hearer scatter chaff, or let him
take offence or not,
Righteousness when I am speaking, sin on me can leave no spot.
Having so said, he went on, "I will not work with you, O
Ānanda 1, as a potter with raw clay only: I will speak chiding again
and again; what is truth, that will abide." And so being steadfast in
conduct suitable to that admonition of the Blessed One, as a potter among his
vessels, after beating them often, takes not the raw clay, but takes the baked
vessel only, so preaching and chiding again and again he takes a man like a
good vessel, and preaching to show him this, he spoke this pair of stanzas:—Righteousness when I am speaking, sin on me can leave no spot.
Were not wisdom and good conduct
trained in some men's lives to grow,
Many would go wandering idly like the blinded buffalo.
But since some are wisely trained in moral conduct fair to grow,Many would go wandering idly like the blinded buffalo.
Thus it is that disciplined in paths of virtue others go.
[369] Hearing this, the Videha ascetic said, "Master, from this time admonish me; I spoke to you with peevish natural temper, pardon me," and so paying respect he gained the Bodhisatta's pardon. So they dwelt together in peace and went again to Himālaya. Then the Bodhisatta told the Videha ascetic how to attain to mystic meditation. He did so and reached the higher Faculties and Attainments. So both, never leaving off meditation, became destined for the Brahma world.
Footnotes
221:1 Mahāvagga vi. 15. 10.221:2 See Mahāvagga vi. 15. 1—
222:1 A vow to keep the five moral precepts.
224:1 The ascetic is addressed by this name, as if his future re-birth as Ānanda was foreseen.
No. 407.
MAHĀKAPI-JĀTAKA. 1
"You made yourself," etc.—The Master told this while dwelling in Jetavana, concerning good works towards one's relatives. The occasion will appear in the Bhaddasāla Birth 2. They began talking in the Hall of Truth, saying, "The supreme Buddha does good works towards his relatives." [370] When the Master had asked and been told their theme, he said, "Brethren, this is not the first time a Tathāgata has done good works towards his relatives," and so he told a tale of old time.Himālaya quarter, he had many rafts joined together and sailed upstream by the route shewn by the foresters. The exact account of days is not given. In due course they came to the place, and the foresters said to the king, "Sire, there is the tree." The king stopped the rafts and went on foot with a great retinue, and having a bed prepared at the foot of the tree, he lay down after eating the mango fruit and enjoying the various excellent flavours. At each side they set a guard and made a fire. When the men had fallen asleep, the Bodhisatta came at midnight with his retinue. Eighty thousand monkeys moving from branch to branch ate the mangoes. The king, waking and seeing the herd of monkeys, roused his men and calling his archers said, "Surround these monkeys that eat the mangoes so that they may not escape, and shoot them: tomorrow we will eat mangoes with monkey's flesh." The archers obeyed, saying, "Very well," and surrounding the tree stood with arrows ready. The monkeys seeing them and fearing death, as they could not escape, came to the Bodhisatta and said, "Sire, the archers stand round the tree, saying, "We will shoot those vagrant monkeys:" what are we to do?" and so stood shivering. The Bodhisatta said, "Do not fear, I will give you life;" and so comforting the herd of monkeys, he ascended a branch that rose up straight, went along another branch that stretched towards the Ganges, and springing from the end of it, he passed a hundred bow-lengths and lighted on a bush on the bank 1. Coming down, he marked the distance, saying, "That will be the distance I have come:" [372] and cutting a bamboo shoot at the root and stripping it, he said, "So much will be fastened to the tree, and so much will stay in the air," and so reckoned the two lengths, forgetting the part fastened on his own waist. Taking the shoot he fastened one end of it to the tree on the Ganges bank and the other to his own waist, and then cleared the space of a hundred bow-lengths with the speed of a cloud torn by the wind. From not reckoning the part fastened to his waist, he failed to reach the tree: so seizing a branch firmly with both hands he gave signal to the troop of monkeys, "Go quickly with good luck, treading on my back along the bamboo shoot." The eighty thousand monkeys escaped thus, after saluting the Bodhisatta and getting his leave. Devadatta was then a Monkey and among that herd: he said, "This is a chance for me to see the last of my enemy," so climbing up a branch he made a spring and fell on the Bodhisatta's back. The Bodhisatta's heart broke and great pain came on him. Devadatta having caused that maddening pain went away: and the Bodhisatta was alone. The king being awake saw all that was done by the monkeys and the Bodhisatta: and he lay down thinking, "This animal, not reckoning his own life, has caused the safety of his troop." When day broke, being pleased with the Bodhisatta, he thought, "It is not right to
destroy this king of the monkeys: I will bring him down by some means and take care of him:" so turning the raft down the Ganges and building a platform there, he made the Bodhisatta come down gently, and had him clothed with a yellow robe on his back and washed in Ganges water, made him drink sugared water, and had his body cleansed and anointed with oil refined a thousand times; then he put an oiled skin on a bed and making him lie there, he set himself on a low seat, and spoke the first stanza:—
[373]
You made yourself a bridge for them to
pass in safety through:
What are you then to them, monkey, and what are they to you?
Hearing him, the Bodhisatta instructing the king spoke the other
stanzas:—What are you then to them, monkey, and what are they to you?
Victorious king, I guard the herd, I am
their lord and chief,
When they were filled with fear of thee and stricken sore with grief.
I leapt a hundred times the length of bow outstretched that lies,When they were filled with fear of thee and stricken sore with grief.
When I had bound a bamboo-shoot firmly around my thighs:
I reached the tree like thunder-cloud sped by the tempest's blast;
I lost my strength, but reached a bough: with hands I held it fast.
And as I hung extended there held fast by shoot and bough,
My monkeys passed across my back and are in safety now.
Therefore I fear no pain of death, bonds do not give me pain,
The happiness of those was won o’er whom I used to reign.
A parable for thee, O king, if thou the truth would’st read:
The happiness of kingdom and of army and of steed
And city must be dear to thee, if thou would’st rule indeed.
[374] The Bodhisatta, thus instructing and teaching the king, died. The king, calling his ministers, gave orders that the monkey-king should have obsequies like a king, and he sent to the seraglio, saying, "Come to the cemetery, as retinue for the monkey-king, with red garments, and dishevelled hair, and torches in your hands." [375] The ministers made a funeral pile with a hundred waggon loads of timber. Having prepared the Bodhisatta's obsequies in a royal manner, they took his skull, and came to the king. The king caused a shrine to be built at the Bodhisatta's burial-place, torches to be burnt there and offerings of incense and flowers to be made; he had the skull inlaid with gold, and put in front raised on a spear-point: honouring it with incense and flowers, he put it at the king's gate when he came to Benares, and having the whole city decked out he paid honour to it for seven days. Then taking it as a relic and raising a shrine, he honoured it with incense and garlands all his life; and established in the Bodhisatta's teaching he did alms and other good deeds, and ruling his kingdom righteously became destined for heaven.
