The Jātaka, vol. IV (nos. 439-510)

Then in the Hall of Truth they began to discuss the virtues of the Tathagata: “Sirs, the Omen Problem was beyond the scope of others, but he comprehended the hearts of men and of gods, and solved their doubt, as if he were making the moon rise in the sky! Ah, very wise is the Tathagata, my friends!” The Master entering asked what they were talking of, as they sat there. They told him. Said he, “It is no marvel, Brethren, that I solved the problem of the omens now that I am possessed of perfect wisdom; but even when I walked on earth as Bodhisatta, I solved the doubts of men and of gods, by answering the Omen Problem.” So saying, he told a story of the past. [74] Once upon a time the Bodhisatta was born in a certain town in the family of a wealthy brahmin, and they named him Rakkhita-Kumara. When he grew up, and had completed his education at Takkasila, he married a wife, and on his parents’ demise, he made enquiry into his treasures; then being much exercised in mind, he distributed alms, and mastering his passions became a hermit in the regions of Himalaya, where he developed supernatural powers, and dwelt in a certain spot, nourishing himself upon the roots and fruits of the forest. In course of time his followers became a great number, five hundred disciples that lived with him.

One day, these ascetics, approaching the Bodhisatta, thus addressed him: “Teacher, when the rainy season comes, let us go down from Himalaya, and traverse the country side to get salt and seasoning; thus 1 Cyprinus Rohita, 2 Mutam roust be here a corrupt form of Skt. mrstam, ‘touched.’ 48 The Jataka. Book X. our bodies will become strong, and we shall have performed our pilgrimage.” “Well, you may go,” said he, “but I will abide where I am.” So they took leave of him, and went down from Himalaya, and proceeded on their rounds till they came to Benares, where they took up their dwelling in the king’s park. And much honour and hospitality was shown to them. Now one day there was a great crowd come together in the royal resthouse at Benares, and the Omen Problem was discussed. All must be understood to happen as in the introduction to this story. Then, as before, the crowd saw no one who could allay the doubts of men and solve the problem of the omens; so they repaired to the park, and put their problem to the body of sages. The sages addressed the king, saying, “Great King, we cannot solve this question, but our Teacher, the hermit Rakkhita, a most wise man, dwells in Himalaya; he will solve the question, for he comprehends the thoughts of men and of gods.” Said the king, “Himalaya, good sirs, is far, and hard to come at;

we cannot go thither. Will you not go yourselves to your Teacher, and ask him the question, and when you have learnt it, return and tell it to us!” This they promised to do; and when they had returned to their Teacher, and greeted him, and he had asked of the king’s well-being and the practices of the country folk, they told him all the story of the omens of sight and so forth, from beginning , to end, [75] and explained how they came on the king’s errand, to hear the answer to the question with their own ears; ‘“ Now, Sir,” said they, “be pleased to make clear this Omen Problem to us, and tell us the truth.” Then the eldest disciple asked his question of the Teacher by reciting the first stanza :

“Declare the truth to mortal man perplext, And tell what scripture, or what holy text, Studied and said at the auspicious hour, Gives blessing in this world and in the next?” When the eldest disciple had put the omen problem in these words, the Great Being, allaying the doubts of gods and men, answered, “This and this is an omen,” and thus describing the omens with a Buddha’s skill, said, “Whoso the gods, and all that fathers! be, And reptiles, and all beings, which we see, Honours for ever with a kindly heart, Surely a Blessing to all creatures he.” [76] Thus did the Great Being declare the first omen, and then proceeded to declare the second, and all the rest: “Who shows to all the world a modest cheer, To men and women, sons and daughters dear, Who to reviling answers not in kind, Surely a blessing he to every fere. 1 «Brahmins of the world of Form and of No-form.’ Schol, “Who clear of intellect, in crisis wise, Nor playmates nor companions does despise, Nor boasts of birth or wisdom, caste, or wealth, Among his mates a blessing doth arise. “Who takes good men and true his friends to be, That trust him, for his tongue from venom free, Who never harms a friend, who shares his wealth, Surely a blessing among friends is he.

“Whose wife is friendly, and of equal years, Devoted, good, and many children bears, Faithful and virtuous and of gentle birth, That is the blessing that in wives appears. “Whose King the mighty Lord of Beings is, That knows pure living and all potencies, And says, ‘He is my friend,’ and means no guile— That is the blessing that in monarchs lies. “The true believer, giving drink and food, Flowers and garlands, perfumes, ever good, With heart at peace, and spreading joy around— This in all heavens brings beatitude. “Whom by good living virtuous sages try With effort strenuous to purify, [77] Good men and wise, by tranquil life built up, _ A blessing he mid saintly company.” [78] Thus the Great Being brought his discourse to a topstone in sainthood ; and having in eight stanzas explained the Omens, in praise” of those same Omens recited the last stanza: “These blessings then, that in the world befall, Esteemed by all the wise, magnifical, What man is prudent let him follow these, For in the omens is no truth at all.” The sages, having heard about these Omens, stayed for seven or eight days, and then took leave and departed to that same place.

The king visited them and asked his question. They explained the Preblem of the Omens in the same way as it had been told to them, _ and went back to Himalaya. Thenceforward the matter of omens was understood in the world. And having attended to the matter of omens, as they died they went each to swell the hosts of heaven. The Bodhisatta” cultivated the Excellences, and along with his band of followers was born in Brahma’s heaven, The Master having ended this discourse, said: “Not now alone, Brethren, but in olden days I explained the Problem of the Omens”; and then he identified the Birth—“At that time, the company of Buddha’s followers were the band of sages; [79] Sariputta was the senior of the pupils, who asked the question about omens; and I myself was the Teacher.” 50 The Jataka. Book X.

“Black Kanha, rise,” etc. This story the Master told in Jetavana about a son’s death. The circumstances are like those in the Mattha-Kundali Birth = Here again the Master asked the lay brother, “Are you in grief, layman? He replied, “Yes, Sir.” “Layman,” said the Master, “long ago wise men listened to the bidding of the wise, and did not grieve for the death of a son.” And at his request, he told a story of the past. Once upon a time, a king named Mahakamsa reigned in Uttarapatha, in the Kamsa district, in the city of Asitafijana. He had two sons, Kamsa and Upakamsa, and one daughter named Devagabbha. On her birthday the brahmins who foretold the future said of her: “A son born of this girl will one day destroy the country and the lineage of Kamsa.” The king was too fond of the girl to put her to death; but leaving her brothers to settle it, lived his days out, and then died. When he died Kamsa became king, and Upakamsa was viceroy. They thought that there would be an outcry were they to put their sister to death, so resolved to give her in marriage to none, but to keep her hushandless, and watch ; and they built a single round-tower, for her to live in.

Now she had a serving-woman named Nandagopa, and the woman’s husband, Andhakavenhu, was the servant who watched her. At that time a king named Mahasagara reigned in Upper Madhura, and he had two sons, Sagara and Upasigara. At their father’s death, Sagara became king, and Upasagara was viceroy. This lad was Upakamsa’s friend, brought up together with him and trained by the same teacher. But he intrigued in his brother’s zenana, and being detected, ran away to Upakamsa in the Kamsa estate. Upakamsa introduced him to king Kamsa, [80] and the king had him in great honour. Upasagara while waiting upon the king observed the tower where dwelt Devagabbha; and on asking who lived there, heard the story, and fell in love with the girl. And Devagabbha one day saw him as he went with Upakamsa to wait upon the king. She asked who that was ; and being told by Nandagopa that it was Upasigara, son of the great king Sagara, she too fell in love with him. Upasagara gave a present to Nandagopa, saying, “Sister, you can arrange a meeting for me with Devagabbha.” ‘‘Hasy enough,” quoth Nandagopa, and told the girl about it. She being The prophecy, and the tower, and the result, will remind the reader of Danae, 2 No, 449, above,

already in love with him, agreed at once. One night Nandagopa arranged a tryst, and brought Upasagara up into the tower; and there he stayed with Devagabbha. And by their constant intercourse, Devagabbha conceived. By and bye it became known that she was with child, and the brothers questioned Nandagopa. She made them promise her pardon, and then told the ins and outs of the matter. When they heard the story, they thought, “We cannot put our sister to death. If she bears a daughter, we will spare the babe also; if a son, we will kill him.” And they gave Devagabbha to Upasagara to wife. When her full time came to be delivered, she brought forth a daughter. The brothers on hearing this were delighted, and gave her the name of the Lady Ajijana. And they allotted to them a village for their estate, named Govaddhamana. Upasagara took Devagabbha and lived with her at the village of Govaddhamana. Devagabbha was again with child, and that very day Nandagopa conceived also. When their time was come, they brought forth on the same day, Devagabbha a son and Nandagopa a daughter. But Devagabbha, in fear that her son might be put to death, sent him secretly to Nandagopa, and received Nandagopa’s daughter in return. They told the brothers of the birth. ‘Son or daughter?” they asked. [81] ‘“‘ Daughter,” was the reply. “Then see that it is reared,” said the brothers. In the same way Devagabbha bore ten sons, and Nandagopa ten daughters. The sons lived with Nandagopa and the daughters with Devagabbha, and not a soul knew the secret.

The eldest son of Devagabbha was named Vasu-deva, the second Baladeva, the third Canda-deva, the fourth Suriya-deva, the fifth Aggi-deva, the sixth Varuna-deva, the seventh Ajjuna, the eighth Pajjuna, the ninth Ghata-pandita, the tenth Arnkura’. They were well known as the sons of Andhakavenhu the servitor, the Ten Slave-Brethren. In course of time they grew big, and being very strong, and withal fierce and ferocious, they went about plundering, they even went so far as to plunder a present being conveyed to the king. The people came crowding in the king’s court yard, complaining, ‘“‘Andhakavenhu’s sons, the Ten Brethren, are plundering the land!” So the king summoned Andhakavenhu, and rebuked him for permitting his sons to plunder, In the same way complaint was made three or four times, and the king threatened him. He being in fear of his life craved the boon of safety from the king, and told the secret, that how these were no sons of his, but of 1 Krishna, Bala-rama (Krishna’s brother), Moon, Sun, Fire, Varuna the heavengod, the tree Terminalia Arjuna, the Rain-cloud (? pajjunno, Skr. Usa, while WIA is a name of Kiama), Ghee-sage (? or ghata-p., an ascetic), Sprout. The story seems to contain a kernel of nature-myth. 4—2

52 The Jataka. Book X. Upasagara. The king was alarmed. ‘“ How can we get hold of them!” he asked his courtiers. They replied, “Sire, they are wrestlers. Let us hold a wrestling match in the city, and when they enter the ring we will catch them and put them to death.” So they sent for two wrestlers, ‘anura and Mutthika, and caused proclamation to be made throughout the city by beat of drum, “that on the seventh day there would be a wrestling match.” The wrestling ring was prepared in front of the king’s gate; there was an enclosure for the games, the ring was decked out gaily, the flags of victory were ready tied. The whole city was in a whirl; line over line rose the seats, tier above tier. Canura and Mutthika went down into the ring, and strutted about, jumping, shouting, clapping their hands. The Ten Brethren came too. On their way they plundered the washermen’s street, and clad themselves in robes of bright colours, [82] and stealing perfume from the perfumers’ shops, and wreaths of flowers from the florists, with their bodies all anointed, garlands upon their heads, earrings in their ears, they strutted into the ring, jumping, shouting, clapping their hands.

At the moment, Canura was walking about and clapping his hands. Baladeva, seeing him, thought, “I won’t touch yon fellow with my hand!” so catching up a thick strap from the elephant stable, jumping and shouting he threw it round Oanura’s belly, and joining the two ends together, brought them tight, then lifting him up, swung him round over his head, and dashing him on the ground rolled him outside the arena. When Canura was dead, the king sent for Mutthika. Up got Mutthika, jumping, shouting, clapping his hands. Baladeva smote him, and crushed in his eyes; and as he cried out—‘‘I’m no wrestler! ’m no wrestler!” Baladeva tied his hands together, saying, ‘‘ Wrestler or no wrestler, it is all one to me,” and dashing him down on the ground, killed him and threw him outside the arena. Mutthika in his death-throes, uttered a prayer—‘ May I become a goblin, and devour him!” And he became a goblin, in a forest called by the name of Kalamattiya. The king said, “Take away the Ten SlaveBrethren.” At that moment, Vasudeva threw a wheel’, which lopped off the heads of the two brothers*. The crowd, terrified, fell at his feet, and besought him to be their protector.

