The Jātaka, vol. VI (nos. 538-547)

' Query Brahmana-saniyutta, ii. 9. - [Reading kho for ko. Prof. Cowell, omitting gaccha, translates: 'Who is this who is as a son of your own ? '] 40 The Jataka. Booh XXIL otieriugs uf the faithful and support laymen with them?" He confessed that it was true. Then the Master, wishing to praise what he had done and to declare an i)ld action of his own, said, "AVhen you support laymen whom do you support?" " My i)arents," he answered. Then the Master, wishing to encourage him still more .said, "Well done, well done" three time.s ; "You are in a path which I have traversed before you : I in old time, while going the round for alms, supported my parents." The ascetic was encouraged thereby. At the request of the Brethren the Master, to make known his former actions, told them a legend of the olden time. Once on a time, not far from Benares on the near bank of the river, there was a village of hunters, and another village on the further side; live hundred families dwelt in each. Now two hunter chiefs dwelt in the two villages who wore fast friends; and they had made a compact in their youth, that if one of them had a daughter and the other a son, they would wed the pair together. In course of time [72] a son was born to the chief in the near village and a daughter to the one in the further ;

the name Dukiilaka was given to the first as he was taken up when he was born in a wrapping of tine cloth ', while the second was named Parika because she was born on the further side of tlie river. They were both fair to look at and of a complexion like gold ; and though they were born in a village of hunters they never injured any living creature. When he was sixteen years old his parents said to Dukiilaka, " O son, we will bring you a bride " ; but he, a pure being newly come from the Brahma world, closed both his ears, saying, "I do not want to dwell in a house, do not mention such a thing " ; and though they spoke three times to the same effect, he shewed no inclination for it. Parika also, when her parents said to her, " Our friend's son is handsome and with a complexion like gold, we are going to give you to him," made the same answer and closed her ears, for she too had come from the Brahma world. Dukiilaka privately sent her a message, "If you wish to live as a wife with her husband, go into some other family, for I have no wish for such a thing," and she too sent a similar message to him. But however unwilling they were, the parents would celebrate the marriage. But both of them lived apart like the Archangel Biahman, without descending into the ocean of carnal passion.

Dukfdaka never killed fish or deer, he never even sold fish which was brought to him. At last his parents said to him, " Though you are born in a family of hunters you do not like to dwell in a house, nor kill any living creature ; what will you do ? " " If you will give me leave," he replied, " I will become an ascetic this very day." They gave them both leave at once. Having bid them farewell, they went out along the shore of the Ganges and entered the Himavat region, where the river Migasammata flows down from the mountain and enters the Ganges ; then, leaving the Ganges, they went up

along the Migasammata. Now at that inoment Sakka's palace grew hot. Sakka, having ascertained the reason, commanded Vissakamma, " O Vissakamma, two great beings have left the world and entered Himavat, we mnst find an abode for them, — go and build them [73] a hut of leaves and provide all the necessaries of an ascetic's life a quarter of a mile from the river Migasammata and come back hither." So he went and prepared everything as it is described in the Mugapakkha Birth \ and returned to his own home, after having driven away all beasts that caused uni)leasant noises, and having made a footpath near. They saw the footpath and followed it to the hermitage. When Dukulaka went into the hermitage and saw all the necessaries for an ascetic's life, he exclaimed, " This is a gift to us from Sakka " ; so having taken off his outer garment and put on a robe of red bark and thrown a black antelope-hide over his shoulder and twisted his hair in a knot, and assumed the garb of an anchorite, and having also given ordination to Parika, he took up his abode there with her, exercising all the feelings of benevolence which belong to the world of sensual pleasure". Through the influence of their benevolent feelings all the birds and beasts felt only kindly feelings towards each other, — not one of them did harm to any other.

Pari brings water and food, sweeps the hermitage, and does all that has to be done, and both collect various kinds of fruits and eat them, and then they enter their respective huts of leaves and live there fulfilling the rules of the ascetic life. Sakka ministers to their wants. One day he foresaw that a danger threatened them, " They will lose their sight," so he went to Dukidaka; and having sat on one side, after saluting him, he said, " Sir, I foi-esee a danger which threatens you, — you must have a son to take care of you : follow the way of the world." " O Sakka, ■why dost thou mention such a thing % Even when we lived in a house we shrank in disgust from all carnal intercourse ; can we practise it now when we have come into the forest and are living an anchorite life here 1" "Well, if you will not do as I say, — then at the proper season touch Pari's navel with your hand." This he promised to do; and Sakka, after saluting him, returned to his own abode. The Great Being told the matter to Pari, and at the proper time he touched her navel with his hand. Then the Bodhisatta descended from the heavenly world and entered her womb and was conceived there. [74] At the end of the tenth month she bore a son of golden hue, and they called his name accordingly Suvannasama. (Now the Kinnari nymphs in another mountain had nursed Pari.) The parents washed the babe and laid it down in the hut of leaves and went out to collect different sorts of fruit. While they wei-e gone the Kinnaras took the child and washed it in their caves,

' [No. .530 in Westergaavd's Catalogue, but no such title occurs in our collection. Vissakamma however performs this duty in other Births : see iv. 303, v. 98 (trans.).] - As opposed to the Brahmaloka. 42 The Jdtaka. Book XXII. and, going up to the top of the mouutain, they adorned it with various flowers, and made the sectarial marks with yellow orpiment, red arsenic, and other paints, and then brought it back to its bed in the hut; and when Pari came home she ga-se the child suck. They cherished him as he grew up year after year, and when he was about sixteen they used to leave him in the hut and go out to collect forest roots and fruits. The Bodhisatta considered, "Some danger will one day happen"; he used to watch the path by which they went. One day they were retitrning home at e^•ening time after collecting roots and fruits, and not far fi'om the hermitage a great cloud rose up. They took shelter in the roots of a tree and stood on an ant-hill; and in this ant-hill a snake lived. Now water dropped from their bodies, which carried the smell of sweat to the snake's nostrils, and, being angry, it puS'ed out its breath and smote them as they stood there, and they both were struck blind and neither could see the other. Dukulaka called out to Pari, "My eyes are gone, I cannot see you";

and she too made the same complaint. "We have no life left," they said, and they wandered about, lamenting and unable to find the path. " What former sin can we have committed ? " they thought. Now in former times they had been born in a doctor's family, and the doctor had treated a rich man for a disease of his eyes, but the patient had given him no fee ; and being angry he had said to his wife, " What shall we do?" She, being also angry, had said, "We do not want his money; make some preparation and call it a medicine and Ijlind one of his eyes with it."' He agreed and acted on her advice, and for this sin the two eyes of both of them now Ijecame V)lind.

Then the Great Being reflected, " On other days [75] my parents have always returned at this hour, I know not what has happened to them, I will go and meet them " ; so he went to meet them and made a sound. They recognised the sound, and making an answering noise they said, in their aflection for the boy, "O Sama, there is a danger here, do not come near." So he held out to them a long pole and told them to lay hold of the end of it, and they, seizing hold of it, came up to him. Then he said to them, " How have you lost your sight?" " When it rained we took shelter in the roots of a tree and stood on an ant-hill, and that made us Itlind." When he heard it, he knew what had happened. "There must have been a snake there, and in his anger he emitted a poisonous breath " ; and as he looked at them he wept and also laughed. Then they asked him why he wept and also laughed. "I wept because your sight is gone while you are still young, but I laughed to think that I shall now take care of you ; do not grieve, I will take care of you." So he led them back to the hermitage and he tied ropes in all directions, to distinguish the day and the night apartments, the cloisters, and all the different rooms ; and from that day forwards he made them keep within, while he himself collected the forest roots and fruits, and in the morning swept their apartments, and fetched

water from the Migasammata river, and prepared their food and the water for washing and brushes for their teeth, and gave them all sorts of sweet fruits, and after they had washed their mouths he ate his own meal. After eating his meal he saluted his parents and surrounded by a troop of deer went into the forest to gather fruit. Having gathered fruit with a band of Kinnaras in the mountain he returned at evening time, and having taken water in a pot and heated it, he let them bathe and wash their feet as they chose, then he brought a potsherd full of hot coals and steamed their limbs, and gave them all sorts of fruits when they were seated, and at the end ate his own meal and put by what was left. In this way he took care of his parents. Now at that time a king named Piliyakkha reigned in Benares. He in liis great desire for venison had entrusted the kingdom to his mother, and armed with the five kinds of weapons had come into tli« region of Hiniavat, and while there Iiad gone on killing deer and eating their flesh, [7G] till he came to the river Migasammata, and at la«t reached the spot where Sama used to come and draw water. Seeing there the footsteps of deer he erected his shelter with boughs of the colour of gems, and taking his bow and fitting a poisoned arrow on the string he lay there in ambush.

In the evening the Great Being having collected his fruits and put them in the hermitage made his salutation to his parents, and saying, "I will bathe and go and fetch some water," took his pot, and surrounded by his train of deer, singled out two deer from the herd surrounding, and [)utting the jar on their backs, leading them with his hand, went to the batliing-place. The king in his shelter saw him coming, and said to himself, "All the time that I have been wandering here I have never seen a man before ; is he a god or a naga? Now if I go up and ask him, he will fly up into heaven if he is a god, and he will sink into the earth if he is a naga. But I shall not always live here in Himavat, and one day I shall go back to Benares, and my ministers will ask me whether I have not seen some new marvel in the course of my rambles in Himavat. If I tell them that I have seen such and such a creature, and they proceed to ask me what its name was, they will blame me if I have to answer that I do not know ; so I will wound it and disable it, and then ask it." In the meantime the animals went down first and drank the water and came up from the bathing-place ;

and then the Bodhisatta went slowly down into the water like a great elder who was perfectly versed in the rules, and, being intent on olitaining absolute calm, put on his bark garment and threw his deer-skin on one shoulder and, lifting up his water-jar, filled it and set it on his left shoulder. At this moment the king, seeing that it was the time to shoot, let fly a poisoned arrow and wounded the Great Being in the right side, and the arrow went out at the left side. The troop of deer, seeing that he was wounded, fled in terror, but Snvannasama, although wounded, balanced

44 The Jdtalca. Booh XXII. the water-jar as well as he could, and, recovering his recollection, slowly went up out of the water. He dug out the sand and heaped it on one side and, placing his head in the direction of his parents' hut, [77] he laid himself down like a golden image on the sand which was in colour like a silver plate. Then recalling his memory he considered all the circumstances ; " I have no enemies in this district of Himavat, and I have no enmity against anyone." As he said these words, blood poured out of his mouth and, without seeing the king, he addressed this stanza to him : "Who, as I filled my water-jar, has from his ambush wounded me, — Brahman or Khattij'a, Vessa, — who can my unknown assailant be ? " Then he added another stanza to shew the worthlessness of his flesh as food : " Thou canst not take my flesh for food, thou canst not turn to use my skin ; Why couldst thou think me worth thine aim ; what was the gain thou thought'st to win \ " And again another asking him his name, &c. :