Footnotes
225:1 This story is figured in Cunningham's Stūpa of Bharhut, plate XXXIII, fig. 4 (explained by Mr. Tawney in Proc. As. Soc. of Bengal for Aug. 1891). Cf. Jātakamālā, no. 27 (The Great Monkey).225:2 No. 444, vol. iv.
226:1 From the figure on the Bharhut Stūpa, it appears that he jumped across the Ganges.
No. 408.
KUMBHAKĀRA-JĀTAKA.
"A mango in a forest," etc. The Master told this when dwelling in Jetavana, concerning rebuke of sin. The occasion will appear in the Pānīya Birth 1. At that time in Sāvatthi five hundred friends, who had become ascetics, dwelling in the House of the Golden Pavement, had lustful thoughts at midnight. The Master regards his disciples three times a night and three times a day, six times every night and day, as a jay guards her egg, or a yak-cow her tail, or a mother her beloved son, or a one-eyed man his eye; so in the very instant he rebukes a sin which is beginning. He was observing Jetavana on that midnight and knowing the Brethren's conduct of their thoughts, he considered, "This sin among these brethren if it grows will destroy the cause of Sainthood. I will this moment rebuke their sin and show them Sainthood": so leaving the perfumed chamber he called: Ānanda [376], and bidding him collect all the brethren dwelling in the place, he got them together and sat down on the seat prepared for Buddha. He said, "Brethren, it is not right to live in the power of sinful thoughts; a sin if it grows brings great ruin like an enemy: a Brother ought to rebuke even a little sin: wise men of old seeing even a very slight cause, rebuked a sinful thought that had begun and so brought about paccekabuddha-hood": and so he told an old tale.he saw another mango tree barren, and thought, "This mango tree stands beautiful in its barrenness like a bare mountain of jewels; the other from its fruitfulness [377] fell into that misfortune: the householder's life is like a fruitful tree, the religious life like a barren tree: the wealthy have fear, the poor have no fear: I too would be like the barren tree." So taking the fruit-tree as his subject, he stood at the root; and considering the three 1 properties and perfecting spiritual insight, he attained paccekabuddha-hood, and reflecting, "The envelop of the womb is now fallen from me, re-birth in the three existences is ended, the filth of transmigration is cleansed, the ocean of tears dried up, the wall of bones broken down, there is no more re-birth for me," he stood as if adorned with every ornament. Then his ministers said, "You stand too long, O great king." "I am not a king, I am a paccekabuddha." "Paccekabuddhas are not like you, O king." "Then what are they like?" "Their hair and beards are shaved, they are dressed in yellow robes, they are not attached to family or tribe, they are like clouds torn by wind or the moon's orb freed from Rāhu, and they dwell on Himālaya in the Nandamūla cave: such, O king, are the paccekabuddhas." At that moment the king threw up his hand and touched his head, and instantly the marks of a householder disappeared, and the marks of a priest came into view:—
Three robes, bowl, razor, needles,
strainer, zone,
A pious Brother those eight marks should own,
the requisites, as they are called, of a priest became attached to
his body. Standing in the air he preached to the multitude, and then went
through the sky to the mountain cave Nandamūla in the Upper Himālaya.A pious Brother those eight marks should own,
In the kingdom of Candahar in the city Takkasilā, the king named Naggaji on a terrace, in the middle of a royal couch, saw a woman who had put a jewelled bracelet on each hand and was grinding perfume as she sat near: he thought, "These jewelled bracelets do not rub or jingle when separate," and so sat watching. Then she, putting the bracelet from the right hand [378] on the left hand and collecting perfume with the right, began to grind it. The bracelet on the left hand rubbing against the other made a noise. The king observed that these two bracelets made a sound when rubbing against each other, and he thought, "That bracelet when separate touched nothing, it now touches the second and makes a noise: just so living beings when separate do not touch or make a noise, when they become two or three they rub against each other and make a din: now I rule the inhabitants in the two kingdoms of Cashmere and Candahar, and I too ought to dwell like the single bracelet ruling myself and not ruling another ": so making the rubbing of the bracelets his topic, seated as he
was, he realised the three properties, attained spiritual insight, and gained paccekabuddha-hood. The rest as before.
In the kingdom of Videha, in the city of Mithila, the king, named Nimi, after breakfast, surrounded by his ministers, stood looking down at the street through an open window of the palace. A hawk, having taken some meat from the meat-market, was flying up into the air. Some vultures or other birds, surrounding the hawk on each side, went on pecking it with their beaks, striking it with their wings and beating it with their feet, for the sake of the meat. Not enduring to be killed, the hawk dropt the flesh, another bird took it: the rest leaving the hawk fell on the other: when he relinquished it, a third took it: and they pecked him also in the same way. The king seeing those birds thought, "Whoever took the flesh, sorrow befel him: whoever relinquished it, happiness befel him: whoever takes the five pleasures of sense, sorrow befals him, happiness the other man: these are common to many: now I have sixteen thousand women: I ought to live in happiness leaving the five pleasures of sense, as the hawk relinquishing the morsel of flesh." Considering this wisely, [379] standing as he was, he realised the three properties, attained spiritual insight, and reached the wisdom of paccekabuddha-hood. The rest as before.
In the kingdom of Uttarapañcāla, in the city of Kampilla, the king, named Dummukha, after breakfast, with all his ornaments and surrounded by his ministers, stood looking down on the palace-yard from an open window. At the instant they opened the door of a cow-pen: the bulls coming from the pen set upon one cow in lust: and one great bull with sharp horns seeing another bull coming, possessed by the jealousy of lust, struck him in the thigh with his sharp horns. By the force of the blow his entrails came out, and so he died. The king seeing this thought, "Living beings from the state of beasts upwards reach sorrow from the power of lust: this bull through lust has reached death: other beings also are disturbed by lust: I ought to abandon the lusts that disturb those beings:" and so standing as he was he realised the three properties, attained spiritual insight and reached the wisdom of paccekabuddha-hood. The rest as before.