Thus the Ten Brethren, having slain their two uncles, assumed the sovereignty of the city of Asitafijana, and brought their parents thither. They now set out, intending to conquer all India. In a while they arrived at the city of Ayojjha, the seat of king Kalasena. This they encompassed about, and destroyed the jungle around it, breached the 1 A kind of weapon. ? i.e. the king and his brother. wall and took the king prisoner, and took the sovereignty of the place into their hands. Thence they proceeded to Dvaravati. Now this city had on one side the sea and on one the mountains. They say that the place was goblin-haunted. A goblin would be stationed on the watch, who seeing his enemies, in the shape of an ass would bray as the ass brays. [83] At once, by goblin magic the whole city used to rise in the air, and deposit itself on an island in the midst of the sea; when the foe was gone, it would come back and settle in its own place again. This time, as usual, no sooner the ass saw those Ten Brethren coming, than he brayed with the bray of an ass. Up rose the city in the air, and settled upon the island. No city could they see, and turned back ; then back came the city to its own place again. They returned-—again the ass did as before. The sovereignty of the city of Dvaravati they could not take.

So they visited Kanha-dipayana’, and said: ‘Sir, we have failed to capture the kingdom of Dvaravati; tell us how to do it.” He said: “Tn a ditch, in such a place, is an ass walking about. He brays when he sees an enemy, and immediately the city rises in the air. You must clasp hold of his feet’, and that is the way to accomplish your end.” Then they took leave of the ascetic; and went all ten of them to the ass, and falling at his feet, said, “Sir, we have no help but thee! When we come to take the city, do not bray!” The ass replied, “I cannot help braying. But if you come first, and four of you bring great iron ploughs, and at the four gates of the city dig great iron posts into the ground, and when the city begins to rise, if you will fix on the post a chain of iron fastened to the plough, the city will not be able to rise.” They thanked him; and he did not utter a sound while they got ploughs, and fixed the posts in the ground at the four gates of the city, and stood waiting. Then the ass brayed, the city began to rise, but those who stood at the four gates with the four ploughs, having fixed to the posts iron chains which were fastened to the ploughs, the city could not rise. Thereupon the Ten Brethren entered the city, killed the king, and took his kingdom.

Thus they conquered all India, [84] and in three and sixty thousand cities they slew by the wheel all the kings of them, and lived at Dvaravati, dividing the kingdom into ten shares. But they had forgotten their sister, the Lady Afijana. So “Let us make eleven shares of it,” said they. But Arnkura answered, “Give her my share, and I will take to some business for a living; only you must remit my taxes each in your own country.” They consented, and gave his share to his sister ; \ The Sage already mentioned in No, 444 (see p. 18, above). 2 i.e. beseech him, 54 The Jdataka. Book X. and with her they dwelt in Dvaravati, nine kings, while Arnkura embarked in trade. ‘ In course of time, they were all increased with sons and with daughters ; and after a long time had gone by, their parents died. At that period, they say that a man’s life was twenty thousand years. Then died one dearly beloved son of the great King Vasudeva. The king, half dead with grief, neglected everything, and lay lamenting, and clutching the frame of his bed. Then Ghatapandita thought to himself, ‘Except me, no one else is able to soothe my brother's grief; I will find some means of soothing his grief for him.” So assuming the appearance of madness, he paced through the whole city, gazing up at the sky, and crying out, “Give me a hare! Give me a hare!” All the city was excited : “Ghatapandita has gone mad!” they said. Just then a courtier named Rohineyya, went into the presence of King Vasudeva, and opened a conversation with him by reciting the first stanza :

“Black Kanha, rise! why close the eyes to sleep? why lying there? Thine own born brother—see, the winds away his wit do bear, Away his wisdom!! Ghata raves, thou of the long black hair!” [85] When the courtier had thus spoken, the Master perceiving that he had risen, in his Perfect Wisdom uttered the second stanza : “So soon the long-haired Kesava heard Rohineyya’s ery, He rose all anxious and distrest for Ghata’s misery.” Up rose the king, and quickly came down from his chamber; and proceeding to Ghatapandita, he got fast hold of him with both hands ; and speaking to him, uttered the third stanza : “In maniac fashion, why do you pace Dvaraka all through, And cry, ‘Hare, hare!’ Say, who is there has taken a hare from you?” To these words of the king, he only answered by repeating the same ery over and over again. ’ But the king recited two more stanzas : “Be it of gold, or made of jewels fine, Or brass, or silver, as you may incline’, Shell, stone, or coral, I declare Pll make a hare. “And many other hares there be, that range the woodland wide, They shall be brought, Pll have them caught: say, which do you decide ?”

On hearing the king’s words, the wise man replied by repeating the ' Lit. ‘his heart and his right eye’ (Sch.): Cf. Sanskr. vayu-grasta ‘mad.’ * These lines have occurred already in No, 449. “TI crave no hare of earthly kind, but that within the moon!: O bring him down, O Kesava! I ask no other boon !” “Undoubtedly my brother has gone mad,” thought the king, when he heard this. In great grief, he repeated the seventh stanza : [86] “In sooth, my brother, you will die, if you make such a prayer, And ask for what no man may pray, the moon’s celestial hare.” Ghatapandita, on hearing the king’s answer, stood stock still, and said : ‘My brother, you know that if a man prays for the hare in the moon, and cannot get it, he will die ; then why do you mourn for your dead son?” “Tf, Kanha, this you know, and can console anothev’s woe, Why are you mourning still the son who died so long ago?” Then he went on, standing there in the street—“ And I, brother, pray only for what exists, but you are mourning for what does not exist.” Then he instructed him by repeating two more stanzas :

“My son is born, let him not die!” Nor man nor deity Can have that boon; then wherefore pray for what can never be? “Nor mystic charm, nor magic roots, nor herbs, nor money spent, Can bring to life again that ghost whom, Kanha, you lament.” The King, on hearing this, answered, ‘“ Your intent was good, dear one. You did it to take away my trouble.” Then in praise of Ghatapandita he repeated four stanzas: [87] “Men had I, wise and excellent to give me good advice : But how hath Ghatapandita opened this day mine eyes! “ Blazing was I, as when a man pours oil upon a fire?; Thou didst bring water, and didst quench the pain of my desire. “Grief for my son, a cruel shaft was lodged within my heart ; Thou hast consoled me for my grief, and taken out the dart. “That dart extracted, free from pain, tranquil, and calm I keep ; Hearing, O youth, thy words of truth, no more I grieve nor weep.” “Thus do the merciful, and thus they who are wise indeed : They free from pain, as Ghata here his eldest brother freed.” This is the stanza of Perfect Wisdom.

In this manner was Vasudeva consoled by Prince Ghata. After the lapse of a long time, during which he ruled his kingdom, the sons of the ten brethren thought: “They say that Kanhadipayana is 1 What we call the Man in the Moon is in India called the Hare in the Moon, ef. Jataka, No. 316. 2 These lines occur above, p. 39. 56 The Jataka. Book X. possest of divine insight. Let us put him to the test.” So they procured a young lad, and drest him up, and by binding a pillow about his belly, made it appear as though he were with child. Then they brought him into his presence, and asked him, “When, Sir, will this woman be delivered?” The ascetic perceived’ that the time was come for the destruction of the ten royal brothers; then, looking’ to see what the term of his own life should be, he perceived that he must die that very day. Then he said, “ Young sirs, what is this man to you?” “Answer us,” they replied persistently. He answered, ‘‘This man on the seventh day from now will bring forth a knot of acacia wood. With that he will destroy the line of Vasudeva, even though ye should take the piece of wood and burn it, and cast the ashes into the river.” “Ah, false ascetic!” said they, “a man can never bring forth a child!” and they did the rope and string business, and killed him at once. The kings sent for the young men, and asked them why they had killed the ascetic. [88] When they heard all, they were frightened. They set a guard upon the man; and when on the seventh day he voided from his belly a knot of acacia wood, they burnt it, and cast the ashes into the river. The ashes floated down the river, and stuck on one side by a postern gate; from thence sprung an eraka plant.

One day, the kings proposed that they should go and disport themselves in the water. So to this postern gate they came; and they caused a great pavilion to be made, and in that gorgeous pavilion they ate and drank. Then in sport they began to catch hold of hand and foot, and dividing into two parts, they became very quarrelsome. At last one of them, finding nothing better for a club, picked a leaf from the eraka plant, which even as he plucked it became a club of acacia wood in his hand. With this he beat many people. Then the others plucked also, and the things as they took them became clubs, and with them they cudgelled one another until they were killed. As these were destroying each other, four only—Vasudeva, Baladeva, the lady Afijana their sister, and the chaplain—mounted a chariot and fled away; the rest perished, every one. Now these four, fleeing away in the chariot, came to the forest of Kalamattika. There Mutthika the Wrestler had beea born, having become according to his prayer a goblin. When he perceived the coming of Baladeva, he created a village in that spot; and taking the semblance of a wrestler, he went jumping about, and shouting, “ Who’s for a fight?” snapping his fingers the while. Baladeva, as soon as he saw him, said, ‘Brother, I’ll try a fall with this fellow.” Vasudeva tried and tried his best to prevent him ; but down he got from the chariot, and went up to him, snapping his fingers. The other just seized him in the

' i.e. by his miraculous vision. hollow of his hand, and gobbled him up like a radish-bulb. Vasudeva, perceiving that he was dead, went on all night long with his sister and the chaplain, and at sunrise arrived at a frontier village. He lay down in the shelter of a bush, and sent his sister and the chaplain into the village, with orders to cook some food and bring it to him. A huntsman (his name was Jara, or Old Age) noticed the bush shaking. “A pig, sure enough,” thought he; he threw a spear, and pierced his feet. ‘“ Who has wounded me?” cried out Vasudeva. The huntsman, finding that he had wounded a man, set off running in terror. [89] The king, recovering his wits, got up, and called the huntsman—“ Uncle, come here, don’t be afraid!” When he came—“ Who are you?” asked Vasudeva, “My name is Jara, my lord.” ‘ Ah,” thought the king, “whom Old Age wounds will die, so the ancients used to say. Without doubt I must die to-day.” Then he said, “ Fear not, Uncle; come, bind up my wound.” The mouth of the wound bound up, the king let him go. Great pains came upon him; he could not eat the food that the others brought. Then addressing himself to the others, Vasudeva said: “This day I am to die. You are delicate creatures, and will never be able to learn anything else for a living; so learn this science from me.” So saying, he taught them a science, and let them go ; and then died immediately. Thus excepting the lady Afijana, they perished every one, it is said.

When the Master had ended this discourse, he said, ‘“ Lay Brother, thus people have got free from grief for a son by attending to the words of wise men of old; do not you think about it.” Then he declared the Truths (at the conclusion of the Truths the Lay Brother was established in the fruit of the First Path), and identified the Birth: “At that time, Ananda was Rohineyya, Sariputta was Vasudeva, the followers of the Buddha were the other persons, and I myself was Ghatapandita.”

[90] “Though far away,” etc, This story the Master told, while dwelling in Jetavana, about an Elder who had his mother to support. The circumstances of the event are like those of the Sama Birth! On this occasion also the Master said, addressing the Brethren, “Be not wroth, Brethren, with this man; wise men there have been of old, who even when born from the womb of animals, being parted asunder from their mothers, refused for seven days to take food, pining away ; and even when they were offered food fit.for a king, did but reply, Without my mother I will not eat; yet took food again when they saw the mother.” So saying, he told a story of the past. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisatta was born as an Elephant in the Himalaya region. All white he was, a magnificent beast, and a herd of eighty thousand elephants surrounded him; but his mother was blind. He would give his elephants the sweet wild fruit, so sweet, to convey to her; yet to her . they gave none, but themselves ate all of it. When he made enquiry, and heard news of this, said he, “I will leave the herd, and cherish my mother.” So in the night season, unknown to the other elephants, taking his mother with him, he departed to Mount Candorana; and there he placed his mother in a cave of the hills, hard by a lake, and cherished her.

Now a certain forester, who dwelt in Benares, lost his way ; and being unable to get his bearings, [91] began to lament with a great noise. Hearing this noise, the Bodhisatta thought to himself, ‘There is a man in distress, and it is not meet that he come to harm while I am here.” So he drew near to the man; but the man fled in fear. Seeing which, the Hlephant said to him, “ Ho man! you have no need to fear me. Do not flee, but say why you walk about weeping ?” 1 No. 540, vol. vi. 68 (Pali). “My lord,” said the man, “I have lost my way, this seven days gone.” Said the Elephant, “Fear not, O man; for I will put you in the path of men.” Then he made the man sit on his back, and carried him out of the forest, and then returned. This wicked man determined to go into the city, and tell the king. So he marked the trees, and marked the hills, and then made his way to Benares. At that time the king’s state elephant had just died. The king caused it to be proclaimed by beat of drum, “If any man has in any place seen an elephant fit and proper for the king’s riding, let him declare it!” Then this man came before the king, and said, ‘I, my lord, have seen a splendid elephant, white all over and excellent, fit for the king’s riding. I will show the way; send but with me the elephant trainers, and you shall catch him.” The king agreed, and sent with the man a forester and a great troop of followers.