" Who art thou, say, — whose son art thou 1 and what name shall I call thee by ? Why dost thou lie in ambush there 1 Answer my questions truthfully." When the king heard this, he thought to himself, " Though he has fallen wounded by my poisoned arrow, yet he neither reviles me nor blames me ; he speaks to me gently as if soothing my heart, — I will go up to him" ; so he went and stood near him, saying : " I of the Kasis am the lord, King Piliyakkha named ; and here. Leaving my throne for greed of flesh, I roam to hunt the forest deer. Skilled in the archer's craft am I, stout is my heart nor given to change ; No Naga can escape my shaft if once he comes within my range." [78] Thus praising his own merits, he proceeded to ask the other his name and family : " But who art thoii 1 Whose son art thou ? How art thou called ? Thy name make known ; Thy father's name and family, — tell me thy father's and thine own." The Great Being reflected, " If I told him that I belonged to the gods or the Kinnaras, or that I was a Khattiya or of similar race, he would believe me ; but one must only speak the truth," so he said :

" They called me Sama while I lived, — an outcast hunter's son am I ; But here stretched out upon the gromid in woful i)light thou see'st me lie. Pierced by that poisoned shaft of thine, T helpless lie like any deer. The victim of thy fatal skill, bathed in my blood I wallow here. Thy shaft has pierced my body through, I \'omit blood with every breath, — Yet, faint and weak, I ask thee still, why from thy ambush seek my death ? Thou canst not take my flesh for food, thou canst not turn to use my skin ; Why could'st thou think me worth thy aim ; what was the gain thou thought'st to win ? " When the king heard this, he did not tell the real truth, but made up a false stoiy and said : "A deer had come within my range, I thought that it my prize would he, But seeing thee it fled in fright, — I had no angry thought for thee." [79] Then the Great Being replied, " What say'st thou, O king ? In all this Himavat thei'e is not a deer which flies when he sees me " :

" Since my first years of thought began, as far as memoi-y reaches back. No quiet deer or beast of prey has fled in fear to cross my track. Since I first donned my dress of bark and left behind my childish daj's No quiet deer or beast of prey has fled to see me cross their ways. Nay, the grim goblins are my friends, who roam with me this forest's shade, — Why should this deer then, as you say, at seeing me have fled afraid I " When the king heai-d him, he thought to himself, " I have wounded this innocent being and told a lie, — I will now confess the truth." So he said : " Sama, no deer beheld thee there, why should I tell a needless lie ? I was o'ercome b}' wrath and greed and shot that arrow, — it was I." Then he thought again, "Suvannasama cannot be dwelling alone in this forest, his i-elations no doubt live here ; I will ask him about them." So he uttered a stanza : "Whence didst thou come this morning, friend, — who bade thee take thy water-jar And fill it fi'om the river's bank and bear the burden back so far ?"

[80] When he heard this, he felt a great pang and uttered a stanza, as the blood poured from his mouth : " My parents live in yonder wood, blind and dependent on my care, — For their sakes to the river's bank I came to fill my water-jar." Then he went on, bewailing their condition : "Their life is but a flickering spark i, their food at most a week's supply, — Without this water which I bring blind, weak, and helpless they will die. I reck not of the pain of death, that is the common fate of all ; Ne'er more to see my fathei''s face — 'tis this which doth my heart appal-. Long, long, a sad and weary time my mother there will nurse her woe. At midnight and at early morn her tears will like a river flow^. Long, long, a sad and weary time my father there will nurse his woe. At midnight and at early morn his tears will like a river flow. They will go wandering through the wood and of their tarrying son complain. Expecting still to hear my step or feel my soothing touch — in vain. This thought is as a second shaft which pierces deeper than before. That I, alas ! lie dying here, fated to see their face no more."

1 The Schol. explains vsit as 'food,' — I have taken it as = u-tlnnd. [This is also given as an alternative by the Scholiast. This word however occurs in Pali as nsmd or iisuvid.] ^ [This stanza is twice said.] ^ Lit. they will onlj' grow dry as a river does. 46 The Jdtaka. Bool- XXTT. [81] The king, on hearing his lamentation, thought to himself, "This man has been fostering his parents in his excessive piety and devotion to duty, and even now amidst all his pain he only thinks of them, — I have done evil to such a holy being, — how can I comfort him \ When I find myself in hell what good will my kingdom do me? I will watch o^■er his father and mother as he watched over them ; thus his death will be counteracted to them." Then he uttered his resolution in the following stanzas : " 0 Sama of auspicious face, let not despair thy soul oppress, Lo I myself will wait upon thy parents in their lone distress. I am well practised with the bow, — my promise is a surety good, — I'll be a substitute for thee and nurse thy parents in the wood.

ril search for leavings of the deer, and roots and fruits to meet their need ; I'll wait m^'self upon them both, their household slave in very deed. Which is the forest where they are 1 Tell me, O Sama, for I vow I will protect and foster them as thou thyself hast done till now." The Great Being replied, " It is well, O king, then do thou foster them," .so lie pointed out the road to him : "Where my head lies there runs a path two luindred bow lengths through the trees, 'Twill lead thee to my parents' hut,- — go, nurse them there if so thou please." [82] Having thus shewn the path and borno the great pain patiently in his love for his parents, he folded his hands respectfully, and made his last recpiest that he would take care of them : " Honour to thee, 0 Kasi king, as thus thou goest upon thy way ; Helple.ss my parents are and blind, — 0 guard and nurse them both, I praj*. Honour to thee, O Kasi king, — I fold my hands respectfully. Bear to my parents in my name the message I have given to tliee."

The king accepted the trust, and the Great Being, having thus deli\ ered his final message, became unconscious. Explaining this, the Master said : "When Sama of auspicious face thus to the king these words had said. Faint with the poison of the shaft he lay unconscious as if dead." Up to this point when he uttered his words he had spoken as one out of bi-eath; but here his speech was interrupted, as his form, heart, thoughts, and vital powers were successively afi'ected by the violence of the poison \ his mouth and his eyes closed, his hands and feet became stiffened, and his whole body was wet with blood. The king exclaimed, " Till just this moment he was talking to me, what has suddenly stopped his inhaling and exhaling his breath ] These functions have now ceased, his body has become stiff, surely Sama is now dead " ; and being unable to control his sorrow, he smote his head with his hands and bewailed in a loud voice. ^ Should we not read upattitabhavauga &c. '? Here the Master, to make the matter clearer, spoke these stanzas: " Bitterly did the king lament, ' I knew not mitil this befell That I should e'er grow old or die, — I know it now, alas ! too well.

All men are mortal, now I see ; for even Sania had to die, Who gave good counsel to the last, yea in his dying agony ; [8.3] Hell is my sui'e and certain doom, — that nuu'dered saint lies speechless there ; In every village all I meet will with one voice my guilt declare. But in this lone unpeopled wood who will there be to know my name ? Here in tliis desert solitude who will remind me of my shame ] ' " Now at this time a daughter of tlie gods, named Bahusodarl, who dwelt in the Gandhamadana mountain and who liad been a mother to the Great Being in his seventh existence before this one, was continually thinking of him with a mother's aftection ; but on that day in the enjoyment of her divine bliss she did not remember him as usual ; and her friends only said that she had gone to the assembly of the gods [and so remained silent]. Suddenly thinking of him at the very moment when he became unconscious, she said to herself, " What has become of my son 1 " and then she saw that King Piliyakkha had wounded him with a poisoned arrow on the bank of the Migasammata and that he was lying on a sandbank, while the king was loudly lamenting. " If I do not go to him, my son Suvannasama will perish there and the king's heart will break, and Sama's parents will die of hunger and thii\st.

But if I go there, the king will carry the jar of water and go to his parents, and after hearing their words, [84] will take them to their son, and I and they will make a solemn asseveration which shall overpower the poison in Sama's body, and my son shall then regain his life and his parents their sight, and the king, after hearing Sama's instruction, will go and distrilmte great gifts of charity and become destined for heaven j so I will go there at once." So she went, and standing unseen in the sky, by the bank of the river Migasammata, she discoursed with the king.

Here the Master, to make the matter clearer, spoke these stanzas: "The goddess, hidden out of sight upon the Gandhamadan mount, Uttered these verses in his ears, by pity moved on his account ; ' A wicked action hast thou done, — heavy the guilt which rests on thee ; Parents and son all innocent, thy single shaft hath slain the three ; Come, I will tell thee how to find a refuge from thy guilt and rest ; Nurse the blind pair in yonder wood, so shall thy sinful soul be blest.'" When he heard her words, he believed what she said, — that, if lie went and supported the father and mother, he would attain to heaven ; so he made a resolve, "What have I to do with a kingdom ? I will go and devote myself to nursing them." After an outburst of weeping he conquered his sorrow, and thinking that Sama was indeed dead, he paid homage to his body with all kinds of flowers and sprinkled it with water, and thrice went round it, turning his right side towards it, and made his 48 The Jdtaka. Book XXII. obeisance at the four several points. Then he took the jar which had been consecrated by him, he turned his face to the south and went on his way with a heavy heart.

Here the Master added this verse of explanation : "After a burst of bitter tears, lamenting for the hapless youth, The king took up the water-jar and turned his face towards the south." [85] Strong as he was by nature, the king took up the water-jar and resolutely forced his way to the hermitage and at last reached the door of wise Dukula's hut. The wise man, seated inside, heard the sound of approaching footsteps, and, as he i)ondered doubtfully, he uttered these two lines : " Whose are these footsteps which I hear ? someone approaches by this way ; 'Tis not the sound of Sama's steps, — who art thou, — tell me. Sir, I pray." When the king heard him, he thought to himself, " If I tell him that I have killed his son and do not reveal my royal character, they will be angry and speak roughly to me, and then my anger will be roused against them and 1 shall do them some outrage, and this 'would be sinful ; but there is no one who does not feel afraid when he liears that it is a king, I will therefore make myself known to them "; so he placed the jar in the enclosure where the water-jar should be put, and standing in the doorway of the hut, exclaimed :

" I of the Kasis am the lord. King Piliyakkha named ; and here, Leaving my throne for greed of flesh, I roam to hunt the forest deer. Skilled in the archer's craft am I, stout is my lieart nor given to change ; No Naga can escape my shaft if once he comes within my range." The wise man gave liiin a friendly greeting, and re])lied' : "Welcome, O king, a happy chance directed thee this way: Mighty thovi art and glorious : what errand brings thee, pray 1 The tindook and the piyal leaves, and kfisumarl sweet. Though few and little, take the best we have, O king, and eat. And this cool water from a cave high hidden on a hill, O mighty monarch, take of it, drink if it be thy will." [86] When the king heard his welcome he thought to himself, " It would not be right to address him at once with the bare statement that I have just killed his son ; I will begin to talk with him as if I knew nothing about it and then tell him " ; so he said to him : " How can a blind man I'oam the woods ? These fruits, — who brought them to your door ? He must have had good eyes y-wis, who gathei'ed such a varied store."