Then one day those four paccekabuddhas, considering that it was time for their rounds, left the Nandamūla cave, having cleansed their teeth by chewing betel in the lake Anotatta, and having attended to their needs in Manosilā, they took the bowl and robe, and by magic flying in the air, and treading on clouds of the five colours, they alighted not far from a suburb of Benares. In a convenient spot they put on the robes, took the bowl, and entering the suburb they went the rounds for alms till they came to the Bodhisatta's house-door. The Bodhisatta seeing them was delighted and making them enter his house he made them sit on a seat prepared, he
gave them water of respect and served them with excellent food, hard and soft. Then sitting on one side he saluted the eldest of them, saying, "Sir, your religious life appears very beautiful: your senses are very calm, your complexion is very clear: what topic of thought [380] made you take to the religious life and ordination?" and as he asked the eldest of them, so also he came up to the others and asked them. Then those four saying, "I was so and so, king of such and such a city in such and such a kingdom" and so on, in that way each told the causes of his retiring from the world and spoke one stanza each in order:—
A mango in a forest did I see
Full-grown, and dark, fruitful exceedingly:
And for its fruit men did the mango break,
’Twas this inclined my heart the bowl to take.
A bracelet, polished by a hand renowned,Full-grown, and dark, fruitful exceedingly:
And for its fruit men did the mango break,
’Twas this inclined my heart the bowl to take.
A woman wore on each wrist without sound:
One touched the other and a noise did wake:
’Twas this inclined my heart the bowl to take.
Birds in a flock a bird unfriended tore,
Who all alone a lump of carrion bore:
The bird was smitten for the carrion's sake
’Twas this inclined my heart the bowl to take.
A bull in pride among his fellows paced;
High rose his back, with strength and beauty graced:
From lust he died: a horn his wound did make:
’Twas this inclined my heart the bowl to take.
The Bodhisatta, hearing each stanza, said, "Good, sir: your topic is suitable," and so commended each paccekabuddha: and having listened to the discourse delivered by those four, he became disinclined to a householder's life. When the paccekabuddhas went forth, after breakfast seated at his ease, he called his wife and said, "Wife, those four paccekabuddhas left kingdoms to be Brethren and now live without sin, without hindrance, in the bliss of the religious life: while I make a livelihood by earnings: what have I to do with a householder's life? do you take the children and stay in the house ": and he spoke two stanzas:—
Kalṅga's
king Karaṇḍu, Gandhāra's
Naggaji,
Pañcāla's ruler Dummukha, Videha's great Nimi,
Have left their thrones and live the life of Brothers sinlessly.
Here their godlike forms they showPañcāla's ruler Dummukha, Videha's great Nimi,
Have left their thrones and live the life of Brothers sinlessly.
Each one like a blazing fire:
Bhaggavi, I too will go,
Leaving all that men desire.
[382] Hearing his words she said, "Husband, ever since I heard the discourse of the paccekabuddhas I too have no content in the house," and she spoke a stanza:—
’Tis the appointed time, I know:
Better teachers may not be:
Bhaggava, I too will go,
Like a bird from hand set free.
The Bodhisatta hearing her words was silent. She was deceiving the
Bodhisatta, and was anxious to take the religious life before him: so she said,
"Husband, I am going to the water-tank, do you look after the
children," and taking a pot as if she had been going there, she went away
and coming to the ascetics outside the town she was ordained by them. The
Bodhisatta finding that she did not return attended to the children himself.
Afterwards when they grew up a little and could understand for themselves, in
order to teach them [383], when cooking rice he would cook one day a little
hard and raw, one day a little underdone, one day well-cooked, one day sodden,
one day without salt, another with too much. The children said, "Father,
the rice to-day is not-boiled, to-day it is sodden, to-day well cooked: to-day
it is without salt, to-day it has too much salt." The Bodhisatta said,
"Yes, dears," and thought, "These children now know what is raw
and what is cooked, what has salt and what has none: they will be able to live
in their own way: I ought to become ordained." Then showing them to their
kinsfolk he was ordained to the religious life, and dwelt outside the city.
Then one day the female ascetic begging in Benares saw him and saluted him,
saying, "Sir, I believe you killed the children." The Bodhisatta
said, "I don't kill children: when they could understand for themselves I
became ordained: you were careless of them and pleased yourself by being
ordained": and so he spoke the last stanza:—Better teachers may not be:
Bhaggava, I too will go,
Like a bird from hand set free.
Having seen they could distinguish salt
from saltless, boiled from raw,
I became a Brother: leave me, we can follow each the law.
So exhorting the female ascetic he took leave of her. She taking
the exhortation saluted the Bodhisatta and went to a place that pleased her.
After that day they never saw each other. The Bodhisatta reaching supernatural
knowledge became destined to the Brahma heaven.I became a Brother: leave me, we can follow each the law.
Footnotes
228:1 No. 459, vol. iv.229:1 Impermanence, suffering, unreality.
No. 409.
DAḶHADHAMMA-JĀTAKA.
[384] "I carried for the king," etc. The Master told this when dwelling in the Ghosita forest near Kosambī, concerning Bhaddavatikā, king Udena's she-elephant. Now the way in which this elephant was adorned and the royal lineage of Udena will be set forth in the Mātaṅga 1 Birth. One day this elephant going out of the city in the morning saw the Buddha surrounded by a multitude of saints, in the incomparable majesty of a Buddha, entering the city for alms, and falling at the Tathāgata's feet, with lamentation she prayed to him, saying, "Lord who knowest all, saviour of the whole world, when I was young and able to do work, Udena, the rightful king, loved me, saying, "My life and kingdom and queen are all due to her," and gave me great honour, adorning me with all ornaments; he had my stall smeared with perfumed earth, and coloured hangings put round it, and a lamp lit with perfumed oil, and a dish of incense set there, he had a golden pot set on my dunghill, and made me stand on a coloured carpet, and gave me royal food of many choice flavours: but now when I am old and cannot do work, he has cut off all that honour; unprotected and destitute I live by eating ketaka fruit in the forest; I have no other refuge: make Udena think on my merits and restore me again my old honour, O Lord." The Master said, "Go thou, I will speak to the king and get thy old honour restored," and he went to the door of the king's dwelling. The king made Buddha enter, and gave great entertainment in the palace to the assembly of brethren following Buddha. When the meal was over, the Master gave thanks to the king and asked, "O king, where is Bhaddavatikā?" "Lord, I know not." "O king, after giving honour to servants, it is not right to take it away in their old age, it is right to be grateful and thankful; Bhaddavatikā is now old, she is worn with age and unprotected, and she lives by eating ketaka fruit in the wood: it is not meet for you to leave her unprotected in her old age": so telling Bhaddavatikā's merits and saying, "Restore all her former honours," [385] he departed. The king did so. It was spread over the whole city that the former honour was restored because the Buddha had told her merits. This became known in the assembly of the Brethren, and the Brethren discussed it in their meeting. The Master, coming and hearing that this was their subject, said, "Brethren, this is not the first time that the Buddha has by telling her merits got her former honours restored": and he told the tale of old.for the king, and in battle she fought and crushed the enemy. The king said, "She is very serviceable to me," gave her all ornaments and caused all honour to be given her such as Udena gave to Bhaddavatikā. Then when she was weak from age the king took away all her honour. From that time she was unprotected and lived by eating grass and leaves in the forest. Then one day when the vessels in the king's court were not sufficient, the king sent for a potter, and said, "The vessels are not sufficient." "O king, I have no oxen to yoke in carts to bring cow-dung (for baking clay)." The king hearing this tale said, "Where is our she-elephant?" "O king, she is wandering at her own will." The king gave her to the potter, saying, "Henceforth do thou yoke her and bring cow-dung." The potter said, "Good, O king," and did so. Then one day she, coming out of the. city, saw the Bodhisatta coming in, and falling at his feet, she said, lamenting: " Lord, the king in my youth considered me very serviceable and gave me great honour: [386] now that I am old, he has cut it all away and takes no thought of me; I am unprotected and live by eating grass and leaves in the forest; in this misery he has now given me to a potter to yoke in a cart; except thee I have no refuge: thou knowest my services to the king; restore me now the honour I have lost": and she spoke three stanzas:—
I carried for the king of old: was he
not satisfied?