The man went with him, and found the Bodhisatta feeding in the lake. When the Bodhisatta saw the forester, he thought, ‘This danger has doubtless come from none other than that man. But I am very strong; I can scatter even a thousand elephants; in anger I am able to destroy all the beasts that carry the army of a whole kingdom. But if I give way to anger, my virtue will be marred. So to-day I will not be angry, not even though pierced with knives.” With this resolve, bowing his head he remained immovable. Down into the lotuslake went the forester, and seeing the beauty of his points, said, “‘Come, my son!” Then seizing him by the trunk (and like a silver rope it was), he led him in seven days to Benares, When the Bodhisatta’s mother found that her son came not, she thought that he must have been caught by the king’s nobles. [92] “ And now,” she wailed, “all these trees will go on growing, but he will be far away”; and she repeated two stanzas: “Though far away this elephant should go, Still olibane and sutaja' will grow, Grain, grass, and oleander, lilies white, On sheltered spots the bluebells dark still blow.

“Somewhere that royal elephant must go, Full fed by those whose breast and body show All gold-bedeckt, that King or Prince may ride Fearless to triumph o’er the mailclad foe.” Now the trainer, while he was yet in the way, sent on a message to tell the king. And the king caused the city to be decorated. The trainer led the Bodhisatta into a stable all adorned and decked out with festoons and with garlands, and surrounding him with a screen of 1 A medicinal plant. 60 The Jataka. Book XI. many colours, sent word to the king. And the king took all manner of fine food and caused it to be given to the Bodhisatta. But not a bit would he eat: “ Without my mother, I will eat nothing,” said he. The king besought him to eat, repeating the third stanza : [93] “Come, take a morsel, Elephant, and nevér pine away : n There’s many a thing to serve your king that you shall do one day. Hearing this, the Bodhisatta repeated the fourth stanza : “Nay, she by Mount Candorana, poor blind and wretched one, Beats with a foot on some tree-root, without her royal son.”

The king said the fifth stanza to ask his meaning : “Who ist by Mount Candorana, what blind and wretched one, Beats with a foot on some tree-root, without her royal son?” To which the other replied in the sixth stanza: “My mother by Candorana, ah blind, ah wretched one! Beats with her foot on some tree-root for lack of me, her son!” And hearing this, the king gave him freedom, reciting the seventh stanza : “This mighty Elephant, who feeds_his mother, let go free: And let him to his mother go, and to all his family.” The eighth and ninth stanzas are those of the Buddha in his perfect wisdom : “The Elephant from prison freed, the beast set free from chain, With words of consolation! went back to the hills again. [94] “Then from the cool and limpid pool, where Elephants frequent, He with his trunk drew water, and his mother all besprent.” _But the mother of the Bodhisatta thought it had begun to rain, and repeated the tenth stanza, rebuking the rain: “Who brings unseasonable rain—what evil deity? For he is gone, my own, my son, who used to care for me.” Then the Bodhisatta repeated the eleventh stanza, to reassure her:

“Rise mother! why should you there lie? your own, your son has come! Vedeha, Kasi’s glorious king, has sent me safely home.” And she returned thanks to the king by repeating the last stanza : “Long live that king! long may he bring his realms prosperit Who freed that son who ever hath done so great Bi 0 9 a = 1 The Scholiast explains that the elephant discoursed on virtue to the King, then told him to be careful, and departed, amid the plaudits of the multitude, who threw flowers upon him. He then went home, and fed and washed his mother. To explain this, the Master repeated the two stanzas, The king was pleased with the Bodhisatta’s goodness; and he built a town not far from the lake, and did continual service to the Bodhisatta and to his mother. Afterwards, when his mother died, and the Bodhisatta had performed her obsequies, [95] he went away to a monastery called Karandaka. In this place five hundred sages came and dwelt, and the king did the like service for them. The king had a stone image made in the figure of the Bodhisatta, and great honour he paid to this, There the inhabitants of all India year by year gathered together,

to perform what was called the Elephant Festival. __ When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths, and identified the Birth: (now at the conclusion of the Truths the Brother who supported his mother was established in the fruit of the First Path:) “At that time, Ananda was the king, the lady Mahamaya was the she-elephant, and I was myself the elephant that fed his mother.”

“OQ king of men,” etc. This story the Master told while dwelling at Jetavana about the boons received by Elder Ananda. During the twenty years of his first Buddhahood the Blessed One’s attendants were not always the same: sometimes Elder Nagasamala, sometimes Nagita, Upavana, Sunakkhatta, Cunda, Sagala, sometimes Meghiya waited upon the Blessed One. One day the Blessed One said to the Brethren : “Now I am old, Brethren: and when | say, Let us go in this way, some of the Brotherhood go by another way, some drop my bowl and robe on the ground. Choose out one Brother to attend always upon me.” Then they uprose all, beginning with Elder Sariputta, and laid their joined hands to their heads, crying, ‘‘I will serve you, Sir, I will serve you!” But he refused them, saying, “ Your prayer is forestalled ! enough.” Then the Brethren said to the Elder Ananda, “Do you, friend, ask for the post of attendant.” The Elder said, “If the Blessed One will not give me the robe which he himself has received, if he will not give me his dole of food, if he will not grant me to dwell in the same fragrant cell, if he will not have me with him to go where he is invited : but if the Blessed One will go with me where I am invited, if I shall be granted to introduce the company at the moment of coming, which comes from foreign parts and foreign countries to see the Blessed One, [96] if I shall be granted to approach the Blessed One as soon as doubt shall arise, if whenever the Blessed One shall discourse in my absence he will repeat his discourse to me as soon as I shall return: then I will attend upon the Blessed One.” These eight boons he craved, four negative and four positive. And the Blessed One granted them to him,

1 R. Fick, Sociale Gliederung im Nordéstlichen Indien zu Buddhas Zeit, p. 119. 62 The Jataka. Book XT. After that he attended continually upon his Master for five and twenty years. So having obtained the preeminence in the five points!, and having gained seven blessings, blessing of doctrine, blessing of instriction, blessing of the knowledge of causes, blessing of inquiry as to one’s good, blessing of dwelling in a holy place, blessing of enlightened devotion, blessing of potential Buddhahood, in the presence of the Buddha he received the heritage of eight boons, and became famous in the Buddha’s religion, and shone as the moon in the heavens. One day they began to talk about it in the Hall of Truth: “Friend, the Tathagata has satisfied Elder Ananda by granting his boons.” The Master entered, and asked, “What are you speaking of, Brethren, as ye sit here?” They told him. Then he said, “It is not now the first time, Brethren, but in former days as now I satisfied Ananda with a boon ; in former days, as now, whatsoever he asked, I gave him.” And so saying, he told a story of the past. ~ Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, a son of his named Prince Junha, or the Moonlight Prince, was studying at Takkasila. One night, after he had been listening carefully to his teacher’s instruction, he left the house of his teacher in the dark, and set out for home.

A certain brahmin had been seeking alms, and was going home, and the prince not perceiving him ran up against the brahmin, and broke his almsbowl with a blow of his arm. The brahmin fell, with a cry. In compassion the prince turned round, and taking hold of the man’s hands raised him to his feet. The brahmin said, “Now, my son, you have broken my alms-bowl, so give me the price of a meal.” Said the Prince, “‘T cannot now give you the price of a meal, brahmin; but I am Prince Junha, son of the king of Kasi, and when I come to my kingdom, you: may come to me and ask for the money.”

When his education was finished, he took leave of his teacher, and returning to Benares, showed his father what he had learnt. ‘“‘T have seen my son before my death,” said the king, “and I will see him king indeed.” Then he sprinkled him and made him king. [97] Under the name of King Junha the prince ruled in righteousness. When the brahmin heard of it, he thought now he would recover the price of his meal. So to Benares he came, and saw the city all decorated, and the king moving in solemn procession right-wise around it. Taking his stand upon a high place, the brahmin stretched out his hand, and cried, “ Victory to the king!” The king passed by without looking at him. When the brahmin found that he was not noticed, he asked an explanation by . repeating the first stanza: | ““O king of men, hear what I have to say! | Not without cause have I come here this day. ' Tis said, O best of men, one should not pass ; A wandering brahmin standing in the way.” ' Are these the Five abhabbatthinas ? On hearing these words the king turned back the elephant with his jewelled goad’, and repeated the second stanza:

“T heard, I stand: come brahmin, quickly say, What cause it is has brought you here to-day ? What boon is it that you would crave of me That you are come to see me? speak, I pray!” What further king and brahmin said to each other by way of question and answer, is told in the remaining stanzas : ““Give me five villages, all choice and fine, A hundred slave-girls, seven hundred kine, More than a thousand ornaments of gold, And two wives give me, of like birth with mine.” [98] “ Hast thou a penance, brahmin, dread to tell, Or hast thou many a charm and many a spell, Or goblins, ready your behests to do, Or any claim for having served me well?” “No penance have I, nor no charm and spell, No demons ready to obey me well, Nor any meed for service can I claim ; But we have met before, the truth to tell.” “Tf cannot call to mind, in time past o’er, That I have ever seen thy face before. Tell me, I beg thee, tell this thing to me, When have we met, or where, in days of yore?” “In the fair city of Gandhara’s king, Takkasila, my lord, was our dwelling. There in the pitchy darkness of the night Shoulder to shoulder thou and I did fling.

“And as we both were standing there, O prince, A friendly talk between us straight begins. Then we together met, and only then, Nor ever once before, nor ever since.” ‘“‘Whenever, brahmin, a wise man has met A good man in the world, he should not let Friendship once made or old acquaintance go For nothing, nor the thing once done forget. “Tis fools deny the thing once done, and let Old friendships fail of those they once have met. Many a deed of fools to nothing comes, They are ungrateful, and they can forget. “But trusty men cannot forget the past, Their friendship and acquaintance ever fast. [99] A trifle done by such is not disowned : Thus trusty men are grateful to the last. “Five villages I give thee, choice and fine, A hundred slayve-girls, and seven hundred kine, More than a thousand ornaments of gold, And more, two wives of equal birth with thine.’ 1 Correct ii. 253. 19 to ‘ jewelled goad”, 64 The Jdtaka. Book XT. “QO king, thus is it when the good agree: As the full moon among the stars we see, Even so, O Lord of Kasi, so am I, Now thou hast kept the bargain made with me.”

[100] The Bodhisatta added great honour to him. When the Master had ended this discourse, he said, “This is not the first time, Brethren, that I have satisfied Ananda with boons, but I have done it before.” With these words, he identified the Birth: “ At that time Ananda was the brahmin, and T was myself the king.”

“T do the right,” ete.—This story the Master told while dwelling in Jetavana, how Devadatta was swallowed up in the earth. They gathered in the Hall of Truth to talk: “Friend, Devadatta fell at enmity with the Tathagata, and was swallowed up in the earth.” The Master entering asked what they were talking of as they sat there. They told him. He replied, “ Now, Brethren, he has been swallowed up in the earth because he dealt a blow at my victorious authority; but formerly he dealt a blow at the authority of right, and was swallowed up in the earth, and went on his way to nethermost hell.” So saying, he told a story of the past. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king in Benares, the Bodhisatta was born into the world of sense as one of the gods, and was named Dhamma, or Right, while Devadatta was called Adhamma, or Wrong. As on the fast-day of the full moon, in the evening when meals were done, men were sitting in enjoyment each at his own house-door in village and city and royal capital, Dhamma appeared before them, poised in the air, in his celestial chariot mounted, and adorned with celestial array, in the midst of a multitude of nymphs, and thus addressed them :

“Take not the life of living creatures, and the other ten paths of evildoing eschew, fulfil the duty of service to mother and the duty of service to father and the threefold course of right’; [101] thus ye shall become destined for heaven, and shall receive great glory.” Thus did he urge men ' Right doing, right saying, right thinking, to follow the ten paths of right-doing, and made a solemn circuit around India right-wise. But Adhamma taught them, “Kill that which lives,” and in like manner urged men to follow the other ten paths of evildoing, and made a circuit around India left-wise. Now their chariots met face to face in the alr, and their attendant multitudes asked each the other, ‘Whose are you? and whose are you?” They replied, ‘We are of Dhamma, we of Adhamma,” and made room, so that their paths were divided. But Dhamma said to Adhamma, “Good sir, you are Adhamma, and I am Dhamma; I have the right of way; turn your chariot aside, and give me way,” repeating the first stanza : “T do the right, men’s fame is of my grace, Me sages and me brahmins ever praise, Worshipt of men and gods, the right of way Is mine. Right am I: then, O Wrong, give place !”