The old man repeated two stanzas to shew the king that he and his wife did not gather the fruit, but that their son had brought it to them : ' Repeating the four stanzas given in Vol. iv. p. 270, Vol. v. p. 171. "Sama our son is young in years, not very tall but fair to the eye, The long black hair that crowns his head curls like a dog's taiP naturally. He brought the fruit, and then went off, hastening to fill our water-jar ; He will be back here presently, — the way to the river is not far." The king replied : " Sama, that duteous son of yours, whom you describe so fair, so good, — I have slain him : those black curls of his are lying yonder, drenched in blood." Parika's hut of leaves was close by, and as she sat thei'e she heard the king's voice, and went out anxious to learn what had happened, [87] and, having gone near Dukula by the aid of a rope, she exclaimed : "Tell me, Dukula, who is this who says that Sama has been slain? ' Our Sama slain,' — such evil news seem to have cleft my heart in twain.

Like a young tender pepul shoot torn by the blast from off the tree, — Our Sama slain, — to hear such news my heart is pierced with agony." The old man gave her words of counsel : " It is the king of Kasi land, — his cruel bow has slain, I wot, Our Sama by the river's bank, but let us pause and curse him not." "Our darling son, our life's sole stay, longed for and waited for so long, — How shall my heart contain its wrath against the man who did this wrong ? " The old man exclaimed : " A darling son, our life's sole stay, longed for and waited for so long ! But all the wise forbid our wrath against the doer of the wrong." Then they both uttered their laments, beating their breasts and praising the Bodhisatta's virtues. Then the king tried to comfort them : " Weep not, I pray you, overmuch, for your loved Sama's hapless fate ; Lo I will wait upon you both, — mourn not as wholly desolate ; I am well practised with the bow, my promise is a surety good, Lo I will wait upon you both and nurse you in this lonely wood.

I'll search for leavings of the deer, and roots and fruits for all your need ; Lo I will wait upon you both, your household slave in very deed." [88] They remonstrated with him : " This is not right, 0 king of men, this would be utterly unmeet ; Thou art our lord and rightful king: here we pay homage to thy feet." When the king heard this he was glad. "A wonderful thing," he thought, " they do not utter one hai'sh word against me who have committed such a sin, they only receive me kindly " ; and he uttered this stanza : "Ye foresters, proclaim the right, this welcome is true piety; Thou art a father from henceforth, and thou a mother unto me." ^ Cf. Hitop, n. 135. " Even whilst being raised to honour, a bad man invariably reverts to his natural habit ; as a dog's tail, after all the expedients of sudorifics and unguents, remains curled." I read sunagga-. 50 The Jataha. Booh XXII. They respectfully raised their hands and made their petition, "We have no need of any act of sei'vice from thee, but guide us, holding out the end of a staff, and show us our Sam a," and they uttered this couplet of stanzas :

" Glory to thee, 0 Kasi-king who art thy realm's prosperity. Take us and lead us to the spot where Sama, our loved son, doth lie. There fallen prostrate at his feet, touching his face, eyes, every limb', We will await the approach of death, patient so long as near to him." [89] While they were thus speaking, the sun set. Then the king thought, "If I take them there now, their hearts will break at the sight ; and if three persons thus die through me I shall cei'tainly lie down in hell, — therefore I will not let them go thither" ; so he said these stanzas : " A region full of beasts of prey, as though the world's extremest bound, — 'Tis there where Sama lies, as if the moon had fallen on the ground. A region full of beasts of prey, as though the world's extremest bound, — 'Tis there where Sama lies, as if the sun had fallen on the ground. At the world's furthest end he lies, covered with dust and stained with blood ; Stay rather in your cottage here nor tempt the dangers of the wood." They answered in this stanza to shew their fearlessness :

" Let the wild creatures do their worst, — by thousands, millions, let them swarm, We have no fear of beasts of prey, they cannot do us aught of harm." So the king, being unable to stop them, took them by the hand and led them there. [90] When he had brought them near, he said to them, " This is your son." Then his father clasped his head to his bosom and his mother his feet, and they sat down and lamented. The Master, to make the matter clear, spoke these stanzas": "Covered with dust and pierced to th' heart, beholding thus their Sama lie Prostrate as if a sun or moon had fallen earthward from the sky. The parents lifted up their arms, lamenting with a bitter cry. ' O Sama, art thou fast asleep 1 art angry I or are we forgot ? Or say, has something vexed thy mind, that thou liest still and answerest not? Who will now dress our matted locks and wipe the dirt and dust away, When Sama is no longer here, the poor blind couple's only stay? Who now will sweep the floor for us, or bring us water, hot or cold? Who fetch us forest roots and fruits, as we sit helpless, blind, and old ? ' "

1 If I follow the scbol. who seems to connect hhitja with bhiiiijati. But could the words mean " beating our faces, arms and eyes" ? Sumh, sumbh mean 'to strike.' Cf. ■^j^ 'to hurt.' [The rendering in the text is clearly right; 'his' not 'our': biit there is nothing to give a clue to the sense of scmsumbhamdnd except the scholiast's note ' vattenta. '] ' I have omitted some of these stanzas, as they are full of repetitions. [91] Aftei' long lamentation the mother smote her bosom with her hand, and consideiing her sorrow carefully, she said to herself, " This is all mere grief for my son, — he has swooned through the violence of the poison, 1 will perform a solemn asseveration of truth to take the poison from him " ; so she performed an act of truth and repeated the following stanzas : "If it be true that in old days Sama lived always virtuously, Then may this poison in his veins lose its fell force and harmless be. If in old days he spoke the truth and nursed his parents night and day, Then may this poison in his veins be overpowered and ebb away.

Whatever merit we have gained in former days, his sire and I, May it o'erpower the poison's strength and may our darling son not diei." [92] When his mother had thus made the solemn asseveration, Sama turned as he lay there. Then his father also made his solemn asseveration in the same words ; and while he was still speaking, Sama turned round and lay on the other side^. Then the goddess made her solemn asseveration. The Master in explanation uttered these stanzas : "The goddess hidden out of sight upon the Gandhamadan mount Performed a solemn act of truth, by pity moved on Sama's count ; 'Here in this Gandhamadan mount long have I passed my life alone, In forest depths where every tree beareth a perfume of its own, And none of eai'th's inhabitants is dearer to my inmost heart, — As this is true so from his veins may all the poison's power depart.' While thus in turn by pity moved they all their solemn witness bore, Lo in their sight up Sama sprang, young, fair, and vigorous as before." Thus the Great Being's recovery from his wound, the restoration of both his parents' sight, and the appearance of dawn, — [93] all these four marvels were produced in the hermitage at the same moment by the goddess's supernatural powei\ The father and mother were beyond measure delighted to find that they had regained their sight and that Sama was restored to health. Then Sama uttered these stanzas :

" I am your Sama, safe and well, — see me before you and rejoice : Dry up your tears and weep no more, but greet me with a happy voice. Welcome to thee too, mighty king, may fortune wait on thy commands ; Thou art our monarch: let us know what thou desirest at our hands. Tiudukas, piyals, madhukas, our choicest fruits we bring our guest, — Fruits sweet as honey to the taste, — eat whatsoe'er may please thee best. Here is cold water, gracious lord, brought from the caves in yonder hill. The mountain-stream best quenches thirst, — if thou art thirsty, drink thy fill^." The king also beholding this miracle exclaimed: " I am bewildered and amazed, which way to turn I cannot tell. An hour ago I saw thee dead, — who now stand here alive and well ! " 1 [Here eight stanzas have been compressed iuto three.] - [The prose narrative is often repeated in verse, as it is here. Such repetitions have generally been omitted.] ^ [See above, p. 48.] 52 The Jdtcika. Bool XXII. Sama thought to himself, " This king looked upon me as dead, I will explain to him my being alive" ; so he said :

" A man possessed of all his powers, with not one thought or feeling fled. Because a swoon has stopped their play, that living man they think is dead." Then being desirous to lead the king into the i-eal meaning of the whole matter, he added two stanzas to teach him the Law : [94] "Those mortals who obey the Law and nurse their parents in distress. The gods observe their piety and come to heal their sicknesses. Those mortals who obey the Law and nurse their parents in distress, The gods in this world praise their deed and in the next with heaven them bless." The king, on hearing this, thought to himself, " This is a wonderful miracle : even the gods heal him wlio cherishes his parents when he falls into sickness ; this Sama is exceeding glorious " ; then he said : " I am bewildered more and more, which way to turn I cannot see, Sama, to thee I fly for help, Sama, do thou my I'efuge be." Then the Great Being said, " 0 king, if thou wishest to i-each the world of the gods and enjoy divine happiness there, thou must practise these ten duties," and he uttered these stanzas concerning them :

" Towards thy parents first of all fulfil thy duty, warrior king ; Duty fulfilled in this life here to heaven hereafter thee shall bring i. Towards thy children and thy wife, fulfil thy duty, warrior king ; Duty fulfilled in this life here to heaven hereafter thee shall bring. Duty to friends and ministers, thy soldiers with their difierent arms. To townships and to villages, thy realm with all its subject swarms. To ascetics, Brahman holy men, duty to birds and beasts, 0 king. Duty fulfilled in this life here to heaven hereafter thee shall bring. Duty fulfilled brings ha^jpiness, — yea Indra, Brahma, all their host, By following duty won their bliss : duty pursue at any cost." [95] The Great Being, having thus declared to him the ten duties of a king, gave him some still further instruction, and taught him the five precepts. The king accepted the teaching with bended head, and, having reverentially taken his leave, went to Benares, and, after giving many gifts and performing many other virtuous actions, passed away with his court to swell the host of heaven. The Bodhisatta also, with his parents, having attained the supernatural faculties and the various degrees of ecstatic meditation, went to the Brahma world.

After the lesson, the Master said, " O Brethren, it is an immemorial custom with the wise to support their parents." He then declared the truths (after which the Brother attained to the Fruit of the First Path) and identified the Birth : "At that time the king was Ananda, the goddess was Uppalavanna, Sakka was Anm-uddha, the father was Kassapa, the mother was Bhaddakapilani, and Suvannasama was I myself" 1 [See Vol. V. p. 123 (text), Mahavagga, i. 281.] " Lo these grey hairs" etc. This story the Master told while dwelling in Makhadeva's mango park, near ]\Iithila, about a smile. One day at eventide, the Master with a large company of Brethren was walking up and down in this mango park, when he espied a pleasant spot. Being desirous of telling his behaviour in former times, he allowed a smile to be seen on his face. When asked by the Eeverend Ananda why he smiled, he answered, " In yonder sjjot, Ananda, I once dwelt, deep in ecstatic meditation, in the time of King Makhadeva." Then at his request, he sat down upon an offered seat, and told a story of the past. Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Videha, and in the city of Mithila, a certain Makhadeva was king". Four and eighty thousand years he took his pleasure as a young man, four and eighty thousand years he was viceroy, eighty and four thousand years he was king.