With weapons at my breast I faced the fight with mighty stride.
My feats in battle done of old does not the king forget,With weapons at my breast I faced the fight with mighty stride.
And such good services I did for couriers as are set?
Helpless and kinless now am I: surely my death is near,
To serve a potter when I'm come as his dung-carrier.
[387] The Bodhisatta, hearing her tale, comforted her, saying, "Grieve not, I will tell the king and restore thy honour": so entering the city, he went to the king after his morning meal and took up the talk, saying, "Great king, did not a she-elephant, named so and so, enter battle at such and such places with weapons bound on her breast, and on such a day with a writing on her neck did she not go a hundred leagues on a message? Thou gavest her great honour: where is she now?" "I gave her to a potter for carrying dung." Then the Bodhisatta said, "Is it right, great king, for thee to give her to a potter to be yoked in a cart?" And for admonition he spoke four stanzas:—
By selfish hopes men regulate the
honours that they pay:
As you the elephant, they throw the outworn slave away.
Good deeds and services received whenever men forget,As you the elephant, they throw the outworn slave away.
Ruin pursues the business still on which their hearts are set.
Good deeds and services received if men do not forget,
Success attends the business still on which their hearts are set.
To all the multitude around this blessed
truth I tell:
Be grateful all, and for reward you long in heaven shall dwell.
[388] With this beginning the Bodhisatta gave instruction to all
gathered there. Hearing this the king gave the old elephant her former honour,
and established in the Bodhisatta's instruction gave alms and did works of
merit and became destined for heaven.Be grateful all, and for reward you long in heaven shall dwell.
Footnotes
233:1 No. 497, vol. iv.233:2 Morris, Journ. Pali Text Soc. for 1887, p. 150: but possibly the word means she-camel.
No. 410.
SOMADATTA-JĀTAKA.
"Deep in the wood," etc.—The Master told this while dwelling at Jetavana, about a certain old Brother. The story was that this Brother ordained a novice, who waited on him but soon died of a fatal disease. The old man went about weeping and wailing for his death. Seeing him, the Brethren began to talk in the Hall of Truth, "Sirs, this old Brother goes about weeping and wailing for the novice's death: he must surely have neglected the meditation on death." The Master came, and hearing the subject of their talk, he said, "Brethren, this is not the first time this man is weeping for the other's death," and so he told the old tale.
Deep in the wood he'd meet me: but to-day
No elephant I see: where does he stray?
No elephant I see: where does he stray?
With this lament, he saw the elephant lying at the end of the covered walk and taking him round the neck he spoke the second stanza in lamentation:—
’Tis he that lies in death cut down as
a tender shoot is shred;
Low on the ground he lies: alas, my elephant is dead.
At the instant, Sakka, surveying the world, thought, "This
ascetic left wife and child for religion, now he is lamenting the young
elephant whom he called his son, I will rouse him and make him think," and
so coming to the hermitage he stood in the air and spoke the third stanza:—Low on the ground he lies: alas, my elephant is dead.
[390]
To sorrow for the dead doth ill become
The lone ascetic, freed from ties of home.
Hearing this, the ascetic spoke the fourth stanza:—The lone ascetic, freed from ties of home.
Should man with beast consort, O Sakka,
grief
For a lost playmate finds in tears relief.
Sakka uttered two stanzas, admonishing him:—For a lost playmate finds in tears relief.
Such as to weep are fain may still
lament the dead,
Weep not, O sage, ’tis vain to weep, the wise have said.
If by our tears we might prevail against the grave,Weep not, O sage, ’tis vain to weep, the wise have said.
Thus would we all unite our dearest ones to save.
Hearing Sakka's words, the ascetic took thought and comfort, dried his tears, and uttered the remaining stanzas in praise of Sakka:—
As ghee-fed flame that blazes out amain
Is quenched with water, so he quenched my pain.
With sorrow's shaft my heart was wounded sore:Is quenched with water, so he quenched my pain.
He healed my wound and did my life restore.
[391] The barb extracted, full of joy and peace,
At Sakka's words I from my sorrow cease.
These were given above. 1
After admonishing the ascetic, Sakka went to his own place.
Footnotes
236:1 See supra, p. 214.No. 411.
SUSĪMA-JĀTAKA.
"Heretofore the hairs," etc.—The Master told this tale while dwelling in Jetavana, about the Great Renunciation. The Brethren were sitting in the Hall of Truth, praising the Buddha's renunciation. The Master, finding that this was their topic, said, "Brethren, it is not strange that I should now make the Great Renunciation and retirement from the world, I who have for many hundred thousand ages exercised perfection: of old also I gave up the reign over the kingdom of Kāsi, three hundred leagues in extent, and made the renunciation," and so he told the old tale.king, she thy chief queen, I viceroy." The priest said, "It cannot be " but being asked again he consented: and the king made the priest king, the queen-mother chief queen, and himself viceroy. They lived all in harmony together, but the Bodhisatta pined amid a householder's life: he left desires and leaned to a religious life: careless of the pleasures of sense he stood and sat and lay alone, like a man bound in jail or a cock in a cage. [393] The chief queen thought, "The king avoids me, he stands and sits and lies alone; he is young and fresh, I am old and have grey hairs: what if I were to tell him a story that he has one grey hair, make him believe it and seek my company? " One day, as if cleaning the king's head, she said, "Your majesty is getting old, there is a grey hair on your head." "Pull it out and put it in my hand." She pulled a hair out, but threw it away and put into his hand one of her own grey hairs. When he saw it, fear of death made the sweat start from his forehead, though it was like a plate of gold. He admonished himself, saying, "Susīma, you have become old in your youth; all this time sunk in the mud of desire, like a village pig wallowing in filth and mire, you cannot leave it: quit desires, and become an ascetic in the Himālaya: it is high time for the religious life," and with this thought, he uttered the first stanza:—
Heretofore the hairs were dark
Clustering about my brow;
White to-day: Susīma, mark!