These next follow : “Tn the strong car of Wrong enthroned on high Me mighty there is nought can terrify: Then why should I, who never yet gave place, Make way to-day for Right to pass me by?” “Right! of a truth was first made manifest, Primeval he, the oldest, and the best; Wrong was the younger, later born in time. Way, younger, at the elder-born’s behest !” “Nor if you worthy be, nor if you pray, Nor if it be but fair, will I give way: [102] Here let us two to-day a battle wage; He shall have place, whoever wins the fray.” “Known am I in all regions far and near, Mighty, of boundless glory, without peer, All virtues are united in my form. Right am I: Wrong, how can you conquer here ?” “By iron gold is beaten, nor do we Gold used for beating iron ever see: If Wrong ’gainst Right shall win the fight to-day, Iron as béautiful as gold will be.” “Tf you indeed are mighty in the fray, Though neither good nor wise is what you say, Swallow I will all these your evil words; And willy nilly I will make you way.”

These six stanzas they repeated, one answering the other. [103] But at the very moment when the Bodhisatta repeated this stanza, Adhamma could no longer stand in his car, but head-foremost plunged into the earth which gaped to receive him, and was born again in 1 Of, Pali text, 111. 29 (translation, p. 19). 66 The Jataka. Book XJ. The Blessed One no sooner perceived this that had happened, than in his Perfect Wisdom he recited the remaining stanzas : “The words no sooner heard, Wrong from the height Plunged over heels head-foremost out of sight: This was the end and direful fate of Wrong. I had no battle, though I longed to fight. “Thus by the Mighty-in-Forbearance lies Conquered the Mighty Warrior Wrong, and dies Swallowed in earth: the other, joyful, strong, Truth-armoured, in his car away he hies. “Who in his house no due observance pays To parents, sages, brahmins, when he lays The body down, and bursts its bonds asunder, He, even from this world, goes straight to hell, Even as Adhamma down head-foremost fell. “Who in his house all due observance pays To parents, sages, brahmins, when he lays The body down, and bursts its bonds asunder, Straight from this world, onward to heaven he hies, As Dhamma in his chariot sought the skies.”

[104] When the Master had ended this discourse, he said, “ Not now only, Brethren, but in former times also, Devadatta attacked me, and was swallowed up in the earth”: then he identified the Birth—“At that time Devadatta was Adhamma, and his attendants were the attendants of Devadatta, and I was Dhamma, and the Buddha’s attendants were the attendants of Dhamma.”

“Thee flawless,” etc. This story the Master told, while dwelling in Jetavana, about a backsliding Brother. The occasion will be explained under the Kusa Birth®. Again the Master asked the man, “Is it true, Brother, that you have backslidden, as they say?” And he replied, “Yes, Sir.” Then he said, “O Brother, why are you backsliding from a religion such as ours, that leads to salvation, and all for fleshly lusts? Wise men of old, who were kings in Surundha, a city prosperous and measuring twelve leagues either way, though for seven hundred years they abode in one chamber with a woman beauteous as the nymphs divine, yet did not yield to their senses, and never so much as looked at her with desire.” So saying, he told a story of the past, 1 Cf. Ananusociya-jataka, No. 328 in vol. iii. ? No, 531, Once upon a time, when king Kasi was reigning over the realm of Kasi, in Surundha his city, neither son nor daughter had he. So he bade his queens offer prayer for sons. Then the Bodhisatta, passing out of Brahma’s world, was conceived in the womb of his chief queen. And because by his birth he cheered the hearts of a great multitude, he received the name of Udayabhadda, or Welcome. At the time when the lad could walk upon his feet, another being came into this world from the world of Brahma, and became a girl child in the womb of another of this king’s wives, and she was named with the same name, Udayabhadda.

When the Prince came of vears, he attained a mastery in all branches of education ; [105] more, he was chaste to a degree, and knew nothing of the deeds of the flesh, not even in dream, nor was his heart bent on sinfulness. The king desired' to make his son king, with the solemn sprinkling, and to arrange plays for his pleasure; and gave command accordingly. But the Bodhisatta replied, ‘I do not want the kingdom, and my heart is not bent on sinfulness.” Again and again he was entreated, but his reply was to have made a woman’s image of red gold, which he sent to his parents, with the message, “When I find such a woman as this, I will accept the kingdom.” This golden image they dispatched over all India, but found no woman like to it. Then they deckt out Udayabhadda very fine, and confronted her with the image ; and her beanty surpassed it as she stood. Then they wedded her to the Bodhisatta for consort, against their wills though it were, his own sister the Princess Udayabhadda, born of a different mother, and sprinkled him to be king. These two lived together a life of chastity. In course of time, when his parents were dead, the Bodhisatta ruled the realm. The two dwelt together in one chamber, yet denied their senses, and never so much as looked upon one another in the way of desire; nay, a promise they even made, that which of them soever should first die, he should return to the other from his place of new birth, and say, ‘In such a place am I born again.’

Now from the time of his sprinkling the Bodhisatta lived seven hundred years, and then he died. Other king there was none, the commands of Udayabhadda were promulgated, the courtiers administered the kingdom. The Bodhisatta had become Sakka in the Heaven of the Thirty-three, and by the magnificence of his glory was for seven days unable to remember the past. So he after the course of seven hundred years, according to man’s reckoning’, remembered, and said to himself, “To the king’s daughter Udayabhadda I will go, and I will test her with 1 In the text, the King’s words should begin at the word puttam, as the context shows. 2 Does this mean that Sakka’s day equals 100 of our years? 68 The Jataka. Book XJ. riches, and roaring with the roar of a lion I will discourse, and will fulfil my promise !” : In that age they say that the length of man’s life was ten thousand years. Now at that time, it being the time of night, the palace doors were fast closed, and the guard set, and the king’s daughter was sitting quiet and alone, in a magnificent chamber upon the fine terrace of her seven-storeyed mansion, [106] meditating upon her own virtue. Then Sakka took a golden dish filled with coins all of gold, and in her very sleeping-chamber appeared before her ; and standing on one side, began speech with her by reciting the first stanza:

“Thee flawless in thy beauty, pure and bright, Thee sitting lonely on this terrace-height, In pose most graceful, eyed like nymphs of heaven, I pray thee, let me spend with thee this night!” To this the princess made answer in the two stanzas following : “To this battlemented city, dug with moats, approach is hard, While its trenches and its towers hand and sword unite to guard. “Not the young and not the mighty entrance here can lightly gain; Tell me—what can be the reason why to meet me thou art fain?” Then Sakka recited the fourth stanza: 107] “I, fair beauty, am a Goblin, I that now appear to thee: af PP Grant to me thy favour, lady, this full bowl receive from me.” On hearing which the princess replied by repeating the fifth stanza : “JT ask for none, since Udaya has died, Nor god nor goblin, no nor man, beside: Therefore, O mighty Goblin, get thee gone, Come no more hither, but far off abide.” Hearing her lion’s note, he stood not, but made as though to depart ; and at once disappeared. Next day at the same hour, he took a silver bowl filled with golden coins and addrest her by repeating the sixth stanza :

“That chiefest joy, to lovers known completely, Which makes men do full many an evil thing, Despise not thou, O lady, smiling sweetly: See, a full bowl of silver here I bring!” Then the princess began to think, “If I allow him to talk and prate, he will come again and again, I will have nothing to say to him now.” [108] So she said nothing at all. Sakka finding that she had nothing to say, disappeared at once from his place. Next day, at the same time, he took an iron bowl full of coins, and said, ‘‘ Lady, if you will bless me with your love, I will give this iron bowl full of coins to you,” When she saw him, the princess repeated the seventh stanza : “Men that would woo a woman, raise and raise The bids of gold, till she their will obeys. The gods’ ways differ, as I judge by thee: Thou comest now with less than other days.” The Great Being, when he heard these words, made reply, “Lady Princess, I am a wary trader, and I waste not my substance for nought. If you were increasing in youth or beauty, I would also increase the present I offer you; but you are fading, and so I make the offering dwindle also.” So saying, he repeated three stanzas :

“O woman! youthful bloom and beauty fade Within this world of men, thou fair-limbed maid. And thou to-day art older grown than erst, So dwindles less the sum I would have paid. “Thus, glorious daughter of a king, before my gazing eyes As goes the flight of day and night thy beauty fades and dies. “But if, O daughter of a king most wise, it pleases thee Holy and pure to aye endure, more lovely shalt thou be!” [109] Hereupon the princess repeated another stanza : “The gods are not like men, they grow not old; Upon their flesh is seen no wrinkled fold. How is’t the gods have no corporeal frame? This, mighty Goblin, I would now be told!” Then Sakka explained the matter by repeating another stanza : “The gods are not like men: they grow not old; Upon their flesh is seen no wrinkled fold: To-morrow and to-morrow ever more Celestial beauty grows, and bliss untold.” [110] When she heard the beauty of the world of gods, she asked the way to go thither in another stanza: “What terrifies so many mortals here? I ask thee, mighty Goblin, to make clear That path, in such diversity explained : How faring heavenwards need no one fear?”

Then Sakka explained the matter in another stanza : “Who keeps in due control both voice and mind, Who with the body loves not sin to do, Within whose house much food and drink we find, Large-handed, bounteous, in all faith all true, Of favours free, soft-tongued, of kindly cheer— He that so walks to heaven need nothing fear.” [111] When the princess had heard his words, she rendered thanks in another stanza : “Like a mother, like a father, Goblin, you admonish me: Mighty one, O beauteous being, tell me, tell me who you be?” 70 The Jataka. - Book XI. Then the Bodhisatta repeated another stanza : “T am Udaya, fair lady, for my promise come to thee: Now I go, for I have spoken; from the promise I am free.” The princess drew a deep breath, and said, ‘“ You are King Udayabhadda, my lord!” then burst into a flood of tears, and added, ‘ Without you I cannot live! Instruct me, that I may live with you always!” So saying she repeated another stanza : “Tf thowrt Udaya, come hither for thy promise—truly he—, Then instruct me, that together we, O prince, again may be!” Then he repeated four stanzas by way of instruction :

“Youth passes soon: a moment—'tis gone by; No standing-place is firm: all creatures die To new life born: this fragile frame decays: Then be not careless, walk in piety. “Tf the whole earth with all her wealth could be The realm of one sole king to hold in fee, A holy saint would leave him in the race: Then be not careless, walk in piety. {112] ‘Mother and father, brother-kin, and she (The wife) who with a price can purchased be, They go, and each the other leave behind: Then be not careless, walk in piety. “Remember that this body food shall be For others; joy alike and misery, A passing hour, as life succeeds to life: Then be not careless, walk in piety.” In this manner discoursed the Great Being. The lady being pleased with the discoursing, rendered thanks in the words of the last stanza : [113] “Sweet the saying of this Goblin: brief the life that mortals know, Sad it is, and short, and with it comes inseparable woe. I renounce the world: from Kasi, from Surundhana, I go.” Having thus discoursed to her, the Bodhisatta went back to his own place. The princess next day entrusted her courtiers with the government ; and in that very city of hers, in a delightsome park, she became a recluse. There she lived righteously, until at the end of her days she was born again in the Heaven of the Thirty-three, as the Bodhisatta’s handmaiden.

When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths and identified the Birth : (now at the conclusion of the Truths, the backsliding Brother was established in the fruit of the First Path :)—“At that time Rahula’s mother was the Princess, and Sakka was I myself.”