Now he told his barber to be sure to inform him as soon as ever he should see grey hairs on his head. When by and by the barber saw grey hairs, and told him, he made the man pull them out with a pair of tongs, and to lay them upon his hand, and seeing death as it were clinging to his forehead, [96] "now," thinks he, "is the time for me to leave the world." So he gave the barber his choice of a village, and sending for his eldest son, he told him to undertake the government, since he was himself about to renounce the world. " Why, my lord ? " asked he. The king replied : "Lo these grey hairs that on my head appear Take of my life in passing year by year : They are God's messengers, which bring to mind The time I must renounce the world is near." With these words he made his son king with the ceremonial sprinkling, and leaving him directions to act thus and thus, he left the city ; and embracing the life of a Brother, through eighty-four thousand years he fostered the Four Excellencies, and he was then reborn in Brahma's heaven. His son also, in like manner, renounced the world, and became destined to Brahma's heaven. So also his son again ; and so one royal prince after another, to the number of eighty and four thousand less two — each as he saw a white hair in his head became an ascetic in this mango park, and fostered the Foui- Excellencies, and was born in Brahma's

1 No. 541 was not amongst Prof. Cowell's MSS. - See No. 9, Vol. i. p. 137 (trans, p. 30). See also note i. 32 trans. 54 The Jdtaka. Booh XXII. heaven. The first of all this line to be there born, King Makhadeva, standing in Brahma's heaven looked down upon the fortunes of his family, and was glad at heart to see that four and eighty thousand princes less two had renounced the world. He pondered : " Will there be nirvana now, or not ? " Seeing that there would not, he resolved that he and no other must round off his family. Accordingly, he came from thence and was conceived in the womb of the king's consort in Mithila city. On his name-day, the soothsayers looking at his marks, said, " Great king, this prince is born to round off your family. This your family of hermits will go no further." Hearing this, the king said, "The boy is born to round off my family like the hoop of a chariot-wheel ! " so he gave him the name of Nemi^-Kumara, or Prince Hoop. From his childhood upwards, the boy was devoted to giving, to virtue, to keeping the sabbath vow. Then his father, as usual, saw a white hair, gaA^e a village to his barber, made his son king, became a hermit in the mango park, and was destined for Brahma's heaven. King Nimi, in his devotion to almsgiving, made five almshalls, one at each of the four gates of the city, and one in the midst of it, and [97] distributed great gifts :

in each of the almshalls he distributed a hundred thousand pieces of money, that is five hundred thousand each day ; continually he kept the Five Precepts; on the moon-days^ he observed the sabbath ; he encouraged the multitude in almsgiving and good works ] he pointed out the road to heaven, and affrighted them with tlie fear of death, and preached the Law. They abiding by his admonitions, giving gifts and doing good, passed away one after another and were born in the world of gods : that world became full, hell was as it were empty. Then in tlie Heaven of the Thirtythree, the company of gods assembled in Sudhamma the divine hall of assembly, crying aloud — " Hail to our teacher, King Nimi ! By his doing, by the knowledge of a Buddha, we have attained to this divine enjoyment infinite ! " Thus they sang the virtues of the Great Being. Even in the world of men that sound of praise was spread, as oil spreads over the surface of the great deep.

The Master explained this to the assembled Brethren in the following lines : " It was a marvel in the world how good men did arise In the days of good King Kimi, the worthy and the wise. Alms gave Videha's monarch, the conqueror of his foes ; And as he gave in charity, this thought in him arose : 'Which is more fruitful — holy life or giving alms '^ who knows^?'" At that moment Sakka's throne became hot. Sakka pondering the 1 Sic, but below, Nimi. ^ pakkhadivasesu. 3 The scholiast says that this doubt occurred to him in the night, and that he could not decide. reason, saw him reflecting there. [98] " I will solve the question," he said ; and going about, and swiftly, he made the palace one blaze of light, and entering the chamber, stood there glowing; and at the king's request, made all clear. To explain this, the Master said : " The mighty monarch of the gods, he of the thousand eyes, Perceives his thought ; before his light away the darkness flies. Great Nimi spake to Vasava, and all his flesh did creep : ' Who art thou ? or a demigod or Sakka's self must be : For I have never seen or heard such glory as I see.'

Then Vasava to Nimi spake, knowing his flesh did creep : ' Sakka, the king of gods, I am ; to visit you I'm here ; Ask what you will, O king, and let your flesh not creep for fear.' Then Nimi spake to Vasava, this invitation made : ' Most puissant lord of all that breathe, this question solve for me : Holy to live, or alms to give, which should more fruitful be 1 ' Then Vasava to Nimi spake, solving his question so, And told the fruit of holy life to him who did not know : ' He's born a Khattiya, who lives holy in the third degree : A god, the middle; and the first brings perfect purity.' Not easy are these states to win by any charity. Which hermits who have left the world win by austerity." [99] By these vei'ses he illustrated the great fruitfulness of a holy life, and then recited others, naming the kings who in times past had been unable to get beyond the domain of sense by giving great gifts : "Dudipa, Sagara, Sela, Mucalinda, Bhagirasa, Usinara and Atthaka, Assaka, and Puthujjaua, Yea, kings and brahmins, Khattiya chiefs, many and many a one. For all their sacrifice, beyond the Peta world came none."

Having thus explained how much greater was the fruitfulness of holy life than that of almsgiving, he described those ascetics who by the holy life had passed the Peta world to be born in Brahma's heaven, and said : "These holy hermits who had left the world, Seven sages, passed beyond : Yamahanu, Somayaga, Manojava, Samudda, Magha, and Bharata, and Kalikara : Four others : Kassapa, Angirasa, Akitti, Kisavaccha, these besides." [100] So far, he described by tradition the great fruit of a holy life"; but now he went on, declaring what he had himself seen : " Sida's a river in the north, unnavigable i, deep : About it, like a fire of reeds, blaze golden mountains steep, ^ "Because," quoth the scholiast, "the water is so delicate, that even a peacock's feather will not float, but sinks to the bottom." 56 The Jdtaka. Book XXII. With creepers filled and fragrant plants river and hills as well. Thereby ten thousand eremites once on a time did dwell. Noble am I, who kept the vow of temperance, self-control, Almsgiving : solitary then tended^ each stedfast soul. Caste or no caste, the upright man I would attend at need : For every mortal man is bound by his own act and deed.

Apart from righteousness, all castes are sure to sink to hell : All castes are purified if they are righteous and act well." [102] After this, he said : " But, great king, although holy living is more fruitful by far than almsgiving, yet both these are the thoughts of great men : do you be w^atchful in both, give alms and follow vii'tue." With this advice, he went to his own place. Then the company of gods said : "Sire, we have not seen you lately ; where have you been 1 " " Sirs, a doubt arose in the mind of King Ninii at Mithija, and I went to resolve the question, and to place him beyond doubt." And then he described the occurrence in verse : "Listen to me, Sirs, one and all that here assembled be: Men who are righteous difter much in caste and quality. There is King Nimi, wise and good, the better part who chose — King of Videha, gave great gifts, that conqueror of his foes ; And as these bounteous gifts he gave, behold this doubt arose : 'Which is more fruitful — holy life or giving alms? who knows?'" [103] So he spoke, without omission, telling the king's quality. This made the deities long to see that king ; and they said, " Sii-e, King Nimi is our teacher; by following his admonitions, by his means, we have attained to the joy of godhood.

We wish to see him — send for him. Sire, and show him to us ! " Sakka consented, and sent Matali : " Friend Matali, yoke my royal car, go to Mithila, place King Nimi in the divine chariot and bring him here." Matali obeyed and departed. Whilst Sakka was talking with the gods, and giving his orders to Matali, and sending his chariot, one month had past by men's reckoning. So it was the holy day of the full moon : King Nimi opening the eastern window was sitting on the upper floor, surrounded by his courtiers, contemplating virtue ; and just as the moon's disk rose in the east this chariot appeared. The people had eaten their evening meal, and sat at their doors talking comfortably together. " Why, there are two moons to-day ! " they cried. As they gossiped, the chariot became plain to their view. " No, it is no moon," they said, "but a chariot!" In due course there appeared Matali's team of a thousand thoroughbreds, and the car of Sakka, and they wondered whom that could be for 1 Ah, their king was righteous ; for him Sakka's divine

^ The scholiast adds upatthahim to complete the construction. He adds a long dull story to explain how this came about. This stanza is quite as abrupt in the original. car must be sent ; Sakka must wish to see their king. So in delight they " A marvel in the world, to make one shiver with delight : For glorious Videha comes the car divine in sight ! " As the people talked and talked, swift as the wind came Matali, who turned the chariot, and brought it to rest out of the way by the sill of the window, and called on the king to enter. [104] Explaining this, the Master said : " The mighty Matali, the charioteer Of heaven, summoned now Videha's king Who lived in Mithila : ' Come, noble king. Lord of the world, uj^on this chariot mount : Indra and all the gods, the Thirty-three, Would see you, waiting in Sudhamma Hall.'" The king thought, " I shall see the gods' dwelling-place, which I never have seen ; and I shall be showing kindness to Matali," so he addressed his women and all the people, and said — "In a short time I shall return : you must be watchful, do good and give alms." Then he got into the car.

The Master said, to explain this^: "Then with all speed, Videha's king arose. And went towards the chariot, and got in. When he was in it, Matali thus spoke : ' By which road shall I take you, noble king % Where dwell the wicked, or where dwell the good % ' " At this the king thought — "I have never seen either of these places before, and I should like to see both." He answered : " Matali, charioteer divine, both places I would see : Both where the righteous men abide, and where the wicked be." Matali thinking, " One cannot see both at once ; I will question him," recited a stanza : " Which first, great monarch, noble king — which place first would you see. That where the righteous men abide, or where the wicked be ! " [105] Then the king, thinking that go to heaven he would in any case, and that he might as well choose to see helP, recited the next stanza : " I'd see the place of sinful men ; please let me go to hell ; Where they who once did cruel deeds and where the wicked dwell."

Then he just showed him Vetarani*, the river of hell. To explain this, the Master said ; " Matali showed the king Vetarani, A river stinking, full of corrosive brine. Hot, covered all with burning flames of fire." 1 The composite character of the following episode is clear. - With the description of hell compare Vol. v. p. 26611. (translation, p. 137 ff.), Mahavastu, i. 9 6"., 16 &., ^iksasamuccaya, p. 75 ff. ' The scholiast gives a long description of the horrors of this region. 58 The Jdtaka. Book XXII. The king was terrified when he saw creatures thus sorely tormented in VetaranI, and he asked Matali what sins they had done. Matali told him. This the Master explained : "Then Nimi, when he saw the people fall In this deep river-flood, asked Matali [106] ' Fear comes on me to see it, charioteer : Tell me, what is the sin these mortals did AVho are cast in the river 1 ' He replied, Describing how sin ripens and bears fi'uit: 'Who in the world of life are strong themselves, Yet hurt the weak, oppress them, doing sin. These cruel creatures begat sin, and they Are cast into the stream VetaranI.'"