Time for religion now!
So the Bodhisatta praised the religious life: but the queen saw
she had caused him to leave her instead of loving her, and in fear, wishing to
keep him from the religious life by praising his body, she uttered two
stanzas:—Clustering about my brow;
White to-day: Susīma, mark!
Time for religion now!
[374]
Mine, not thine, the silvered hair;
Mine the head from which it came:
For thy good the lie I dare:
One such fault forbear to blame!
Thou art young, and fair to see,Mine the head from which it came:
For thy good the lie I dare:
One such fault forbear to blame!
Like a tender plant in spring!
Keep thy kingdom, smile on me!
Seek not now what age will bring!
But the Bodhisatta said, "Lady, you tell of what must come: as age ripens, these dark hairs must turn and become pale like betel: I see the change and breaking up of body that comes in years, in the ripening of age, to royal maids and all the rest, though they are tender as a wreath of blue lotus-flowers, fair as gold, and drunken with the pride of their glorious youth: such, lady, is the dreary end of living beings," and, moreover, showing the truth with the charm of a Buddha, he uttered two stanzas:—
[395]
I have marked the youthful maid,
Swaying like the tender stalk,
In her pride of form arrayed;
Men are witched where’er she walk.
’Tis the same one I have scannedSwaying like the tender stalk,
In her pride of form arrayed;
Men are witched where’er she walk.
(Eighty, ninety, years have passed),
Quivering, palsied, staff in hand,
Bent like rafter-tree at last.
In this stanza the Great Being showed the misery of beauty, and now declared his discontent with the householder's life:—
[396]
Such the thoughts I ponder o’er;
Lonely nights the thoughts allow:
Layman's life I love no more:
Time for religion now!
Delight in layman's life is a weak stay:Lonely nights the thoughts allow:
Layman's life I love no more:
Time for religion now!
The wise man cuts it off and goes his way,
Renouncing joys of sense and all their sway.
Thus declaring both the delight and misery of desires, he showed the truth with all a Buddha's charm, he sent for his friend and made him take the kingdom again: he left his majesty and power amid the loud lamentations of kinsmen and friends; he became an ascetic sage in the Himālaya, and entering on the ecstasy of meditation, became destined for the world of Brahma.
Footnotes
237:1 Sakka's elephant.No. 412.
KOṬISIMBALI-JĀTAKA. 1
"I bore with me," etc.—The Master told this tale while dwelling in Jetavana, concerning rebuke of sin. The incident leading to the tale will appear in the Paññā 2 Birth. On this occasion the Master, perceiving that five hundred Brethren were overcome by thoughts of desire in the House of the Golden Pavement,gathered the assembly and said, "Brethren, it is right to distrust where distrust is proper; sins surround a man as banyans and such plants grow up around a tree: in this way of old a spirit dwelling in the top of a cotton-tree saw a bird voiding the banyan seeds it had eaten among the branches of the cotton-tree, and became terrified lest her abode should thereby come to destruction:" and so he told a tale of old.
I bore with me the thousand fathoms
length of that king-snake:
His size and my huge bulk you bore and yet you did not quake.
But now this tiny bird you bear, so small compared to me:His size and my huge bulk you bore and yet you did not quake.
You shake with fear and tremble; but wherefore, cotton-tree?
Then the deity spoke four stanzas in explanation of the reason:—
Flesh is thy food, O king: the bird's
is fruit:
Seeds of the banyan and the fig he'll shoot
And bo-tree too, and all my trunk pollute;
They will grow trees in shelter of my stem,Seeds of the banyan and the fig he'll shoot
And bo-tree too, and all my trunk pollute;
And I shall be no tree, thus hid by them.
[399]
Other trees, once strong of root and
rich in branches, plainly show
How the seeds that birds do carry in destruction lay them low.
Parasitic growths will bury e’en the mighty forest tree:How the seeds that birds do carry in destruction lay them low.
This is why, O king, I quiver when the fear to come I see.
Hearing the tree-spirit's words, the roc-king spoke the final stanza:—
Fear is right if things are fearful:
’gainst the coming danger guard:
Wise men look on both worlds calmly if they present fears discard.
So speaking, the roc-king by his power drove the bird away from
that tree.Wise men look on both worlds calmly if they present fears discard.
Footnotes
239:1 Compare No. 370, supra.239:2 Not known.
No. 413.
DHŪMAKĀRI-JĀTAKA.
"The righteous king," etc.—The Master told this tale while dwelling in Jetavana, concerning the Kosala king's favour to a stranger. At one time, the story goes, that king showed no favour to his old warriors who came to him in the usual way, but gave honour and hospitality to strangers coming for the first time. He went to fight in a disturbed frontier province: but his old warriors would not fight, thinking that the new-corners who were in favour would do so; and the new-corners would not, thinking that the old warriors would. The rebels prevailed. The king, knowing that his defeat was owing to the mistake he had made in showing favour to new-comers, returned to Sāvatthi. He resolved to ask the Lord of Wisdom whether he was the only king who had ever been defeated for that reason: so after the morning meal he went to Jetavana and put the question to the Master. The Master answered, "Great King, yours is not the only case: former kings also were defeated by reason of the favour they showed to new-corners," and so, at the king's request, he told an old tale.King Dhanañjaya disregarded his old soldiers and showed favour to new-comers. He went to fight in a disturbed frontier province: but neither his old warriors nor the new-comers would fight, each thinking the other party would see to the matter. The king was defeated. On his return to Indapattana he reflected that his defeat was due to the favour he had shown to new-comers. [401] One day he thought, "Am I the only king who has ever been defeated through favour shown to new-corners, or have others had the same fate before? I will ask Vidhūrapaṇḍita." So he put the question to Vidhūrapaṇḍita when he came to the king's levee.
The righteous king Yudhiṭṭhila
once asked Vidhūra wise,
"Brahmin, dost know in whose lone heart much bitter sorrow lies?"
"Brahmin, dost know in whose lone heart much bitter sorrow lies?"
A brahmin with a flock of goats, of
high Vasiṭṭha's race,
Kept smoking fire by night and day in forest dwelling-place.
Smelling the smoke, a herd of deer, by gnats sore pestered, comeKept smoking fire by night and day in forest dwelling-place.
To find a dwelling for the rains near Dhūmakāri's home.
The deer have all attention now; his goats receive no care,
They come and go untended all, and so they perish there.
[402] But now the gnats have left the wood, the autumn's clear of rain:
The deer must seek the mountain-heights and river-springs again.