“The water-draught,” etc. This story the Master told, whilst dwelling in Jetavana, about the subduing of evil passions. At one time, we learn, five hundred citizens of Savatthi, being householders and friends of the Tathagata, had heard the Law and had renounced the world, and been ordained as priests. Living in the house of the Golden Pavement, at midnight they indulged in thoughts of sin. (All the details are to be understood as In a previous story1.) At the command of the Blessed One, the Brotherhood was assembled by the Venerable Ananda. The Master sat in the appointed seat, and without asking them, “Do you indulge in thoughts of sin?” he addressed them comprehensively and in general terms: “Brethren, there is no such thing as a petty sin. A Brother must check all sins as they each arise. Wise men of old, before the Buddha came, subdued their sins and attained to the knowledge of a Pacceka-Buddha.” With these words, he told them a story of the past. [114] Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king in Benares, there were two friends in a certain village in the kingdom of Kasi, These had gone afield, taking with them vessels for drinking, which they laid out of the way as they broke the clods, and when they were thirsty, went and drank water out of them. One of them, on going for a drink, husbanded the water in his own pot, and drank out of the pot of the other.

In the evening, when he came out from the woodland, and had bathed, he stood thinking. “Have I done any sin to-day,” thought he, “either by the door of the body, or any other?” Then he remembered how he drank the stclen water, and grief came upon him, and he cried, “If this thirst grows upon me, it will bring me to some evil birth! I will subdue my sin.” So with this stolen draught of water for cause*, he gradually acquired supernatural insight, and attained the knowledge of a Pacceka-Buddha ; and there he stood, reflecting upon the knowledge which he had attained.

Now the other man, having bathed, got up, saying, “Come, friend, let us go home.” Said the other, ‘Go home thou, home is nothing to me, I am a Pacceka-Buddha.” ‘Pooh! are Pacceka-Buddhas like you?” “What are they like, then?” ‘Hair two fingers long, yellow robes they wear, in Nandamiila cave they live high up in Himalaya.” The other stroked his head: in that very moment the marks of a layman disappeared, 1 See on No. 412, vol. ii. 2 ie. word, or thought. 3 That is, he made this the subject of his meditation (@rammanam), and thus sunk into an ecstatic trance. (fe The Jataka. Book XJ. a pair of red cloths were wrapt round him, a waist-band yellow like a flash of lightning was about him tied, the upper robe of the colour of red lac was thrown over one shoulder, a dust-heap ragged cloth dingy as a stormcloud lay on his shoulder, a bee-brown earthen bow] dangled from over his left shoulder; there he stood poised in mid-air, and having delivered a discourse, he rose and descended not until he came to the mountain-cave of Nandamila. Another man, who also lived in a village of Kasi, a land-owner, was sitting in the bazaar, when he saw a man approach leading his wife. Seeing her (and she was a woman of surpassing beauty) he broke the moral principles, and looked upon her; then again he thought, “ This desire, if it increases, will cast me into some evil birth.” Being exercised in mind, he developed supernatural insight, and attained the knowledge of a PaccekaBuddha; then poised in the air, he delivered a discourse, [115] and he also went to the Nandamiila cave’.

Villagers of a place in Kasi were likewise two, a father and a son, who were going on a journey together. At the entering in of a forest were robbers posted. These robbers, if they took a father and son together, would keep the son with them, and send the father away, saying, “ Bring back a ransom for your son”: or if two brothers, they kept the younger and sent the elder away; or if teacher and pupil, they kept the teacher and sent the pupil,—and the pupil for love of learning would bring money and release his teacher. Now when this father and son saw the robbers lying in wait, the father said, “Don’t you call me ‘father,’ and I will not call you ‘son’.” And so they agreed. So when the robbers came up, and asked how they stood to one another, they replied, ““We are nothing to one another,” thus telling a premeditated lie. When they came out of the forest, and were resting after the evening bath, the son examined his own virtue, and remembering this lie, he thought, ‘‘ This sin, if it increases, will plunge me in some evil birth. I will subdue my sin!” Then he developed supernatural insight, and attained to the knowledge of a Pacceka-Buddha, and poised in the air delivered a discourse to his father, and he too went to the Nandamiila cave.

In a village of Kasi also lived a zemindar, who laid an interdict upon all slaughter. Now when the time came when offering was wont to be made to the spirits, a great crowd gathered, and said, “My lord! this is the time for sacrifice: let us slay deer and swine and other animals, and make offering to the Goblins,” he replied, “Do as you have done aforetime.” The people made a great slaughter. The man seeing a great quantity of fish and flesh, thought to himself, ‘All these living creatures the men have slain, and all because of my word alone!” He repented: and as he stood 1 Cf. Vidabbha-jataka, vol. i. no. 48. by the window, he developed supernatural insight, and attained to the knowledge of a Pacceka-Buddha, and poised in the air delivered a discourse, then he too went to the Nandamiila cave. Another zemindar who lived in the kingdom of Kasi, prohibited the sale of strong drink. A crowd of people cried out to him, “My lord, what shall we do? It is the time-honoured drinking festival!” He replied, “Do as you have always done aforetime.” [116] The people made their festival, and drank strong drink, and fell a-quarrelling; there were broken legs and arms, and cracked crowns, and ears torn off, and many a penalty was inflicted for it. The zemindar seeing this, thought to himself, “If I had not permitted this, they would not have suffered this misery.” Even for this trifle he felt remorse: then he developed supernatural insight, and attained the knowledge of a Pacceka-Buddha, poised in the air he discoursed, and bade them be vigilant, then he too went to the Nandamila cave,

Some time afterwards, the five Pacceka-Buddhas all alighted at the gate of Benares, seeking for alms, Their upper robe and lower robe neatly arranged, with gracious address they went on their rounds, and came to the gate of the King’s palace. The King was much pleased to behold them; he invited them into his palace, and washed their feet, anointed them with fragrant oil, set before them savoury food both hard and soft, and sitting on one side, thus addressed them: ‘‘Sirs, that you in your youth have embraced the ascetic life, is beautiful; at this age, you have become ascetics, and you see the misery of evil lusts. What was the cause of your action?” They replied as follows: “The water-draught of my own friend, although a friend, I stole: Loathing the sin which I had done, I afterwards was fain To leave the world, an eremite, lest I should sin again.” “J looked upon another’s wife; lust rose within my soul: Loathing the sin which I had done, I afterwards was fain To leave the world, an eremite, lest I should sin again.” “Thieves caught my father in a wood: to whom I did forth tell That he was other than he was—a lie, I knew it well: Loathing the sin,” etc.

“The people at a drinking-feast full many beasts did kill, And not against my will: Loathing the sin,” ete. “Those persons who in former times of liquors drank their fill, Now carried out a drinking-bout, whence many suffered ill, [117] And not against my will. Loathing the sin which I had done, I afterwards was fain To leave the world, an eremite, lest I should sin again.” These five stanzas they repeated one after the other. When the king had heard the explanation of each, he uttered his praise, saying, “Sirs, your asceticism becomes you well.” 74 The Jataka. - Book XI. The king was delighted at the discourse of these men. He bestowed upon them cloth for outer and inner garments, and medicines, then let the Pacceka-Buddhas go away. They thanked him, and returned to the place whence they came, Ever after that the king loathed the pleasures of sense, was free from desire, ate’ his choice and dainty food, but to women he would not speak, would not look at them, rose up disgusted at heart and retired to his magnificent chamber, and there he sat: stared at a white wall until he fell into a trance, and conceived within him the rapture of mystic meditation. In this rapture rapt, he recited a stanza in dispraise of desire:

“Out on it, out on lust, I say, unsavoury, thorn-beset ! Never, though long I followed wrong, such joy as this I met!” [118] Then his chief queen thought to herself, “That king heard the discoursing of the Pacceka-Buddhas, and now he never speaks to us, but buries himself despondent in his magnificent chamber. I must take him in hand.” So she came to the door of that lordly chamber, and standing at the door, heard the king’s rapturous utterances, in dispraise of desire. She said, ““O mighty king, you speak ill of desire! but there is no joy like the joy of sweet desire!” Then in praise of desire she repeated another stanza : “Great is the joy of sweet desire: no greater joy than love: Who follow this attain the bliss of paradise above !” Hearing this, the king made reply: ‘ Perish, vile jade! What sayst thou? Whence comes the joy of desire? There are miseries which come to pay for it”: with which he uttered the remaining stanzas in dispraise : “T)l-tasting, painful is desire, there is no worser woe: Who follow sin are sure to win the pains of hell below. “Than sword well whetted, or a blade implacable, athirst, Than knives deep driven in the heart, desires are more accurst.

“A pit as deep as men are tall, where live coals blazing are, A ploughshare heated in the sun,—desires are worser far. “A poison very venomous, an oil of little ease®, Or that vile thing to copper clings*—desires are worse than these.” [119] Thus the Great Being discoursed to his consort. Then he gathered his courtiers, and said, ‘O courtiers, do you manage the ~kingdom: I am about to renounce the world.” Amidst the wailing and lamentation of a great multitude, he rose before them, and poised in the air, delivered a discourse. Then along the path of the wind he past to furthest Himalaya, and in a delightsome spot builded a 1 Ought we to read abhuijitvd, ‘did not care to eat’? * «Extracted oil’? (Cf. Sueruta, 1. 181), Apparently some kind of poison, 3 Verdigris. ‘ hermitage ; there he lived the life of a sage, until at the end of his days he became destined for the world of Brahma. The Master, having ended this discourse, added, “Brethren, there is no such thing as a petty sin: the very smallest must be checked by a wise man.” Then he declared the Truths, and identified the Birth (now at the conclusion of the Truths the five hundred Brethren became established in sainthood) :—“ At that time the Pacceka-Buddhas attained Nirvana, Rahula’s mother was the queen consort, and I myself was the king.”

“T greet the lord,” ete. This story the Master told while dwelling in Jetavana, about the Great Renunciation. One day the Brethren had assembled in the Hall of Truth. “ Brother,” one would say to his fellow, “the Dasabala? might have dwelt in a house, he might have been an universal monarch in the centre of the great world, possessed of the Seven Precious Things, glorious with the Four Supernatural Faculties’, surrounded with sons more than a thousand! Yet all this magnificence he renounced when he perceived the bane that lies in desires. At midnight, with Channa in company, he mounted his horse Kanthaka, and departed: on the banks of Anoma, the River Glorious, he renounced the world, and for six years he tormented himself with austerities, and then attained to perfect wisdom.” Thus talked they of the Buddha’s virtues. The Master entering, asked, “What are you speaking of now, Brethren, as ye sit here?” They told him. Said the Master, “This is not the first time, Brethren, that the Tathagata has made the Great Renunciation. In days of yore he retired and gave up the kingdom of Benares City, which was twelve leagues in extent.” So saying, he told a story of the past.

Once upon a time a king named Sabbadatta reigned in the city of Ramma. The place which we now call Benares is named Surundhana City in the Udaya Birth‘, and Sudassana in the Cullasutasoma’ Birth, and 1 Buddha’s retirement from the world: Hardy, Manual, pp. 158 ff.; Warren, Buddhism in Translations, § 6. 2 Buddha: one who possesses the Ten Powers or Ten Kinds of Knowledge. 3 See iii. 454 (p. 272 of this translation). 76 The Jataka. Book XJ. Brahmavaddbana in the Sonandana’ Birth, and Pupphavati in the Khandahala® Birth: [120] but in this Yuvafijaya Birth it is named Ramma City. In this manner its name changes on each several occasion. At that time the king Sabbadatta had a thousand sons; and to his eldest son Yuvafijana he gave the viceroyalty. One day early in the morning he sigoRieal his splendid chariot, and in great pomp went to disport him in the park. On the tree-tops, on the grass-tips, at the ends of the branches, on all the spiders’ webs and threads, on the points of the rushes, he saw the dew-drops hanging like so many strings of pearls. ‘Friend. charioteer,” quoth he, “what is this?” ‘This, my lord,” he replied, “is what falls in the cold weather, and they call it dew.” The prince took his pleasure in the park for a portion of the day. In the evening, as he was returning home, he could see none of it.