Thus did Matali answer his question. And when the king had seen the hell VetaranI, he caused this place to disappear, and driving the chariot onwards showed him the place where they are torn by dogs and other beasts. He answered the king's question as follows. This the Master explained : " ' Black dogs and speckled vultures, flocks of crows Most horrid, prey upon them. When I look. Fear seizes on me. Tell me, Matali, What sin have these committed, charioteer. Whom ravens prey on 1 ' Matali replied, Describing how sin ripens and bears fruit : 'These are the churls, the misers, foul of tongue To brahmins and ascetics, that do hurt ; These cruel creatures begat sin, and they Are those you see of ravens here the prey.'" [107] His other questions are answered in the same way. " ' Their bodies all ablaze they lie prostrate. Pounded with red-hot lumps : when I behold. Fear seizes on me. Tell me, Matali, What sins have these committed, charioteer. Who lie there beaten with the red-hot lumps % ' Then Matali the charioteer replied, Describing how sin ripens and bears fruit : 'These in the world of life were sinful men. Who hurt and did torment those without sin, Both men and women, sinful as they were. These cruel creatures begat sin, and they Now he there beaten with the red-hot lumps.'

'Others lie struggling in a pit of coals. Roaring, their bodies charred : when I behold, [108] Fear seizes on me : tell me, Matali, What sin have these committed, charioteer. Who he there strugghng in the fiery pit?' Then Matali the charioteer replied. Describing how sin ripens and bears fruit : 'These are they who before a ci'owd of men Suborned a witness and forswore a debt ; And thus destroying people, mighty king, These cruel creatures begat sin, and they Lie there now struggling in the pit of coals.' 'Blazing and flaming, all one mass of fire, I see an iron cauldron, huge and great : Fear comes upon me, as I look upon it. Matali, tell me, charioteer divine — What sin these mortals did, that here headfirst They're cast into the iron cauldron huge ? ' Then answered ^latali the charioteer. Describing how sin ripens and bears fruit : ' Whoso has hurt a brahmin or ascetic. Foul men of sin, and he a virtuous man. Those cruel creatures begat sin, and they Now headlong fall into the iron bowl.' [109] 'They wring them by the neck and cast them in. Filling the cauldron full of boiling water ! Fear seizes on me : tell me, Matali, What sin has been committed by those mortals. That with their heads all battered, there they lie?' Then answered Matali the charioteer, Describing how sin ripens and bears fruit : ' These are the wicked men who in the world Caught birds, and did destroy them, mighty king ; And thus, destroying other creatures, they By these their cruel acts gave rise to sin. And they lie yonder, with their own necks wrung.'

' There flows a river, deep, with shallow banks, Easy of access : thither go the men, Scorcht with the heat, and drink : but as they drink, The water turns to chaff ^ ; which when I see. Fear seizes on me. Tell me, Matali, What sin has been committed liy those mortals, That as they drink, the water turns to chaff?' [110] Then answered Matali the charioteer, Describing how sin ripens and bears fruit : ' These men are they who niixt good grain with chaff, And sold it to a buyer, doing ill ; Therefore now scorcht with heat and parcht with thirst, Even as they drink, the water turns to chaff.' 'With spikes and spears and arrowheads they pierce Those loudly-wailing folk on either side : Fear seizes on me : tell me, Matali, What sin has been committed by those mortals, That they lie yonder riddled with the spears ? ' Then answered Matali the charioteer. Describing how sin ripens and bears fruit : ' These in the world of life were wicked men Who took what was not theirs, and lived ujaon it — Goats, sheep, kine, bulls, corn, treasure, silver, gold : These cruel creatures begat sin, and they

Now yonder lie all riddled with the spears.' [Ill] 'Who are these fastened by the neck I see. Some cut to pieces, others all to-torn : Fear seizes on me : tell me, Matali, What sin has been committed by those mortals. That they lie yonder torn in little bits ? ' 1 "And all blazes up" : schol. 60 Tlie Jdtaka. Booh XXII. Then answered Matali the charioteer, Describing how sin ripens and bears fruit : ' Fishers and butchers, hunters of the boar, Slayers of cattle, bulls, and goats, who slew And laid the corpses in the slaughter-house, These cruel creatures begat sin, and they Are lying yonder torn in little bits.' 'Yon lake of filth and ordure, stinking foul. With evil scent unclean, where starving men Eat of the contents ! this when I behold, Fear seizes on me : tell me, Matali, What sin has been committed by those mortals. Whom there I see devouring dirt and filth % ' Then answered Matali the charioteer. Describing how sin ripens and bears fruit : ' These are malicious persons ^, who, for hurt Of others, lived with them, and harmed their friends : [112] These cruel creatures begat sin, and now.

Poor fools, they have ordure and filth to eat.' 'Yon lake is full of blood, and stinking foul. With evil scent unclean, where scorcht with heat Men drink the contents ! which when I behold, Fear seizes on me ; tell me, Aliltali, What sin has been committed by those mortals. That they must now drink of the draught of blood ? ' Then answered Matali the charioteer, Describing how sin ripens and bears fi'uit : ' They who have slain a mother or a father, ^Vhom they should reverence ; excommunicate These cruel creatures begat sin, and they Are those who yonder drink the draught of blood.' 'That tongue see, pierced with a hook, like as a shield Stuck with a hundred barbs ; and who are those [113] Who sti'uggle leaping like a fish on land. And roaring, drabble spittle ? when I see it. Fear seizes on me : tell me, Matali, What sin has been committed by those mortals, AVhom I see yonder swallowing the hook ? ' Then answered Matali the charioteer. Describing how sin ripens and bears fruit : ' These men are they who in the market-place Haggling and cheapening from their greed of gain Have practised knavery, and thought it hidden, Like one that hooks a fish : but for the knave There is no safety, dogged by all his deeds : These cruel creatures begat sin, and they Are lying yonder swallowing the hook.'

'Yon women, bent and broken, stretching their arms And wailing, wretched, smeared with stains of blood. Like cattle in the shambles, stand waist-deep Buried in earth, the upper trunk ablaze ! [114] Fear seizes on me : tell me, Matali, What sin has been committed by those women, That now they stand all buried in the earth Waist-deep, the upper trunk a mass of flame ? ' 1 kdranikd : ' karanakaraka.' The small St Petersburg Dictionary gives ' Lehrer as one meaning of it. There is nothing more to guide us. Then answered Matali the charioteer, Describing how sin ripens and bears fruit : 'They were of noble birth when in the world, Lived lives unclean, did deeds of wickedness, Were traitors, left their husbands, and besides Did other things to satisfy their lust ; They spent their lives in dalliance ; therefore now Stand blazing, waist-deep buried in the earth.' 'Why do they seize yon persons by the legs And cast them headlong into Naraka ^ ? Fear seizes on me : tell me, Matali, [115] What sin has been committed by those men. That they are so hurled headlong into Naraka?' Then answered Matali the charioteer. Describing how sin ripens and bears fruit : 'These in the world did evil, did seduce Another's wife, stole his most precious thing, So now are headlong cast in Naraka. They suffer misery for countless years In hell ; there is no safety for the sinner. But he is ever dogged by his own deeds. These cruel creatures begat sin, and they Are now cast headlong into Naraka.' "

With these words, Matali the charioteer made this hell to disappear also, and driving the chariot onwards, showed him the hell of torment for heretics. On request he explained it to him. " ' Many and various causes I have seen Most terrible, amongst these hells : to see them Fear seizes on me: tell me, Matali, What sin has been committed by those mortals. Why they must suffer this excessive pain. So sharp, so cruel, so intolerable ? ' Then answered Matali the charioteer. Describing how sin ripens and bears fnxit : ' Who in the world were wicked heretics. Who put their faith in false delusion. Made proselytes of others to their heresy, [116] They by their heresy begetting sin Must therefore suffer this excessive pain. So sharp, so cruel, so intolerable.'" Now in heaven the gods were sitting in Sudhamma Hall, looking for the king's coming. " Matali is a long time away," thought Sakka ; and he perceived the reason, so he said, "Matali is going the round as guide, showing all the different hells to the king and telling him what sin led to each hell. So calling to him a young god, very swift, he said to him — " Go tell Matali to bring the king quickly hither. He is using up King Nimi's life ; he must not go round all the hells." With speed the young god went, and gave his message. When Matali heard it, he said, " We must not delay" ; then showing to the king at one flash all the great hells in the four quarters, he recited a stanza :

' " An abyss full of blazing coals" : schol. 62 The Jdtaha. Booh XXII. "Now, mighty monarch, thou hast seen the place Of sinners, and where cruel men are sent. And where the wicked go : now, royal sage. Come let us hasten to the king of heaven." With this speech he turned the chariot towards heaven. As the king went towards heaven he beheld [117] in the air the mansion of a goddess, BiranT, with pinnacles of jewels and gold, ornamented in great magnificence, having a park and a lake covered with lilies, and surrounded with trees worthy of the place : and there was this goddess seated upon a divan in a gabled chamber towards the front, and attended by a thousand nymphs, looking out through an open window. He asked Matali who she was, and Matali explained it to him. " ' Behold yon mansion with five pinnacles : There, deckt with garlands, lies upon a couch A most puissant woman, who assumes All kinds of majesty and wondrous power. Joy comes on me to see it, charioteer : But tell me, Matali, what her good deeds. That she is happy in this heavenly mansion.' Then answered Matali the charioteer, Describing how good ripens and bears fruit : ' Heard you ever in the world of Biran1 1 A brahmin's home-born slave, who once received A guest at the right moment, welcomed him As mother might her son ; and therefore now, Generous and chaste, lives happy in this mansion.'"

[118] With these words, Matali drove the chariot onwards and showed him the seven golden mansions of the god Sonadinna. The other, when he saw these and the glory of the god, asked an explanation, which Matali gave. " ' There are seven mansions, shining clear and bright, Where dwells a mighty being, richly dight, "Who with his wives inhabits them. Delight Moves me, to see it : tell me, Matali, What is the good this mortal did, that he Dwells happy in this mansion heavenly?' Then answered Matali the charioteer. Declaring how good ripens and bears fruit : ' This once was Sonadinna, one who gave With royal bounty, and for hermits wrought Seven hennrtages : all their needs did crave He faithfully provided. Food he brought, Bedding to lie on, clothes to wear, and light. Contented with those men of life upright, He kept the sabbath day, and each fortnight The eighth, the fourteenth and the fifteenth days ; Generous, controlled, he walked in holy ways^, So now dwells in this mansion of delight.'" [119] Thus he described the deeds of Sonadinna; then driving onwards his chariot, he showed a mansion of crystal : in height it was five and

' See rv. 320i® fif., translation iv. 202 with note 1. twenty leagues, it had hundreds of columns made of the seven precious things, hundreds of pinnacles, it was set about with lattices and little bells, a banner of gold and silver flew, beside it was a park and grove full of many bright flowers, with a lovely lake of lilies, nymphs cunning to sing and to make music were there in plenty. Then the king seeing this asked what were the deeds of these nymphs, and the other told him. " ' Yon mansion built of crystal, shining bright. With pinnacles uplifted in the height, With food and drink in plenty, and a throng Of goodly women skilled in dance and song ! Joy seizes on me : tell me, INlatali, What good these women did, that now in heaven They dwell within this palace of delight ? ' Then answered Matali the charioteer. Describing how good ripens and bears fruit : ' These women ever walked in holy ways, Faithful lay sisters, kept the holy days, Generous, controlled, and watchful, heart-serene, Now happy in the mansion you have seen.'" He drove the chariot on, and showed a mansion of gems : it stood on a level spot, lofty, like a mountain of gems, bright shining, full of gods that played and sang divine music. Seeing this, the king asked what were the deeds of these gods, and the other replied.