The brahmin sees the deer are gone and all his goats are dead:
Jaundice attacks him worn with grief, and all his colour's fled.
So he who disregards his own, and calls a stranger dear,
Like Dhūmakāri, mourns alone with many a bitter tear.
Such was the tale told by the Great Being to console the king. The king was comforted and pleased, and gave him much wealth. From that time onward he showed favour to his own people, and doing deeds of charity and virtue, he became destined for heaven.
After the lesson, the Master identified the Birth: "At that time the Kuru king was Ānanda, Dhūmakāri was Pasenadi, king of Kosala, and Vidhūrapaṇḍita was myself."
No. 414.
JĀGARA-JĀTAKA.
[403] "Who is it that wakes," etc.—The Master told this tale while dwelling in Jetavana, concerning a certain lay-brother. He was a disciple who had entered on the First Path. He set out by a forest road from Sāvatthi with a caravan of carts. At a certain pleasant watered spot the leader of the caravan unyoked five hundred carts, and arranging for food, both hard and soft, he took up his lodging there. The men lay down here and there to sleep. The lay-brother practised perambulation at the root of a tree near the leader of the caravan. Five hundred robbers planned to plunder the caravan: with various weapons in their hands they surrounded it and waited. Seeing the lay-brother at his walk they stood waiting to begin plundering when he should go to sleep. He went on walking all night. At dawn the robbers threw away the sticks and stones and other weapons they had picked up: they went away, saying, "Master Caravan-leader, you are owner of your property because you have got your life owing to that man who keeps awake so diligently: you should pay honour to him." The caravan-men rising betimes saw the stones and other things thrown away by the robbers and gave honour to the lay-brother, recognising that they owed their lives to him. The lay-brother went to his destination and did his business: then he returned to Sāvatthi and went on to Jetavana: there he saluted and did homage to the Tathāgata and sat at his feet, and on his invitation to declare himself, he told the tale. The Master said, "Lay-brother, it is not you alone who have gained special merit by waking and watching, wise men of old did the same." And so at the lay-brother's request, he told an old story.
Who is it that wakes when others sleep
and sleeps while others wake?
Who is it can read my riddle, who to this will answer make?
Who is it can read my riddle, who to this will answer make?
The Bodhisatta, hearing the spirit's voice, spoke this stanza:—
I am he who wakes while others sleep,
and sleeps while others wake.
I am he can read your riddle, I to you can answer make.
The spirit put a question again in this stanza:—I am he can read your riddle, I to you can answer make.
How is it you wake while others sleep,
and sleep while others wake?
How is it you read my riddle, how this answer do you make?
He explained the point:—How is it you read my riddle, how this answer do you make?
Some men forget that virtue lies in
stern sobriety,
When such are sleeping I'm awake, O spirit of the tree.
Passion and vice and ignorance in some have ceased to be:When such are sleeping I'm awake, O spirit of the tree.
When such are waking then I sleep, O spirit of the tree.
So it is I wake while others sleep, and sleep while others wake:
So it is I read your riddle, so to you I answer make.
[405] When the Great Being gave this answer, the spirit was pleased and spoke the last stanza in his praise:—
Good it is you wake while others sleep,
and sleep while others wake
Good your reading of my riddle, good the answer that you make.
And so making the Bodhisatta's praises, the spirit entered its
abode in the tree.Good your reading of my riddle, good the answer that you make.
No. 415.
KUMMĀSAPIṆḌA-JĀTAKA. 1
"Service done," etc.—The Master told this tale while dwelling in Jetavana, concerning queen Mallikā. She was the daughter of the chief of the garland-makers of Sāvatthi, extremely beautiful and very good. When she was sixteen years of age, as she was going to a flower-garden with some other girls, she had three portions of sour gruel in a flower-basket. As she was leaving the town, she saw the Blessed One entering it, diffusing radiance and surrounded by the assembly of the Brethren: and she brought him the three portions of gruel.The Master accepted, holding out his royal bowl. She saluted the Tathāgata's feet with her head, and taking her joy as subject of meditation, stood on one side. Observing her the Master smiled. The Venerable Ānanda wondered why the Tathāgata smiled and asked him the question. The Master told him the reason, "Ānanda, this girl will be to-day the chief queen of the Kosala king through the fruit of these portions of gruel." The girl went on to the flower-garden. [406] That very day the Kosala king fought with Ajātasattu and fled away in defeat. As he came on his horse he heard the sound of her singing, and being attracted by it he rode towards the garden. The girl's merit was ripe: so when she saw the king she came without running away, and seized at the bridle by the horse's nose. The king from horseback asked if she was married or no. Hearing that she was not, he dismounted, and being wearied with wind and sun rested for a little time in her lap: then he made her mount, and with a great army entered the town and brought her to her own house. At evening he sent a chariot and with great honour and pomp brought her from her house, set her on a heap of jewels, anointed her and made her chief queen. From that time onward she was the dear, beloved and devoted wife of the king, possessed of faithful servants and the five feminine charms: and she was a favourite of the Buddhas. It became noised abroad through the whole city that she had attained such prosperity because she had given the three portions of gruel to the Master.
One day they began a discussion in the Hall of Truth: "Sirs, queen Mallikā gave three portions of gruel to the Buddhas, and as the fruit of that, on the very same day she was anointed queen: great indeed is the virtue of Buddhas." The Master came, asked and was told the subject of the Brethren's talk: he said, "It is not strange, Brethren, that Mallikā has become chief queen of the Kosala king by giving three portions of gruel to the omniscient Buddha alone: for why? It is because of the great virtue of Buddhas: wise men of old gave gruel without salt or oil to paccekabuddhas, and owing to that attained in their next birth the glory of being kings in Kāsi, three hundred leagues in extent": and so he told the tale of old.
from his sight and he had gone to his work, he remembered them always till his death: as the fruit of this, he was born in the womb of the chief queen of Benares. His name was called prince Brahmadatta. From the time of his being able to walk alone, he saw clearly by the power of recollecting all that he had done in former births, like the reflexion of his own face in a clear mirror, that he was now born in that state because he had given four portions of gruel to the paccekabuddhas when he was a servant and going to work in that same city. When he grew up he learned all the arts at Takkasilā: on his return his father was pleased with the accomplishments he displayed, and appointed him viceroy: afterwards, on his father's death, he was established in the kingdom. Then he married the exceedingly beautiful daughter of the Kosala king, and made her his chief queen. On the day of his parasol-festival they decorated the whole city as if it were a city of the gods. He went round the city in procession; [408] then he ascended the palace, which was decorated, and on the dais mounted a throne with the white parasol erected on it; sitting there he looked down on all those that stood in attendance, on one side the ministers, on another the brahmins and householders resplendent in the beauty of varied apparel, on another the townspeople with various gifts in their hands, on another troops of dancing-girls to the number of sixteen thousand like a gathering of the nymphs of heaven in full apparel. Looking on all this entrancing splendour he remembered his former estate and thought, "This white parasol with golden garland and plinth of massive gold, these many thousand elephants and chariots, my great territory full of jewels and pearls, teeming with wealth and grain of all kinds, these women like the nymphs of heaven, and all this splendour, which is mine alone, is due only to an alms-gift of four portions of gruel given to four paccekabuddhas: I have gained all this through them ": and so remembering the excellence of the paccekabuddhas he plainly declared his own former action of merit. As he thought of it his whole body was filled with delight. Delight melted his heart and amid the multitude he uttered two stanzas of joyous song:—
Service done to Buddhas high
Ne’er, they say, is reckoned cheap:
Alms of gruel, saltless, dry,
Bring me this reward to reap.