‘“‘ Friend charioteer,” said he, ‘‘where are the dew-drops? I do not see them now.” “ My lord,” said the other, “‘as the sun rises higher, they all melt and sink into the ground.” On hearing this, the prince was distressed, and said, “The life of us living beings is fashioned like dew-drops on the grass. I must be rid of the oppression of disease, old age, and death ; I must take leave of my parents, and renounce the world.” So because of the dew-drops, he perceived the Three modes of Existence® as it were in a blazing fire. When he came home, he went into the presence of his father in his magnificent Hall of Judgement, and greeting his father, he stood on one side, and repeated the first stanza, asking his leave to renounce the world :

“T greet the lord of charioteers with friends and courtiers by : The world, O King! I would renounce: let not my lord deny.” Then the king repeated the second stanza, dissuading him : “Tf aught thou crave, Yuvaijana, I will fulfil it quite: If any hurt thee, I protect: be thou no eremite.” [121] Hearing this, the prince recited the third stanza: “No man there is that does me harm: my wishes nothing lack: But I would seek a,refuge, where old age makes no attack.” By way of explaining this matter, the Master uttered a half-stanza : “The son speaks to his father thus, the father to his son” The remaining half-stanza was uttered by the king : “Leave not the world, O prince! so cry the townsfolk every one.” 5 Kamabhavo, ripabhavo, artipabhavo: sense-existence, body-existence (where there is form, but no sensual enjoyment), formless-existence. See Hardy, Manual of Budhism, p. 3, for a fuller account. The prince again repeated this stanza : “O do not from the unworldly life, great monarch, make me stay, Lont 1, intoxicate with lusts, to age become a prey !” This said, the king hesitated, Then the mother was told, “ Your son, my lady, is asking hia father’s leave to renounce the world.” ‘What do you say?” she asked, It took her breath away. Seated in her litter of gold she went swiftly to the Hall of Judgement, and repeating the sixth stanza, asked ;

“T beg thee, it is I, my dear, and I would make thee stay ! Long wish I thee, my won, to nee; O do not go away 1” [122] On hearing which the prince repeated the seventh stanza: i “Like as the dew upon the grass, when the sun rises hot, So is the Jife of mortal men; O mother, stay me not!” When he had said this, she begged him again and again to the same effect, Then the Great Being addressed his father in the eighth stanza: “Let those that bear this litter, lift: Jet not my mother stay Me, mighty king! from entering upon my holy way)” ; When the king heard his son’s words, he said, “Go, lady, in your } litter, back to our palace of Perennial Delight.” At his words her feet failed her: and surrounded with her company of women, she departed, . and entered the palace, and stood looking towards the Hall of JSudgement, and wondering what news of ber son. After his mother’s departure the Bodhisattsa again asked leave of his father. The king could . not refuse him, and said, “ Have thy will, then, dear son, and renounce < _ the world.” 4 When this consent was gained, the Bodhisatta’s youngest brother,

> Prince Yudhitthila, grected his father, and likewise asked leave to follow the religious life, and the king consented, Both brothers bade their : father farewell, and having now renounced worldly lusts departed from , the Hall of Judgement, amidst a great company of people. The queen P looking upon the Great Being cried weeping, ‘My son has renounced the world, and the city of Ramma will be aupty!” Then she repeated a - couple of stanzas : “Make haste, and bless thee! empty now is Ramimaka, I trow: i King Sabbadatts has allowed Yuvaiijana to go. [123] “The eldest of 4 thousand, he, like gold to look upon, 4 This mighty prince has left the world the yellow robe to don.” : The Bodhisatta did not at once embrace the religious life. No, he g first bade farewell to his parents; then taking with him his youngest brother, Prince Yudhitthila, he left the city, and sending back the great ‘ 4 , 1 Tarati means technically to ‘flee from the City of Destruction. 78 The Jataka. Book XJ. multitude which followed them, they both made their way to Himalaya. There in a delightsome spot they built a hermitage, and embraced the life of a holy sage, and cultivating the transcendent rapture of meditation, they lived all their lives long upon the fruits and roots of the forest, and became destined for the world of Brahma.

This matter is explained in the stanza of perfect wisdom which comes last : “YVuvahjana, Yudhitthila, in holy life remain : Their father and their mother left, they break in two death’s chain.” When the Master had ended this discourse, he said, ‘This is not the first time, Brethren, that the Tathagata renounced a kingdom to follow the religious life, but it was the same before ;” then he identified the Birth :—“ At that time members of the present king’s family were the father and mother, Ananda was Yudhitthila, and | was Yuvanjana myself.”

“ Let Lakkhana,” etc.—This story the Master told in Jetavana about a landowner whose father was dead. This man on his father’s death was overwhelmed with sorrow : leaving all his duties undone, he gave himself up to his sorrow wholly. The Master at dawn of day looking out upon mankind, perceived that he was ripe for attaining the fruit of the First Path. Next day, after going his rounds for alms in Savatthi, his meal done, he dismissed the Brethren, and taking with him a junior Brother, [124] went to this man’s house, and gave him greeting, and addressed him as he sat there in words of honey sweetness. “ You are in sorrow, lay Brother?” said he. “Yes, Sir, afflicted with sorrow for my father’s sake.” Said the Master, “Lay Brother, wise men of old who exactly knew the eight conditions of this world?, felt at a father’s death no grief, not even a little.” Then at his request he told a story of the past. Once upon a time, at Benares, a great king named Dasaratha renounced the ways of evil, and reigned in righteousness. Of his sixteen thousand wives, the eldest and queen-consort bore him two sons and a daughter;

1 Hdited and translated by V. Fausb)ll, The Dasaratha Jataka, Copenhagen, 1871. The story is like that of the Ramayana, except that here Sita is the hero’s sister, not his wife. 2 Gain and loss, fame and dishonour, praise and blame, bliss and woe. the elder son was named Rama-pandita, or Rama the Wise, the second was named Prince Lakkhana, or Lucky, and the daughter’s name was the Lady Sita’. In course of time, the queen-consort died. At her death the king was for a long time crushed by sorrow, but urged by his courtiers he performed her obsequies, and set another in her place as queen-consort. She was dear to the king and beloved. In time she also conceived, and all due attention having been given her, she brought forth a son, and they named him Prince Bharata. _ The king loved his son much, and said to the queen, “Lady, I offer you a boon: choose.” She accepted the offer, but put it off for the time. When the lad was seven years old, she went to the king, and said to him, “My lord, you promised a boon for my son. Will you give it me now?” “Choose, lady,” said he. ‘“ My lord,” quoth she, “give my son the kingdom.” The king snapt his fingers at her ; “Out, vile jade!” said he angrily, ‘“‘ my other two sons shine like blazing fires; would you kill them, and ask the kingdom for a son of yours?” She fled in terror to her magnificent chamber, and on other days again and again asked the king for this.

The king would not give her this gift. He thought within himself: ‘‘ Women are ungrateful and treacherous. This woman might use a forged letter or a treacherous bribe to get my sons murdered.” So he sent for his sons, and told them all about it, saying: ‘‘ My sons, if you live here some mischief may befall you. Go to some neighbouring kingdom, or to the woodland, and when my body is burnt, then return and inherit the kingdom which belongs to your family.” Then he summoned soothsayers, and asked them the limits of his own life. They told him he would live yet twelve years longer. [125] Then he said, “ Now, my sons, after twelve years you must return, and uplift the umbrella of royalty.” They promised, and after taking leave of their father, went forth from the palace weeping. The Lady Sita said, “I too will go with my brothers:” she bade her father farewell, and went forth weeping.

These three departed amidst a great company of people. They sent the people back, and proceeded until at last they came to Himalaya. There in a spot well-watered, and convenient for the getting of wild fruits, they built a hermitage, and there lived, feeding upon the wild fruits. Lakkbana-pandita and Sita said to Rama-pandita, “ You are in place of a father to us; remain then in the hut, and we will bring wild fruit, and feed you.” He agreed: thenceforward Rama-pandita stayed where he was, the others brought the wild fruit and fed him with it. 1 « Cool,” which has in India the same pleasant associations as warm has for us. 80 The Jataka. Book X1. Thus they lived there, feeding upon the wild fruit; but King Dasaratha pined after his sons, and died, in the ninth year. When his obsequies were performed, the queen gave orders that the umbrella should be raised over her son, Prince Bharata. But the courtiers said, “The lords of the umbrella are dwelling in the forest,” and they would not allow it. Said Prince Bharata, “I will fetch back my brother Ramapandita from the forest, and raise the royal umbrella over him.” Taking the five emblems of royalty', he proceeded with a complete host of the four arms’ to their dwelling-place. Not far away he caused camp to be pitched, and then with a few courtiers he visited the hermitage, at the time when Lakkhana-pandita and Sita were away in the woods.

At the door of the hermitage sat Rama-pandita, undismayed and at ease, like a figure of fine gold firmly set. The prince approached him with a greeting, and standing on one side, told him of all that had happened in the kingdom, and failing at his feet along with the courtiers, burst into weeping. Rama-pandita neither sorrowed nor wept; emotion in his mind was none. When Bharata had finished weeping, and sat down, towards evening the other two returned with wild fruits. Rama-pandita thought—“ These two are young: all-comprehending wisdom like mine is not theirs. [126] If they are told on a sudden that our father is dead, the pain will be greater than they can bear, and who knows but their hearts may break. I will persuade them to go down into the water, and find a means of disclosing the truth.” Then pointing out to them a place in front where there was water, he said, “You have been out too long: let this be your penance—go into that water, and stand there.” Then he repeated a half-stanza:

“Let Lakkhana and Sita both into that pond descend.” One word sufficed, into the water they went, and stood there. Then he told them the news by repeating the other half-stanza: “ Bharata says, king Dasaratha’s life is at an end.” When they heard the news of their father’s death, they fainted. Again he repeated it, again they fainted, and wheu even a third time they fainted away, the courtiers raised them and brought them out of the water, and set them upon dry ground. When they had been comforted, they all sat weeping and wailing together. Then Prince Bharata thought : “My brother Prince Lakkhana, and my sister the Lady Sita, cannot restrain their grief to hear of our father’s death; but Rama-pandita neither wails nor weeps. I wonder what can the reason be that he 1 Sword, umbrella, diadem, slippers, and fan. * Elephants, cavalry, chariots, infantry. grieves not! I will ask.” Then he repeated the second stanza, asking the question : “Say by what power thou grievest not, Rima, when grief should be ? Though it is said thy sire is dead grief overwhelms not thee !” Then Rama-pandita explained the reason of his feeling no grief by saying,

“When man can never keep a thing, though loudly he may cry, Why should a wise intelligence torment itself thereby? [127] “The young in years, the older grown, the fool, and eke the wise, For rich, for poor one end is sure: each man among them dies. “As sure as for the ripened fruit there comes the fear of fall, So surely comes the fear of death to mortals one and all. “Who in the morning light are seen by evening oft are gone, And seen at evening time, is gone by morning many a one. “Tf to a fool infatuate a blessing could accrue When he torments himself with tears, the wise this same would do. “By this tormenting of himself he waxes thin and pale; This cannot bring the dead to life, and nothing tears avail. “Even as a blazing house may be put out with water, so The strong, the wise, the intelligent, who well the scriptures know, Scatter their grief like cotton when the stormy winds do blow. “One mortal dies—to kindred ties born is another straight : Each creature’s bliss dependent is on ties associate. “The strong man therefore, skilled in sacred text, Keen-contemplating this world and the next, Knowing their nature, not by any grief, However great, in mind and heart is vext.

“So to my kindred I will give, them will I keep and feed, All that remain I will maintain: such is the wise man’s deed.” ! In these stanzas he explained the Impermanence of things. [129] When the company heard this discourse of Rama-pandita, illustrating the doctrine of Impermanence, they lost all their grief. Then Prince Bharata saluted Rama-pandita, begging him to receive the kingdom of Benares. ‘‘ Brother,” said Rama, “take Lakkhana and Sita with you, and administer the kingdom yourselves.” ‘‘No, my lord, you take it.” “ Brother, my father commanded me to receive the kingdom at the end of twelve years. If I go now, I shall not carry out his bidding. After three more years I will come.” ‘Who will carry on the government all that time?” “You doit.” “I will not.” “Then until I come, these slippers shall do it,” said Rama, and doffing his slippers of straw he gave them to his brother. So these three persons took the slippers, and bidding the wise man farewell, went to Benares with their great crowd of followers. 1 The scholiast quotes on p. 129 a stanza which occurred in the Kalabahu Birth, No. 329 (vol. iii. p. 66 of this translation), beginning ‘‘ Gain and loss”.

82 The Jataka. Book XT. For three years the slippers ruled the kingdom. The courtiers placed these straw slippers upon the royal throne, when they judged a cause. If the cause were decided wrongly, [130] the slippers beat upon each other’, and at that sign it was examined again; when the decision was right, the slippers lay quiet. < When the three years were over, the wise man came out of the forest, and came to Benares, and entered the park. The princes hearing of his arrival proceeded with a great company to the park, and making Sita the queen consort, gave to them both the ceremonial sprinkling. The sprinkling thus performed, the Great Being standing in a magnificent chariot, and surrounded by a vast company, entered the city, making a solemn circuit right-wise; then mounting to the great terrace of his splendid palace Sucandaka, he reigned there in righteousness for sixteen thousand years, and then went to swell the hosts of heaven. This stanza of Perfect Wisdom explains the upshot: “Years sixty times a hundred, and ten thousand more, all told, Reigned strong-armed Rama, on his neck the lucky triple fold.” ? The Master having ended this discourse, declared the Truths, and identified the Birth: (now at the conclusion of the Truths, the land-owner was established in the fruit of the First Path:) “At that time the king Suddhodana® was king Dasaratha, Mahimaya? was the mother, Rahula’s mother? was Sita,

Ananda was Bharata, and I myself was Rama-pandita.”