[120] '"Yon mansion built of jewels, shining bright, Symmetrical, proportioned, a fair sight. Where in divinest melody around. Songs, dances, drums and tabours do resound : I never have beheld a sight so fair. Nor sounds so sweet have ever heard, I swear ! Joy seizes on me : tell me, Matali, What good these mortals did, that now I see Happy in this heavenly mansion of delight?' Then answered Matali the charioteer. Describing how good ri^tens and bears fruit : ' These were lay Brethren in the world of men : Provided parks and wells, or water drew In the well-shed, and tranquil saints did feed. Found clothes, food, drink and bedding, every need, Contented with these men of life upright, Who kept the sabbath day, and each fortnight The eighth, the fourteenth and the fifteenth days ; Generous, controlled, they walked in holy ways. And now dwell in this mansion of delight.' " Thus having described the deeds of these persons, he drove on and showed him another crystal mansion : with many a pinnacle, and all manner of flowers all about, and fine trees, echoing with the songs of birds of all kinds, by which flowed a river of pure water, [121] become the dwellingplace of a virtuous person surrounded by a company of nymphs. Seeing this the king asked what his deeds were ; and the other told him.

"'Yon mansion built of crystal, shining bright. Its pinnacles uplifted in the height. 64 The JataJca. Book XXIL With food and drink in plenty, and a throng Of goodly women skilled in dance and song, And rivers, fringed with many a flower and tree — Joy seizes on me : tell me, Matali, What good this mortal did in life, that he Rejoices in this mansion heavenly?' Then answered Matali the charioteer, Describing how good ripens and bears fruit : 'At Kimbila a householder was he, Bovmteous, gave parks and wells, and faithful!}' Drew water, and the tranquil saints did feed. Found clothes, food, drink and bedding, every need, Contented with these men of life upright, He kept the sabbath day, and each fortnight The eighth, the fourteentli and the fifteenth days ; Generous, controlled, he walked in holy ways. And now dwells in this mansion of delight.'" Thus he described the deeds of this man, and drove on. Then he showed another crystal mansion : this even more than the last was grown about with all manner of fruit and flowers and clumps of trees. This seen, the king asked what wei'e the deeds of this man who was so fortunate, and the other told him.

" ' Yon mansion, built of jewels, shining bright, Its pinnacles uplifted in the height. With food and drink in plenty, and a throng [122] Of goodly women skilled in dance and song. And rivers, fringed with many a tree and flower, Royal and elephant trees, and mango, sal, Roseapple sweet, and tindook, piyal bowei-. And orchard-trees fruit-bearing one and all — Joy seizes on me : tell me, Matali, What good this mortal did in life, that he Rejoices in this mansion heavenly ? ' Then answered Matali the charioteer, Describing how good ripens and bears fruit : 'At Mithila a householder was he. Bounteous, gave parks and wells, and feithfull}' Drew water, and the tranquil saints did feed. Found clothes, food, drink and bedding, all their need. Contented with these men of life upright. He kept the sabbath day, and each fortnight The eighth, the fourteenth and the fifteenth days ; Generous, controlled, he walked in holy ways. And now dwells in this mansion of delight.'" Thus he described the deeds of this man also, and drove on. Then he showed another mansion of jewels, like the first, and at the king's request told him the deeds of a god wlio was happy there.

" ' Yon mansion built of jewels, shining bright, Symmetrical, proportioned, a fair sight. Where in divinest melody around. Songs, dances, drums and tabours do resound : I never have beheld a sight so fair, Nor sounds so sweet have ever heard, I swear ! [123] Joy seizes on me : tell me, Matali, What good these mortals did, whom now I see Happy in this heavenly mansion of delight?' Then answered Matali the charioteer, Describing how good ripens and Ijears fruit : 'Once a Benares householder was he, Bounteous, gave parks and wells, and faithfully Drew water, and the tranquil saints did feed. Found clothes, food, drink and bedding, all their need, Contented with these men of life upright. He kept the sabbath day, and each fortnight The eighth, the fourteenth and tlie fifteenth days ; Generous, controlled, he walked in holy ways, And now dwells in this mansion of delight.'" Again driving on, he showed a mansion of gold, like the sun in his strength, and at the king's request told him the deeds of the god who " ' Behold yon mansion made of flaming fire, Red like the sun whereas he riseth higher ! Joy seizes on me : tell me, Matali, What good this mortal did in life, that he Rejoices in this mansion heavenly I ' Then answered Matali the charioteer, Describing how good ripens and bears fruit : ' Once a Savatthi householder was he, Bounteous, gave parks and wells, and fiiithfull}' Drew water, and the tranquil saints did feed, Found clothes, food, drink and bedding, all their need, Contented with these men of life upright. He kept the sabliath day, and each fortnight The eighth, the fourteenth and the fifteenth days ; Generous, controlled, he walked in holy ways, And now dwells iu this mansion of delight.'"

[124] As he thus described these eight mansions, Sakka, king of the gods, thinking that Matali was a long time in coming, sent another swift god with a message. Matali, on hearing the message, saw that there must be no more delay; so at one flash he showed many mansions, and described to the king what were the deeds of those who dwelt in them. " ' See many fiery mansions in the air, As in a bank of cloud the lightning's flare ! Joy seizes on me : tell me, Matali, What good these mortals did, whom now I see Rejoicing in the heavenly mansion there I ' Then answered ]\Iatali the charioteer. Describing how good ripens and bears fruit : 'Good-living, well-instructed, full of faith, They acted as the Master's teaching saith ; By living as the AUwise Buddha told They came to these abodes you now behold.'" Having thus shown him these mansions in the sky, he set out to come before Sakka with these words : " Thou'st seen the places of the good and wicked in the air ; Unto the monarch of the gods come let us now repair." 66 The Jataka. Book XXII.

[125] With these words he drove on, and showed him the seven hills which make a ring about Sineru; to explain how the king questioned Matali on speing these, the Master said : " As the king journeyed on hia way in the celestial car Drawn by a thousand steeds, he saw the mountain peaks afar In Sld.i ocean, and he asked, ' Tell me what hills these are.' " At this question of Nimi the god Matali replied : " The might)' hills Sudassara, Karavika, Tsadhara, Yugandhara, Nemindhara, Vinataka, Assakanna. These hills are in Sidantara, in order there they be, AVhich high-upstanding in the air thou, mighty king, dost see." Thus lie showed the Heaven of the Four Great Kings, and drove on until he could show the statues of Indra which stood around the great Cittakiita gateway of the Heaven of the Thirty-three. At this sight the king asked, and the other answered. " ' This place so fine, elaborate, adorned. Set round with Indra's statues, as it were By tigers guarded — [126] as I see this sight, Joy comes upon me : tell me, Matali, What is the name of this that I behold ? ' Then answered Matali the charioteer. Describing how good ripens and bears fruit : 'This place is Cittakuta which you see. The entrance to the place of heaven's king. The doorway of the Mountain Beautiful : Elaborate, adorned, and set about With Indra's statues, as by tigers guarded. Enter, wise king ! enter this spotless place.' "

With these words Matali led the king within ; so it is said — "Journeying in the car celestial. Drawn by a thousand steeds, the mighty king Beheld the place where all the gods assemble." And as he passed along, standing in the car still, he saw the place of the gods' assemblage in Sudhamma, and questioned Matali, Avho replied. "'As in the autumn is the sky all blue, So is that jewelled mansion to the ^'iew. Joy comes upon me : tell me, Matali, What is this mansion which I now behold?' Then answered ]\latali the charioteer, Describing how good ripens and bears fruit : [127] 'This is Sudhamma, where the gods assemble. Supported by fair columns, finely wrought. Eight-sided, made of gems and jewels rare, Where dwell the Three-and-thirty, with their chief. Lord Indra, thinking of the happiness Of gods and men : enter this lovely place, 0 mighty monarch, where the gods abide ! ' " The gods on their part sat watching for his arrival ; and when they lieard that the king was come, they went out to meet him with divine flowers and perfumes as far as the great Cittakuta gateway ; and presenting him with their flowei-s and perfumes they brought liim to Sudhamma Hall. The king dismounting from the car entered the hall of the gods, and the gods offered him a seat, Sakka the like and all pleasures too.

Explaining this, the Master S3,id ' : "The gods beheld the king arrive: and then, their guest to greet, Cried — ' Welcome, mighty monai'ch, whom we are so glad to meet ! 0 king ! beside the king of gods we jiray you take a seat.' And Sakka welcomed Vedeha, the king of Mithila town. Ay, Viisava offered him all joys and pi-ayed him to .sit down. ' Amid the rulers of the world O welcome to our land : Dwell with the gods, O king ! who have all wishes at command, Enjoy immortal pleasures, where the Three-and-thirty stand.' " Thus Sakka offered him celestial pleasures ; and the king declining made answer" : "As when a chariot, or when goods are given on demand. So is it to enjoy a bliss given by another's hand. [128] I care not blessings to receive given by another's hand, My goods are mine and mine alone when on my deeds I stand. I'll go and do much good to men, give alms throughout the land. Will follow virtue, exercise control and self-command : He that so acts is happy, and fears no remorse at hand." Thus did the Great Being discourse to the gods with honeyed sound ; and discoursing he stayed seven days by men's reckoning, aud gave delight to the company of the gods. And standing in the midst of the gods he described the virtue of Matali :

"A most obliging personage is Matali the charioteer, The places where the good abide and where the bad, he showed me clear." Then the king took leave of Sakka, saying that he wished to go to the world of men. Then Sakka said, "Friend Matali, take King Nimi at once to Mithila." He got ready the chariot ; the king exchanged friendly greetings with the company of gods, left them and entered the car. Matali drove the car eastwards to Mithila. There the crowd, seeing the chariot, were delighted to know that their king was returning. Matali passed round the city of Mithila rightwise, and put down the Great Being at the same window, took leave, and returned to his own place. A great number of people surrounded the king, and asked him what the gods' world was like. The king, describing the happiness of the gods and of Sakka their king, exhorted them to give alms and do good, for so they should be boin in that divine place. Afterwards, when his barber found a white hair and told him, he ^ Vol. IV. p. 356 (iv. 225 of the translation). ^ Vol. IV. p. 358 (iv. 225 of the translation) ; and ii. 257.