Elephant and horse and kine,Ne’er, they say, is reckoned cheap:
Alms of gruel, saltless, dry,
Bring me this reward to reap.
Gold and corn and all the land,
Troops of girls with form divine:
Alms have brought them to my hand.
[409] So the Bodhisatta in his joy and delight on the day of his parasol-ceremony sang the song of joy in two stanzas. From that time onward they were called the king's favourite song, and all sung them—the Bodhisatta's dancing girls, his other dancers and musicians, his people in the palace, the townsfolk and those in ministerial circles.
[410] After a long time had passed, the chief queen became anxious to know the meaning of the song, but she durst not ask the Great Being. One day the king was pleased with some quality of hers and said, "Lady, I will give you a boon; accept a boon." "It is well, O king, I accept." "What shall I give you, elephants, horses or the like?" "O king, through your grace I lack nothing, I have no need of such things: but if you wish to give me a boon, give it by telling me the meaning of your song." "Lady, what need have you of that boon? Accept something else." "O king, I have no need of anything else: it is that I will accept." "Well, lady, I will tell it, but not as a secret to you alone: I will send a drum round the whole twelve leagues of Benares, I will make a jewelled pavilion at my palace-door and arrange there a jewelled throne: on it I will sit amidst ministers, brahmins and other people of the city, and the sixteen thousand women, and there tell the tale." She agreed. The king had all done as he said, and then sat on the throne amidst a great multitude, like Sakka amidst the company of the gods. The queen too with all her ornaments set a golden chair of ceremony and sat in an appropriate place on one side, and looking with a side glance she said, "O king, tell and explain to me, as if causing the moon to arise in the sky, the meaning of the song of joy you sang in your delight"; and so she spoke the third stanza:—
Glorious and righteous king,
Many a time the song you sing,
In exceeding joy of heart:
Pray to me the cause impart.
[411] The Great Being declaring the meaning of the song spoke four
stanzas:—Many a time the song you sing,
In exceeding joy of heart:
Pray to me the cause impart.
This the city, but the station
different, in my previous birth:
Servant was I to another, hireling, but of honest worth.
Going from the town to labour four ascetics once I saw,Servant was I to another, hireling, but of honest worth.
Passionless and calm in bearing, perfect in the moral law.
All my thoughts went to those Buddhas: as they sat beneath the tree,
With my hands I brought them gruel, offering of piety.
Such the virtuous deed of merit: lo! the fruit I reap to-day
All the kingly state and riches, all the land beneath my sway.
[412] When she heard the Great Being thus fully explaining the fruit of his action, the queen said joyfully, "Great king, if you discern so visibly the fruits of charitable giving, from this day forward take a portion of rice and do not eat yourself until you have given it to righteous priests and brahmins"; and she spoke a stanza in praise of the Bodhisatta:—
Eat, due alms remembering,
Set the wheel of right to roll:
Flee injustice, mighty king,
Righteously thy realm control.
Set the wheel of right to roll:
Flee injustice, mighty king,
Righteously thy realm control.
The Great Being, accepting what she said, spoke a stanza:—
Still I make that road my own
Walking in the path of right,
Where the good, fair queen, have gone:
Saints are pleasant to my sight.
[413] After saying this, he looked at the queen's beauty and said,
"Fair lady, I have told fully my good deeds done in former time, but
amongst all these ladies there is none like you in beauty or charming grace: by
what deed did you attain this beauty?" And he spoke a stanza:—Walking in the path of right,
Where the good, fair queen, have gone:
Saints are pleasant to my sight.
Lady, like a nymph of heaven,
You the crowd of maids outshine:
For what gracious deed was given
Meed of beauty so divine?
Then she told the virtuous deed done in her former birth, and
spoke the last two stanzas:—You the crowd of maids outshine:
For what gracious deed was given
Meed of beauty so divine?
I was once a handmaid's slave
At Ambaṭṭha's royal court,
To modesty my heart I gave,
To virtue and to good report.
In a begging Brother's bowlAt Ambaṭṭha's royal court,
To modesty my heart I gave,
To virtue and to good report.
Once an alms of rice I put;
Charity had filled my soul:
Such the deed, and lo! the fruit.
She too, it is said, spoke with accurate knowledge and remembrance of past births.
[414] So both fully declared their past deeds, and from that day they had six halls of charity built, at the four gates, in the centre of the city and at the palace-door, and stirring up all India they gave great gifts, kept the moral duties and the holy days, and at the end of their lives became destined for heaven.
Footnotes
244:1 Compare Jātakamālā No. 3, Kathāsaritsāgara No. xxvii. 79.No. 416.
PARANTAPA-JĀTAKA.