“Your nature, mighty monarch,” etc. This story the Master told while dwelling in Jetavana, about a Brother who had ceased to strive. This, we learn, was a young man of family, who lived in Sayvatthi. Having heard the Master’s discoursing, he renounced the world. Fulfilling the tasks imposed by his teachers and preceptors, he learnt by heart both divisions of the Patimokkha. 1 This last incident is an addition to the narrative in the Ramayana, ii. 115, nor is it found in Tulsi Das’ Hindi version. 2 Kambugivo: three folds on the neck, like shell-spirals, were a token of luck, 3 Gotama Buddha’s father and mother, 4 Gotama Buddha’s wife. When five years were past, he said, “When I have been instructed in the mode of attaining the mystic trance, I will go dwell in the forest.” Then he took leave of his teachers and preceptors, and proceeded to a frontier village in the kingdom of Kosala. The people were pleased with his deportment, [131] and he a hut of leaves and there was attended to. Entering upon the rainy season, Zealous, eager, striving iu strenuous endeavour he strove after the mystic trance for the space of three months: but of this not a trace could he produce. Then he thought: “ Verily I am the most devoted to worldly conditions! among the four classes of men taught by the Master! What have I to do with living in the forest?” Then he said to himself, “I will return to Jetavana%, and there in beholding the beauty of the Tathagata, and hearing his discourse sweet as honey, I will pass my Mae So he relaxed his striving ;

and setting forth he carne in course of time to Jetavana. His preceptors and teachers, his friends and acquaintances asked hira the cause of his coming. He informed them, and they reproved him for it, asking him why he had so done. Then they led him into the Master's presence. “Why, Brethren,’ said the Master, “do you lead hither a Brother against his will ?” They replied, “This Brother has come hither because he has relaxed his striving.” “Is this true, as they tell me?” asked the Master. “Yes, Sir,” said the man. Said the Master, “Why have you ceased to strive, Brother? For 4 weak and slothful man there is in this religion no high fruition, no sainthood: they only who make strenuous effort accomplish this. In days long gone by you were full of strength, easy to teach: and in this way, though the youngest of all the hundred sons of the king of Benares by holding fast to the admonition of wise men you obtained the White Umbrella, So saying, he told a story of the past.

“Once upon a4 time, when Brahmadatta was king in Benares, the _ youngest of his hundred sons was named Prince Saravara. The king gave his sons in charge each of a separate courtier, with directions to teach them each what they ought to learn. The courtier who instructed the Prince Satnvara was the Bodhisatta, wise, learned, filling a father’s place to the king’s son. As each of the sons was educated, the courtiers brought them for the king to see. The king gave them each a province, and let them go. When the Prince Sarnvara had been perfected in all learning, he asked the Bodhisatta, “Dear father, if my father sends me to a province, what aml todo?” He replied, “My son, when a province is offered you, you should refuse it, and say, My lord, I am the youngest of all: if I go too, there will be no one about your feet: I will remain where I am, at your feet.” Then one day, when Prince Sasnvara had saluted him, and was standing on one side, the king asked him, “Well, my son, have you finished your learning!” “Yes, my lord.” “Choose a province.” “My lord, [132] there will be emptiness about your feet: let me remain here at

‘your feet, and in no other place!” The king was pleased, and consented. 1 An arhat is called apado, ec. devoid of conditions for rebirth, such as human passion, desire, karma, kleca, &. (Childers, p. 313); padaparamo seems to mean the opposite. ; ; 2 The quotation should include Jetavanam gantvd, as 18 shewn by line 7. 84 The Jataka. Book XJ. After that he remained there at the king’s feet; and again asked the Bodhisatta, “What else am I to do, father?” “Ask the king,” said he, “for some old park.” The prince complied, and asked for a park: with the fruits and flowers that there grew he made friends with the powerful men in the city. Again he asked what he was to do. “Ask the king’s leave, my son,” said the Bodhisatta, “to distribute the food-money within the city.” So he did, and without the least neglect of any person he distributed the food-money within the city. Again he asked the Bodhisatta’s advice, and after soliciting the king’s consent, distributed food within the palace to the servitors and the horses and to the army, without any omission: to messengers come from foreign countries he assigned their lodging and so forth, for merchants he fixed the taxes, all that had to be arranged he did alone. Thus following the advice of the Great Being, he made friends with every body, those in the household and those without, all in the city, the subjects of the kingdom, strangers, by his winsomeness binding them to him as it were by a band of iron: to all of them he was dear and beloved.

When in due time the king lay on his deathbed, the courtiers asked him, “ When you are dead, my lord, to whom shall we give the White Umbrella?” “Friends,” said he, ‘‘all my sons have a right to the White Umbrella. But you may give it to him that pleases your mind.” So after his death, and when the obsequies had been performed, on the seventh day they gathered together, and said: “Our king bade us give the Umbrella to him that pleases our mind. He that our mind desires is Prince Sarnvara.” Over him therefore they uplifted the White Umbrella with its festoons of gold, escorted by his kinsmen. The Great King Samvara cleaving to the advice of the Bodhisatta reigned in righteousness. The other ninety and nine princes heard that their father was dead, and that the Umbrella had been uplifted over Samnvara. [133] “But he is the youngest of all,” said they ; ‘‘the Umbrella does not belong to him. Let us uplift the Umbrella over the eldest of us all.” They all joined forces, and sent a letter to Sathvara, bidding him resign the Umbrella or fight; then they surrounded the city. The king told this news to the Bodhisatta, and asked what he was to do now. He answered: “Great King, you must not fight with your brothers. Divide the treasure belonging to your father into a hundred portions, and to your brothers send ninety-nine of them, with this message, ‘Accept this share of your father’s treasure, for fight with you I will not.’” So he did.

Then the eldest of all the brothers, Prince Uposatha by name, summoned the rest together, and said to them, “Friends, there is no one able to overcome the king; and this our youngest brother, though he has been our enemy, does not remain so: but he sends us his wealth, and refuses to fight with us. Now we cannot all uplift the Umbrella at the same moment ; let us uplift it over one only, and let him alone be king; so when we see him, we will hand over the royal treasure to him, and return to our own provinces.” ‘Then all these princes raised the siege of the city, and entered it, foes no longer. And the king told his courtiers to welcome them, and sent them to meet the princes. The princes with a great following entered on foot, and mounting the steps of the palace, and using all humility towards the great king Sarnvara, sat down in a lowly place. King Sativara was seated under the White Umbrella upon a throne: great magnificence was his, and great pomp; what place soever he looked upon, trembled and quaked. Prince Uposatha seeing the magnificence of the mighty king Sarvara, thought to himself, “Our father, methinks, knew that Prince Sathvara would be king after his decease, and therefore

gave us provinces and gave him none;” then addressing him, repeated three stanzas : [134] “Your nature, mighty monarch, sure the lord of men well knew: The other princes honoured he, but nothing gave to you. “While the king lived was it, or when a god to heaven he went, That seeing their own benefit, your kinsmen gave consent? “Say by what power, O Samvara, you stand above your kin: Why do your brethren not unite from you the place to win?” On hearing this, King Sarhvara repeated six stanzas to explain his own character : “Because, O prince, I never grudge great sages what is meet: Ready to pay them honour due, I fall before their feet. “Me envying none, and apt to learn all conduct meet and right, Wise sages each good precept teach in which they take delight. “J listen to the bidding of these sages great and wise: My heart is bent to good intent, no counsel I despise. “Elephant troops and chariotmen, guard royal, infantry— I took no toll of daily dole, but paid them all their fee. “Great nobles and wise counsellors waiting on me are found; With food, wine, water (so they boast) Benares doth abound.

[135] ‘Thus merchants prosper, and from many a realm they come and go, And I protect them. Now the truth, Uposatha, you know.” Prince Uposatha listened to this account of his character, and then repeated two stanzas : “Then be above your kith and kin, and rule in righteousness, So wise and prudent, Sarivara, your brethren you shall bless. “Your treasure-heaps your brethren will defend, and you shall be Safe from your foes as Indra’s self from his arch enemy.”? 1 The King of the Asuras or Titans. 86 . The Jataka. Book XJ. [136] King Saiivara gave great honour to all his brothers. They remained with him a month and half a month; then they said to him, “Great King, we would go and see if there be any brigands afoot in our provinces; all happiness to your rule!” They departed each to his province. And the king abode by the admonition of the Bodhisatta, and at the end of his days went to swell the hosts of heaven. The Master, having finished this discourse, added, “Long ago, Brother, you followed instruction, and why do you not now sustain your effort?” Then he declared the Truths and identified the Birth: (now at the conclusion of the Truths this Brother was established in the fruit of the First Path:) “At that time this Brother was the great king Sarnvara, Sariputta was Prince Uposatha, the Elders and secondary Elders were the other brothers, the Buddha’s followers were their followers, and I myself was the courtier who advised the king.”

“ Men with razor-pointed,” etc. This story the Master told while dwelling at Jetavana, about the Perfection of Knowledge. One day, we are told, at evening, the Brethren were awaiting the coming of the Tathagata to preach to them, and as they sat in the Hall of Truth, they were saying one to another, “Verily, Brother, the Master has great wisdom! wide wisdom! ready wisdom! swift wisdom! sharp wisdom! penetrating wisdom! His wisdom hits on the right plan for the right moment; wide as the world, like a mighty ocean unfathomable, as the heavens spread abroad: in all India no wise man exists who can match the Dasabala. As a billow that rises upon the great sea cannot reach the shore, or if it reaches the shore it breaks; [137] so no man can reach the Dasabala in wisdom, or if he comes to the Master’s feet he is broken.” In these words they sang the praises of the Dasabala’s Perfect Wisdom. The Master came in, and asked, “What are you talking of, Brethren, as you sit here?” They told him. He said, “Not now only is the Tathagata full of wisdom. In former days, even when his knowledge was immature, he was wise. Blind though he was, he knew by the signs of the ocean that in the ocean such and such a jewel was hid.” Then he told a story of the past.

Once upon a time, a king named Bharu reigned in the kingdom of Bharu. There was a seaport town named Bharukaccha, or the Marsh of Bharu. At that time the Bodhisatta was born into the family of a master 1 Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, p. 13. mariner there; amiable he was, and of complexion a golden brown. They gave him the name of Supparaka-kumara. He grew up with great distinction ; and even when he was no more than sixteen years old, he had gained a complete mastery over the art of seamanship. Afterwards when his father died he became the head of the mariners and plied the mariner’s calling: wise he was, and full of intelligence; with him aboard, no ship came ever to harm. In time it so happened that injured by the salt water both his eyes lost their sight. After which, head of the mariners though he was, he plied no more the mariner’s trade; but resolved to live in the king’s service, he approached the king to that end. And the king appointed him to the office of valuer and assessor. From that time he assessed the worth of valuable elephants, valuable horses, choice pearls and gems.

One day an elephant was brought to the king, of the colour of a black rock, that he might be the state elephant. The king gave him a glance, and commanded that he be shown to the wise man. They led the creature before him. The man passed his hand over the elephant’s body, and said, “This elephant is not fit to be the elephant of state. This has the qualities of an elephant that is deformed behind. When his dam brought him forth, she could not take him on her shoulder; so she let him fall on the ground, and thus he became deformed in his hind feet.” They questioned those who had brought the elephant; and they replied that the wise man spoke the truth. [138] When the king heard of this, he was pleased, and ordered eight pieces of money to be given him. On another day, a horse was brought for the king’s horse of state. This too was sent to the wise man. He felt it all over with his hand, and then said, ‘This is not fit to be the king’s state charger. On the day this horse was born, his dam died, and so for lack of the mare’s milk he did not grow properly.” This saying of his was true also. When the king heard of it, he was pleased, and caused him to be presented with eight pieces more.