68 Tlie Jataha. Booh XXII. made the barber put aside that white hair; [129] then he gave a village to the barber, and desiring to renounce the world, made his son king in his place. So when asked why he wished to renounce the world, he recited the stanza, " Lo, these grey hairs"; and like the former kings he renounced the world, and dwelt in the same mango grove, developing the Four Excellencies, and became destined to Brahma's heaven. It is his renouncing of the world Avhich is described by the Master in the last stanza : " Thus spake King Nimi, lord of Mithila, And having made a mighty sacrifice, Entered upon the path of self-control." And his son, named Kalara-janaka, also renounced the world, and brought his line to an end. When the Master had finished this discourse, he said— "So, Brethren, this is not the first time the Tathagata left the world ; he did the same before." Then he identified the Birth : " At that time, Anuruddha was Sakka, Ananda was Matali, the eighty-four kings were the Buddha's followers, and King Nimi was I myself"

"/?i Pupphavatl once there reigned" etc. The Teacher, while dwelling on the Gijjhakuta mountain, related this story concerning Devadatta. Its substance is contained in the section relating to the sin of causing schisms in the community ; it is to be fully known by studying the Tathagata's conduct from his fii'.st becoming an ascetic down to the murder of King Bimbisara. As soon as he had caused him to be killed, Devadatta went to Ajatasattu and said to him, "O king, thy desire has attained its end, but mine has not yet attained it." He replied, "What is your desire?" "I wish to have Dasabala killed and then myself become Buddha." "Well, what have we to do/" "We must collect some archers together." The king assented and collected five hundred archers, all able to shoot as quick as the lightning, and of these he chose out one-andthirty [130] and sent them to wait on Devadatta, telling them to carry out his commands. He called the chief one amongst them and said to him, "My friend, the ascetic Gotama lives on the Gijjhakuta mountain: at a certain time he walks up and down in his place of retirement during the day ; do you go there and wound him with a poisoned arrow, and when you have killed him return hither by such a road." Then he sent two archers by that road, and said to them, "You will meet a man coming by your road, — kill him and return by such a road." Then he sent four archers by that road with the same instructions, and after that similarly eight and sixteen. If you ask why he did this, he did it to conceal his own wickedness. So this chief man among the archers bound his sword on his left side and his quiver on his back, and taking his bow made of a

ram's horn went to the Tathagata ; but after he had strung his bow to wound him, and fixed the an"ow, and pulled the string, he could not discharge it. His whole body became stift' as if it were crushed, and he stood territied with the fear of death. When the Teacher saw him he spoke in a gentle voice, "Fear not, come hither." He at once threw down his weapons and fell with his head on the Blessed One's feet, saying, "My lord, sin has overpowered me like a child or a fool or a sinner ; I knew not thy virtues, and I came here at the command of that blind dotard Devadatta, to take away thy life : forgive me, I pray." He gained his pardon and sat down on one side. Then the Teacher revealed the Truths to him and caused him to attain the first grade of sanctitication. Then he told him to return by another road than that ordered by Devadatta ; and himself came down from his covered walk and sat at the foot of a tree. As the first archer did not i"eturn, the two others came along the road to meet him, and wondered why he delayed so long, until at last they saw the Buddha, when they went up to him, and after saluting him sat down on one side of him. Then he revealed the Truths to them also and made them attain the first grade of sanctification, and told them to return by another road than that ordered by Devadatta.

In the same way, as the others came up and successi\'ely sat down, he established them also in the first grade of sanctification and sent them away by another road. Then the archer who first returned [131] went to Devadatta and said to him, "Master, I was not al)le to kill the AUwise One, he is the Mighty One, the Blessed One of supernatural powers." Thus they all recognised that they had saved their lives only tlu-ougli the Allwise One, and they embraced the ascetic life under him, and became arhats. This incident became known in the assembly of the Brotherhood, and one day they began to talk of it in the hall of truth ; "Brethren, have you heard how Devadatta, in his enmity against one person, the Blessed One, has tried hard to deprive many people of their lives, and how they all saved their lives through the Teacher 1" In came the Master and asked, "Brethren, what are you talking of as you sit here?" and when they told him, "This is not the first time," said he; "he tried before this to deprive many people of their lives in his enmity against me" ; and he told them a story of the past.

In the olden time this Benares was called Pupphavati. The son of King Vasavatti reigned there, named Ekaraja, and his son Candakumara was viceroy. A brahmin named Khandahala was the family priest: he gave the king counsel in temporal and spiritual matters, and the king, having a high opinion of his wisdom, made him a judge. But he, being fond of bribes, used to take bribes and dispossess the real ownei-s and put the wrong owners in possession. One day a man who had lost his suit went out of the judgment hall loudly complaining, and, as he saw Candakumara passing by to visit the king, he threw himself at his feet. The prince asked him what was the matter. "My lord, Khandahala robs the suitors when he judges : I have lost my cause, although I gave him a bribe." The prince told him to cease his fears, and, having taken him to court, made liim the owner of the disputed property. The people loudly shouted their applause. When the king heard it and asked the reason, they replied, "Candakumara has rightly decided a suit which was determined wrongly by Khandahala : this is why there was such shouting." When the prince came and had paid his homage, the king said to him, "My son, they say you have just judged a case." "Yes, Sire." He gave the office of judge to the prince and told him thenceforth to determine all

70 The Jdtaka. Book XXII. suits. Khandahala's income began to fall oft", and from that time he conceived a hatred against the prince and watched for some fanlt in him. Now the king had little religious insight; and one day at daAvn, at the end of his sleep he saw the heaven of the Thirty-three gods with its ornamented portico, and its walls made of the seven precious things, sixty [132] yojanas in extent, with golden streets, a thousand yojauas in height, adorned with the Vejayanta and other palaces, with all the glories of the Nandana and other forests and the Nanda and other lakes and tilled everywhere with heavenly beings. He longed to enter into it and he thought, "when the teacher Khandahala comes I will ask him the way to the world of the gods, and I will enter it by the road which he points out." Khandahala came to the palace in the early morning, and asked whether the king had passed a happy night. Then the king commanded that a seat should be given him and asked his question. The Teacher has thus narrated it : "In PupphavatI once there reigned a wicked king who in his need Asked Khandahala, his base priest, bi-ahmin in name but not in deed ;

Thou art a seer to whom, they say, all sacred learning has been given, — Tell me the road whose travellers rise by their good merits up to heaven." Now this was a question which, in default of an all-knowing Buddha or his disciples, one must ask of a Bodhisatta, but which the king asked of Khandahala; just as a man who for seven days had lost his way might ask guidance of another who had lost his way for a fortnight. He thought to himself, "Now is the time to see my enemy's back, now I will kill Candakumara and fulfil my desire." So he addressed the king: "Exceeding many gifts bestow, those who deserve not death destroy, — Thus men surpassing merit win and I'cach at last to heaven's joy." The king asked : "What are th' exceeding many gifts .^ and who deserve not to be slain? I'll give the gifts, the victims slay, if you but make your meaning plain."' [133] Then he explained his meaning: "Thy sons, thy queens must oftercd be, thy morel lant princes too must fall. Thy choicest bulls, thy noblest steeds, — yea the four kinds of victims all"; And thus, being asked the road to heaven, in answer to the question he declared the road to hell.

He said to himself, "If I take Candakumara alone they will think that I have done it through enmity to him"; so he put him in with a number of people. When the matter came to be talked about, the ladies of the royal palace, hearing the rumour, were filled with alarm, and at once raised a loud cry. Explaining this, the Master recited a stanza : "The royal ladies heard the news: 'Princes and queens are doomed,' they cried, And a wild cry of sudden fear rose u^) to heaven on every side." The entire royal family were agitated like a grove of sal trees shaken by the wind at the woi'ld's end; even the brahmin asked the king whether or not it was possible for him to offer the sacrifice. "What dost thon mean, O teacher"? If I offer it I shall go to the world of the gods." "O king, those who are timid and weak of purpose cannot offer this sacrifice. Do thou assemble them all here, and I will make the offering in the sacrificial pit." So he took sufficient forces and went out of the city, and ordered a sacrificial pit to be dug with a level floor, and surrounded it with a fence ; for ancient brahmins had enjoined that this surrounding fence should be made, lest some righteous ascetic or brahmin might come and stop the rite.

[134] The king also caused a proclamation to be made, "By sacrificing my sons and daughters and my wives I shall go to the world of the gods, do you go and announce this to them and bring them all here"; and he at once ordered them to bring his sons : "Warn Cauda, Suriya^ of my will, then Bhaddasena in his turn, Sura and Vainagotta next, — they must all die : my will i.s stern." So they went first to Candakumfira and said, "0 prince, thy father desires to kill thee and go to heaven ; he has sent us to seize thee." "By whose instructions has he ordered me to be seized?" "By those of Khandahala." "Does he wish to have me alone seized or others also with me?" "Others also with thee, for he desires to offer a sacrifice of the four kinds of victims." He thought to himself, "He has no enmity against others, but he intends to put many to death in his enmity against me alone, because I prevent him from committing I'obbery by his unjust judgment ; it is my duty to obtain an interview with my father and gain from him the release of all the rest." So he said to them, "Carry out my father's commands." They took him to the palace yard and placed him by himself, and then they brought the other three" and when they had set them near they informed the king. Then he bade them bring his daughters and place them near the others:

"Upaseui and Kokila, Muditil, Nanda, each in turn. Tell the princesses of their doom, — they must all die : my will is steiui." So they went and brought them weeping and wailing, and placed them near their brothers. Then the king uttered a stanza to order that his wives should be seized : "Tell Vijayil, first of all my queens, Sunanda, Kesini, each in turn, — With all their beauty and their charms, they must all die : my will is stern." [135] Then they brought them also, loudly wailing, and placed them ^ Tlie scholiast adds that these were the sons of Queen Gotamfi, but perhajDs Canda-Suriya is only one name; see afteiwai'ds. Two i^rinces are especially mentioned and identified at the final summary. - Should it not be 'four'? 72 The JdtaJca. Book XXII. uear the princes. Theu the king uttered a stanza ordering them to seize his four merchants: "Punnamukha and Bhaddiya, Singala, Vaddha, each in turn, Bear to my merchants my command, — they all must die : my will is steni." The king's officers went and brought them. When the king's sons and wives were brought the citizens uttered not awoi'd; but the merchants had a widely-spread kindred, and the whole city was troubled when they were seized, and loudly protested against their being sacrificed, and went with their relatives into the king's presence. Then the merchants surrounded by their kindred begged the king to spare their lives. Explaining this, the Master said :

" The merchants raised a bitter cry, surrounded by their sons and wives, ' Leave but the topknot, shave our heads, — make us thy slaves, but spare our lives.'" Still however much they entreated, they could not find mercy. The king's officers at last forced the rest to retire and dragged the merchants to stand near the princes. Then the king ordered the elephants and the other animals to be brought: " Bring hither all my elephants, of matchless might, and costly price, j\[y best of horses and of mules, let them all be the sacrifice; [136] My bulls the leaders of the herd, — a noble ofiering they shall be ; And all the officiating priests shall have their gifts accordingly. ]\Iake ready for the sacrifice against to-morrow's dawning light ; And bid the princes feast their fill, enjoying now their life'.s last night." The king's father and mother were still living, so men went and told them of their son's purposed offering. In consternation they took their hearts in their hands and went weeping before him, " Is it true, O son, that thou purposest such a sacrifice ? " The Teacher thus described it : " The mother left her royal home, ' My son, what means this monstrous thing 'l Must thy four sons be put to death to swell thy cruel oflFering ? ' "