"Terror and fear," etc.—The Master told this while dwelling in the Bamboo-grove, concerning Devadatta's going about to kill him. They were discussing it in the Hall of Truth, "Sirs, Devadatta [415] is going about to kill the Tathāgata, he has hired bowmen, thrown down a rock, let loose Nālāgiri, and uses special means for the destruction of the Tathāgata." The Master came and asked the subject of their discussion as they sat together: when they told him, he said, "Brethren, this is not the first time he has gone about to kill me: but he could not even make me afraid, and gained only sorrow for himself:"and so he told the tale of old.A she-jackal with two cubs entered the city at night by a sewer, when men were retired to rest. In the Bodhisatta's palace, near his bed-room, there was a chamber, where a single traveller, who had taken his shoes off and put them by his feet on the floor, was lying down, not yet asleep, on a plank. The jackal-cubs were hungry and gave a cry. Their mother said in the speech of jackals, "Do not make a noise, dears: there is a man in that chamber who has taken his shoes off and laid them on the floor: he is lying on a plank, but is not asleep yet: when he falls asleep, I will take his shoes and give you food." By the power of the spell the Bodhisatta understood her call, and leaving his bedroom he opened a window and said, "Who is there?" "I, your majesty, a traveller." "Where are your shoes?" "On the floor." "Lift them and bang them up." Hearing this the jackal was angry with the Bodhisatta. One day she entered the city again by the same way. That day a drunken man [416] went down to drink in a lotus-tank: falling in, he sank and was drowned. He possessed the two garments he was wearing, a thousand pieces in his under-garment, and a ring on his finger. The jackal-cubs cried out for hunger, and the mother said, "Be quiet, dears: there is a dead man in this lotus-tank, he had such and such property: he is lying dead on the tank-stair, I will give you his flesh to eat." The Bodhisatta, hearing her, opened the window and said, "Who is in the chamber?" One rose and
said, "I." "Go and take the clothes, the thousand pieces and the ring from the man who is lying dead in yonder lotus-tank, and make the body sink so that it cannot rise out of the water." The man did so. The jackal was angry again: "The other day you prevented my children eating the shoes; to-day you prevent them eating the dead man. Very well: on the third day from this a hostile king will come and encompass the city, your father will send you to battle, they will cut off your head: I will drink your throat's blood and satisfy my enmity: you make yourself an enemy of mine and I will see to it:" so she cried abusing the Bodhisatta. Then she took her cubs and went away. On the third day the hostile king came and encompassed the city. The king said to the Bodhisatta, "Go, dear son, and fight him." "O king, I have seen a vision: I cannot go, for I fear I shall lose my life." "What is your life or death to me? Go." The Great Being obeyed: taking his men he avoided the gate where the hostile king was posted, and went out by another which he had opened. As he went the whole city became as it were deserted, for all men went out with him. He encamped in a certain open space and waited. The king thought, "My viceroy has emptied the city and fled with all my forces: the enemy is lying all round the city: [417] I am but a dead man." To save his life he took his chief queen, his family priest, and a single attendant named Parantapa: with them he fled in disguise by night and entered a wood. Hearing of his flight, the Bodhisatta entered the city, defeated the hostile king in battle and took the kingdom. His father made a hut of leaves on a river bank and lived there on wild fruits. He and the family priest used to go looking for wild fruits: the servant Parantapa stayed with the queen in the hut. She was with child by the king: but owing to being constantly with Parantapa, she sinned with him. One day she said to him, "If the king knows, neither you nor I would live: kill him." "In what way?" "He makes you carry his sword and bathing-dress when he goes to bathe: take him off his guard at the bathing-place, cut off his head and chop his body to pieces with the sword and then bury him in the ground." He agreed. One day the priest had gone out for wild fruits: he had climbed a tree near the king's bathing-place and was gathering the fruit. The king wished to bathe, and came to the water-side with Parantapa carrying his sword and bathing-dress. As he was going to bathe, Parantapa, meaning to kill him when off his guard, seized him by the neck and raised the sword. The king cried out in fear of death. The priest heard the cry and saw from above that Parantapa was murdering him: but he was in great terror and slipping down from his branch in the tree, he hid in a thicket. Parantapa heard the noise he made as he slipped down, and after killing and burying the king he thought, "There was a noise of slipping from a branch thereabouts; who is there?" But seeing no man he bathed and went away.
Then the priest came out of his hiding-place; [418] knowing that the king had been cut in pieces and buried in a pit, he bathed and in fear of his life he pretended to be blind when he came back to the hut. Parantapa saw him and asked what had happened to him. He feigned not to know him and said, "O king, I am come back with my eyes lost: I was standing by an ant-hill in a wood full of serpents, and the breath of some venomous serpent must have fallen on me." Parantapa thought the priest was addressing him as king in ignorance, and to put his mind at rest he said, "Brahmin, never mind, I will take care of you," and so comforted him and gave him plenty of wild fruits. From that time it was Parantapa who gathered the fruits. The queen bore a son. As he was growing up, she said to Parantapa one day at early morning when seated comfortably, "Some one saw you when you were killing the king?" "No one saw me: but I heard the noise of something slipping from a bough: whether it was man or beast I cannot tell: but whenever fear comes on me it must be from the cause of the boughs creaking," and so in conversation with her he spoke the first stanza:—
Terror and fear fall on me even now,
For then a man or beast did shake a bough.
They thought the priest was asleep, but he was awake and heard
their talk. One day, when Parantapa had gone for wild fruits, the priest
remembered his brahmin-wife and spoke the second stanza in lamentation:—For then a man or beast did shake a bough.
[419]
My true wife's home is near at hand: my
love will make me be
Pale like Parantapa and thin, at quivering of a tree.
The queen asked what he was saying. He said, "I was only
thinking:" but one day again he spoke the third stanza:—Pale like Parantapa and thin, at quivering of a tree.
My dear wife's in Benares: her absence
wears me now
To pallor like Parantapa's at shaking of a bough.
Again one day he spoke a fourth stanza:—To pallor like Parantapa's at shaking of a bough.
Her black eye's glow, her speech and
smiles in thought do bring me now
To pallor like Parantapa's at shaking of a bough.
In time the young prince grew up and reached the age of sixteen.
Then the brahmin made him take a stick, and going with him to the bathing-place
opened his eyes and looked. [420] "Are you not blind, brahmin?" said
the prince. "I am not, but by this means I have saved my life: do you know
who is your father?" "Yes." "That man is not your father:
your father was king of Benares: that man is a servant of your house, he sinned
with your mother and in this spot killed and buried your father"; and so
saying he pulled up the bones and showed them to him. The prince grew very
angry, and asked, "What am I to do?" "Do to that man what he did
to your father here," and showing him theTo pallor like Parantapa's at shaking of a bough.
whole matter he taught him in a few days how to handle a sword. Then one day the prince took sword and bathing-dress and said, "Father, let us go and bathe." Parantapa consented and went with him. When he went down into the water, the prince took his top-knot in the left hand and the sword in the right, and said, "At this spot you took my father by the top-knot and killed him as he cried out: even so will I do to you." Parantapa wailed in fear of death and spoke two stanzas:—
Surely that sound has come to you and
told you what befel:
Surely the man who bent the bough has come the tale to tell.
The foolish thought that once I had has reached your knowledge
now:Surely the man who bent the bough has come the tale to tell.
That day a witness, man or beast, was there and shook the bough.
Then the prince spoke the last stanza:—
’Twas thus you slew my father with
trait’rous word, untrue;
You hid his body in the boughs: now fear has come to you.
[421] So saying, he slew him on the spot, buried him and covered
the place with branches: then washing the sword and bathing, he went back to
the hut of leaves. He told the priest how he had killed Parantapa: he censured
his mother, and saying, "What shall we do now?" the three went back
to Benares. The Bodhisatta made the young prince viceroy and doing charity and
other good works passed fully through the path to heaven.You hid his body in the boughs: now fear has come to you.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
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