Another day, a chariot was brought, to be the king’s state chariot. This too the king sent to him. He felt it over with his hand and said, “This chariot was made out of a hollow tree, and therefore it is not fit for the king.” This saying of his was true like the others. The king was pleased again when he heard of it, and gave him other eight pieces. Then again they brought him a precious rug of great price, which the king sent to the man as before. He felt it all over, and said, “There is one place here where a rat has bitten a hole.” They examined and found the place, and then told the king. Pleased was the king, and ordered eight pieces to be given him again. Now the man thought, “Only eight pieces of money, with such marvels as these to see! This is a barber's gift; this king must be a barber’s 88 The Jataka. Book XI. brat. Why should I serve such a king? I will return to my own home.” So back he went to the seaport of Bharukaccha, and there he lived. It happened that some merchants had got ready a ship, and were casting about for a skipper. “That clever Supparaka,” thought they, “ig a wise and skilful man; with him aboard no ship comes to harm. Blind though he be, the wise Supparaka is the best.” So to him they repaired, and asked him to be their skipper. “ Blind am I, friends,” he replied, ‘and how can I sail your ship?” ‘Blind you may be, master,” said the merchants, ‘‘but you are the best.” As they pressed him unceasingly, he at length consented: “As you put it to me,” says he, “I will be your skipper.” [139] Then he went aboard their vessel.

They sailed in their ship upon the high seas. For seven days the ship sailed without mishap: then an unseasonable wind arose. Four months the vessel tost about on a primeval ocean, until she arrived at what is called the Khuramala Sea’. Here fish with bodies like men, and sharp razor-like snouts, dive in and out of the water. The merchants observing these asked the Great Being what that sea was named, repeating the first stanza : “Men with razor-pointed noses rising up and diving down! Speak, Supparaka, and tell us by what name this sea is known?” The Great Being, at this question, conning over in mind his mariner’s lore, answered by repeating the second stanza : “ Merchants come from Bharukaccha, seeking riches to purvey, This is Khuramali? ocean where your ship has gone astray.” Now it happens that in this ocean diamonds are to be found. The Great Being reflected, that if he told them this was a diamond sea, they would sink the ship in their greed by collecting the diamonds. So he told them nothing; but having brought the ship to, he got a rope, and lowered a net as if to catch fish. With this he brought in a haul of diamonds, and stored them in the ship; then he caused the wares of little value to be cast overboard.

The ship past over this sea, and came to another called Aggimala. This sea sent forth a radiance like a blazing bonfire, like the sun at midday. The merchants questioned him in this stanza: “To! an ocean like a bonfire blazing, like the sun, we see! Speak, Supparaka, and tell us what the name of this may be?” The Great Being replied to them in the stanza next following : [140] “Merchants come from Bharukaccha, seeking riches to purvey, This is Aggimali? ocean where your ship has gone astray.” 1 There is an account of the mythological seas which follow in Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, pp. 12 ff. 2 Sic. eS SS eee eee Now in this sea was abundance of gold. In the same manner as before, he got a haul of gold from it, and laid it aboard. Passing over this sea, the ship next came to an ocean called Dadhimala, gleaming like milk or curds. The merchants enquired its name in a stanza: “Lo! an ocean white and milky, white as curds we seem to see! Speak, Supparaka, and tell us what the name of this may be?” The Great Being answered them by the stanza next following :

“Merchants come from Bharukaccha, seeking riches to purvey, This is Dadhimali! ocean where your ship has gone astray.” In this sea there was abundance of silver. He procured it in the same way as before, and laid it aboard. Over this sea the ship sailed, and came to an ocean called Nilavannakusa-mala, which had the appearance of a stretch of dark kusa-grass’, or a field of corn. The merchants enquired its name in a stanza: “Lo! an ocean green and grassy, like young corn we seem to see! \ = . Speak, Supptraka, and tell us what the name of this may be?” He replied in the words of the stanza next following: “Merchants come from Bharukaccha, seeking riches to purvey, This is Kusamali! ocean where your ship has gone astray.” Now in this ocean was a great quantity of precious emeralds. As before, he made a haul of them, and stored them on board. Passing over this sea, the ship came to a sea called Nalamala, which had the aspect of an expanse of reeds or a grove of bamboos*. [141] The merchants asked its name in a stanza: “To! an ocean like a reed-bed, like a bamboo-grove we see! Speak, Supparaka, and tell us what the name of this may be?”

The Great Being replied by the following stanza : “ Merchants come from Bharukaccha, seeking riches to purvey, This is Nalamali! ocean where your ship has gone astray.” Now this ocean was full of coral of the colour of bamboos*®. He made a haul of this also and got it aboard, After passing the Nalamali Sea, the merchants came to a sea named Valabhamukha*. Here the water is sucked away and rises on every 3 The scholiast explains that the sea was red, like the reeds called ‘scorpion-reed ’ or ‘crab-reed,’ which are red in colour: the word translated ‘bamboo’ (velu) he says may also mean ‘coral.’ He adds that the haul was coral, which is also the word used at the end of the story (pavalo). The word so translated here is velwriyam, which Childers renders ‘a kind of precious stone, perhaps lapis lazuli’. 4 See Hardy, Manual, p. 13. It was a kind of hollow like a saucer. 90 The Jataka. Book XJ. side; and the water thus sucked away on all sides rises in sheer precipices leaving what looks like a great pit. ‘A wave rises on one side like a wall: a terrific roar is heard, which seems as it would burst the ear and break the heart. On sight~»of this the merchants were terrified, and asked its name in a stanza: ;

“ Hear the awful sound terrific of a huge unearthly sea! Lo a pit, and lo the waters in a steep declivity! Speak, Supparaka, and tell us what the name of this may be?” The Bodhisatta replied in this following stanza, ‘ Merchants,” etc., ending—“ This Valabhamukhi ocean,” etc. He went on, [142] ‘‘ Friends, once a ship has got into the Valabhamukha Sea there is no returning. If this ship gets there, she will sink and go to destruction.” Now there were seven hundred souls aboard this ship, and they were in fear of death ; with one voice they uttered a very bitter cry, like the cry of those who are burning in the lowest hell. The Great Being thought, ‘Except me, no other can save those ; I will save them by an Act of Truth.” Then he said aloud, “ Friends, bathe me speedily in scented water, and put new garments upon me, prepare a full bowl, and set me in front of the ship.” They quickly did so. The Great Being took the full bowl in both hands, and standing in the front of the ship, performed an Act of Truth, repeating the final stanza ;

“Since I can myself remember, since intelligence first grew, Not one life of living creature have I taken, that I knew: May this ship return to safety if my solemn words are true!” Four months the vessel had been voyaging in far distant regions ; and now as though endued with supernatural power, it returned in one single day to the seaport town of Bharukaccha, and even upon the dry land it went, till it rested before the mariner’s door, having sprung over a space of eleven hundred cubits. The Great Being divided amongst the merchants all the gold and silver, jewels, coral, and diamonds, saying, - [143] “This treasure is enough for you: voyage on the sea no more.” Then he discoursed to them; and after giving gifts and doing good his. life long, he went to swell the hosts of heaven. The Master, having ended this discourse, said, “Then, Brethren, the Tathagata was most wise in former days, as he is now,” and identified the Birth: “At that time the Buddha’s company were the company (of merchants) and I myself was the wise Supparaka.”

ag fea “Small of wit,” ete—This birth will be given under the Kuniala irth?.

“ Who art thou,” ete. This story the Master told while dwelling in Jetavana about doing good to one’s kith and kin. At Savatthi in the house of Anathapindika there was always unfailing food for five hundred Brethren, and the same with Visakha* and the king of Kosala. But in the king’s palace, various and fine as was the fare given, no one was friendly to the Brethren. The result was that the Brethren never ate in the palace, but they took their food and went off to eat it at the house of Anathapindika or Visakha or some other of their trusted friends. One day the king said, “A present has been brought: take this to the Brethren,” and sent it to the refectory. An answer was brought that no Brethren were there in the refectory. ‘Where are they gone?” he asked. They were sitting in their friends’ houses to eat, was the reply. So the king after his morning meal came into the Master’s presence, and asked him, “Good Sir, what is the best kind of food?” “The food of friendship is the best, great king,” said he ; “even sour rice-gruel given by a friend becomes sweet.” “Well, Sir, and with whom do the Brethren find friendship?” “With their kindred, great king, or with the Sakya families.” Then the king thought, what if he were to make a Sakya girl his queen-consort : then the Brethren would be his friends, as it were with their own kindred.

[145] So rising from his seat, he returned to the palace, and sent a message 1 No. 536. 2 For the Introductory story see Dhammapada (commentary), pp. 216 ff. 3 A famous female disciple, for whose history see Hardy, Manual, 220 ff. 92 The Jataka. Book XII. to Kapilavatthu! to this effect: “Please give me one of your daughters in marriage, for I wish to become connected with your family.” On receipt of this message the Sakyas gathered together and deliberated. ‘We live in a place subject to the authority of the king of Kosala; if we refuse a daughter, he will be very angry, and if we give.her, the custom of our clan will be broken. What are we to do?” Then Mahinaima? said to them, “Do not trouble about it. Ihave a daughter, named Vasabhakhattiya. Her mother is a slave woman, Nagamunda by name; she is some sixteen years of age, of great beauty and auspicious prospects, and by her father’s side noble’. We will send her, as a girl nobly born.” The Sakyas agreed, and sent for the messengers, and said they were willing to give a daughter of the clan, and that they might take her with them at once. But the messengers reflected, “These Sakyas are desperately proud, in matters of birth. Suppose they should send a girl who was not of them, and say that she was so? We will take none but one who eats along with them.” So they replied, “Well, we will take her, but we will take one who eats along with you.”

The Sakyas assigned a lodging for the messengers, and then wondered what to do. Mahanima said: “Now do not trouble about it; I will find a way. At my mealtime bring in Vasabhakhattiya drest up in her finery; then just as I have taken one mouthful, produce a letter, and say, My lord, such a king has sent you a letter; be pleased to hear his message at once.” They agreed; and as he was taking his meal they drest and adorned the maid. “Bring my daughter,” said Mahanaima, “and let her take food with me.” “In a moment,” said they, “as soon as she is properly adorned,” and after a short delay they brought her in. Expecting to take food with her father, she dipt her hand into the same dish. Mahanama had taken one mouthful with her, and put it in his mouth; but just as he stretched out his hand for another, they brought him a letter, saying, “ My lord, such a king has sent a letter to you: be pleased to hear his message at once.” Said Mahanama, “Go on with your meal, my dear,” [146] and holding his right hand in the dish, with his left took the letter and looked at it. As he examined the message the maiden went on eating. When she had eaten, he washed his hand and rinsed out his mouth. The messengers were firmly convinced that she was his daughter, for they did not divine the secret.

So Mahanima sent away his daughter in great pomp. The messengers brought her to Savatthi, and said that this maiden was the true-born daughter of Mahinima. The king was pleased, and caused the whole city to be decorated, and placed her upon a pile of treasure, and by a ceremonial sprinkling made her his chief queen. She was dear to the king, and beloved. In a short time the queen conceived, and the king caused the proper treatment to be used; and at the end of ten months, she brought forth a son whose colour was a golden brown. On the day of his naming, the king sent a message to his grandmother, saying, “A son has been born to Vasabhakhattiya, daughter of the Sakya king; what shall his name be?” Now the courtier who was charged with this message was slightly deaf; but he went and told the king’s grandmother. When she heard it, she said, “ Even when Vasabhakhattiya had never borne a son, she was more than all the world ; and now she will be the king’s darling’” The deaf man did not hear the word “darling” aright, but thought she said “ Vidiidabha ;” so back he went to the king, and told him that he was to name the prince Vididabha. This, the king thought, must be some ancient family name, and so named him Vidadabha.

After this the prince grew up treated as a prince should be. _ When he was at the age of seven years, having observed how the other princes received presents of toy elephants and horses and other toys from the family of their mothers’ fathers, the lad said to his mother, “Mother, the 1 Headquarters of the Sakya clan, and Buddha’s birthplace. 2 A Sakya prince; see Hardy, Manual, 227. 3 Khattiya. 4 Vallabha, rest of them get presents from their mothers’ family, but no one sends me anything. Are you an orphan?” Then she replied, “My boy, your grandsires are the Sakya kings, but they live a long way off, and that is why they send you nothing.” Again when he was sixteen, he said, “Mother, I want to see your father’s family.” ‘‘ Don’t speak of it, child,” she said. “What will you do when you get there?” But though she put him off, he asked her again and again. At last his mother said, [147] “Well, go then.” So the lad got his father’s consent, and set out with a number of followers. Vasabhakhattiya sent on a letter before him to this effect : “I am living here happily ; let not my masters tell him anything of the secret.” But the Sakyas, on hearing of the coming of Vidtdabha, sent off all their young children into the country. “It is impossible,” said they, ‘‘ to receive him with respect.”