The king answered : "When I lose Cauda I lose all; but him and them will I resign, For by this co.stly sacrifice a heavenly dwelling will be mine." His mother said : " To sacrifice thy sons, my child, can never lead to heaven's bliss ; Give ear to no such lying words; the road to hell and night is this." [137] Take thou the well-proved royal road : let all thy wealth in alms be given, And hurt no living thing on eai'th — this is the certain path to heaven." The king replied : " I must obey my teacher's words, — my sons alas ! must all be slain, — 'Tis hard indeed to part with them, but heaven's the prize which I shall gain." So the mother went away, being nnable to convince him by her words. Then the father heai'd the tidings and came to remonstrate. The Teacher describes what happened : " The father Vasavatti came : ' Strange tidings fill my soul with fright ! Must thy four sons be put to death to crown to the full thy monstrous rite ? ' " The same dialogue is repeated [138] and the old king, unable to turn his son, goes away repeating as his parting words:

" Give all thou canst and never harm a living thing of thine own will ; And with thy sons as body-guard shield thou thy land from every ill." Then Candakumara thought within himself, "All this sorrow has befallen so many people on my single account, I will entreat my father and so deliver them all from the pain of death " ; so he thus spoke to his father ; " Let us be Khandahala's slaves, but spare our lives and do not kill, His horses and his elephants we'll watch in chains, if such his will. Let us be Khandahala's slaves, but spare our lives and do not kill. We'll sweep his stables and his yards, and work in chains, if such his will. Give us as slaves to whom thou wilt, — we are as bondsmen in thy hands ; Or banish us from thy domains to beg our bread in foreign lands." The king listened to his lamentations, and felt his heai-t broken ; and his eyes filled with tears, and he ordered them all to be set free : " No one," he said, ** shall kill my sons, I have no need of the world of the gods."

" These piteous pleadings for their lives do break my heart, — go set them free. Release the princes, let them go : no more of sacrifice for me." On hearing the king's words they set the whole multitude at liberty, beginning with the princes and ending with the birds. Khandahala [139] was busily engaged in the sacrificial pit, and a man said to him, " You villain Khandahala, the king has released the princes ; do you go and kill your own sons and offer a sacrifice with their throats' blood." " What has the king been doing? " he cried, and he rushed in haste and said to him: " I warned thee that this sacrifice would prove a hard and toilsome one ; Why interfere to stop the rite when it is all so well begim ? They who give ofi^'erings such as these go by a certain road to heaven ; Or those who heartily approve, seeing the same by others given." The blinded king, hearing the words of the incensed brahmin, and having his thoughts fixed on religion, ordered his sons to be recaptured. Then Candakumara reasoned with his father : "Why did the brahmin at our birth utter vain blessings on our 2)ath, When 'twas our fate that we should die innocent victims of thy wrath '/

Why didst thou S2)are us while still babes, too young as yet to feel the blow '? We are to die to-day instead, now that the joys of youth we know. Think of us riding clothed in mail on horse or elephant to the fight, And then as victims butchered here in sacrifice — can this be right ? Tn battle 'gainst a rebel chief or in a forest such as I Are wont to serve : whom now thou slay'st without a cause or reason why. 74 The Jataka. Book XXII. See the wild birds who build their nests and sing amidst the trees all day, They love their young and tend them well — and thou, would'st thou thy children slay \ [140] Nor think thy treacherous brahmin friend will spare thy life when I am gone ; Thy turn, O king, will follow next: I shall not perish all alone. Kings give these brahmins villages, choice cities are their appanage, On everj' family they feed and gain a goodly heritage ; And 'tis these benefactors, sire, whom they most readily betraj' ; The brahmin order, take my word, arc faithless and ingrate alway^." [141] The king exclaimed, on hearing his son's reproach :

"These piteous pleadings for their lives do break my heart, — go set them free, Release the princes and the rest, no more of sacrifice for me." Khandahala again rushed up as before and repeated his former expostulations ; and the prince again reasoned with his father : " If they who sacrifice their sons are, when they die, all glorified. Then let the brahmin offer his : the king shall follow him as guide. If they who sacrifice their sons go straight to heaven when they die, Why does the brahmin offer not himself and all his family ? Xay rather, they who oft'er up such victims all shall go to hell. And those who dare to approve the deed shall perish at the last as well." When the prince, as he uttered these words, found that he could not convince his father, he turned to the multitude who surrounded the king and thus addressed them : [142] "How can the fathers, mothers, here stand silent, looking on, and none. Loving their children as they do, forl)ids the king to slay his son ? I love the welfare of the king, I love to sec your hearts rejoice, And is there none among you found to utter one protesting voice?"

But not one spoke a word. Then the prince bade his wives go and implore the king to show pity : "Go, noble ladies, with your prayers, implore the king, implore his priest. To spare these guiltless sons of his, well-proved in battle's sternest test ; Implore the king, implore the priest, to spare these sons unstained by crime. Whose names are blazoned through the world, the glory of their land and time." They went and implored him to show mercy ; but the king paid no regard. Then the prince feeling himself helpless began to lament : " O had I but been born from courts aloof, Under some cobbler's, sweeper's, outcast's roof, I should have lived my days to the end in peace, Nor died a victim to a king's caprice." Then he exclaimed : "Go, all ye women in a band, — low before Khandahala fall. And tell him ye have wronged him not, that ye are guiltless one and all." ^ He tlieu repeats the six stanzas "Let us be Khanilahala's slaves," &c. from p. 73, [143] These are the Teacher's words: " Loudly wails Sela when she sees her brothers sentenced by the king, 'My father longs for heaven, they say, and this forsooth his offering.'"

Bnt the king paid no regard to her either. Then the prince's son Vasula, seeing his father's grief, said, " I will entreat my grandfather, I will make him grant me my father's life," and he fell at the king's feet and lamented. The Teacher thus described it : "Then Vasula with uncertain steps went this way, that way to the throne, • *0 spare our father, children we, — leave us not helpless and alone.'" The king heai'd his lament, and his heart being as it were cleft in twain, he embraced the boy with tears in his eyes and said to him, " Be comforted, my child, I will give thy father up to thee," and he uttered his orders : " Here is thy father, Vasula ; thy words o'erpower me, — he is free ; Release the princes, let them go, — no more of sacrifice for me." Then again Khaudaliala rushed iip with his old expostulations, [1-14] and again the king blindly yielded to his words and ordered his sons to be recaptured. Then Khandahala thought to himself, "This tender-hearted king now seizes his sons and now releases them : he wall now again release them through the words of his children; I will take him into the sacrificial pit." So he repeated a verse to urge him to go thither:

" The sacrifice has been prepared, the costliest treasures have been given : Go forth, O king, to offer it, and claim the choicest joys of heaven." When they took the Bodhisatta into the sacrificial pit tlie royal ladies went out in a body. The Teacher has described it : " Prince Chauda's seven hundred queens, radiant in all their youthful bloom, With hair dishevelled, weeping eyes, followed the hero to his doom ; And other ladies joined the train like beings from heaven's firmament. With hair dishevelled, weeping eyes, following the hero as he went." Then they all raised their lamentations : " With earrings, aloes, sandal- wood, in KasI silk of costly price, See Cauda, Suriya' yonder led as victims to the sacrifice. Piercing their mother's heart with woe, filling the citizens with gloom. See Cauda, Suriya youder led as victims to their cruel doom. Bathed and perfumed with richest scents and with white robes ui KfisI drest. See Canda, Suriya yonder led as victims at the king's behest. [145] They who once rode on elephants, a gallant sight for every eye. Our Canda, Suriya yonder see, toiling along on foot to die. They who in chariots wont to ride, or mules, or horses gold-bedight. Our Canda, Suriya ^ yonder see, toiling on foot to die ere night."

1 It is curious to observe that the prose throughout has only one prince, but the verses seem to have two. 76 The Jataka. Bool' XXTL While the queens were thus lanienting, the officers carried the Bodhisatta out of the city. The whole city went out with him in great agitation. But as the vast multitude went out, the gates were not wide enough to give them room ; and the brahmin apprehensive of what might happen, ordered the gates to be stopped up. The multitude were thus unable to find an outlet ; but there was a garden near the inner gate, and they gathered there and lamented the prince's fate with a loud cry ; and at the sound a great concourse of birds gathei-ed in the sky. The citizens raised a general wailing and thus addressed the birds : "Birds, would ye feast on flesh? then fly to Pupphavati's eastern gate, There the mad king is oflering u[) his four brave sons in blinded hate. Birds, would ye feast on flesh ? then fly to Pui)phavat!'s feistern gate. There the mad king is offering up four daughters in his blinded hate^.'' [146] Thus did the multitude lament in the garden. Then they went to the Bodhisatta's house, going round it in solemn proce.ssiou and uttering their lamentations as they gazed on the queens' apartments, the towers and gardens, [HI] the groves and lakes, and the elephants' stables-':

" Villages uninhabited turn to a forest solitude ; So will our capital lie waste, if once our princes shed their blood." [148] Unable to find a way out of the city, they wandered about lamenting within its walls. In the meantime the Bodhisatta was led to the sacrificial pit. Then his mother, Queen Gotami, threw herself prostrate at the king's feet, begging with tears and cries that he would spare her son's life : "I shall go crazy in my grief, covered with dust, undone, forlorn, If my son Canda^ has to die, my breath will choke me as I mourn." When she got no answer from the king, she embraced the prince's four wives and said to them, "My son must have gone away from you in displeasure, why do you not persuade him to turn back ] " "Why do you not talk lovingly each to the other as ye stand, And dance around him cheerfully, clasping each other hand in hand, Until his melancholy flies and leaves him cured at your command. For who can dance, indeed, like you, although they search through all the land '," Then seeing nothing else that could be done she ceased to lament with the royal ladies and began to curse Khandahala :

"Now may thy mother, cruel priest, feel all the l)itter agony Which tears my heart when I behold my precious Cauda led to die''. ^ Six stanzas are omitted here about the four queens, householders, elephant? horses, bulls, and the complete sacrifice of four kinds of victims. See Morris, Pali Text S. Journ. 186-1, p. 80. - Some 15 stanzas are here omitted, as they only repeat what has been said before. ■^ This verse is repeated with the name Suriya instead of Cauda. ^ Cp. IV. 2851'-. [149] Now may thy wife, O cruel priest, feel all the bitter agony Which tears my soul when I behold my i>recious Suriya led to die ; May she see sons and husband slain, for thou, O cruel priest, to-day The pride and glor}- of tlie world, those guiltless lion-hearts wouldst slay." Then the Bodhisatta entreated his father in the sacrificial pit' : [150] " Some women long and beg for sons and offer prayers and gifts to heaven, They long for sons and grandsons too, but none to cheer their homes are given ; 0 slay us not thus recklessly, though given in answer unto prayer. Nor offer us a sacrifice in spite of all our mother's care."

When he received no reply from his father, he fell lamenting at his mother's feet : " Tenderly hast thou nursed thy son, hard is the lot which falls to thee ; 1 bow before thy sacred feet : all blessings on my father be. Give me thy feet to kiss once more, embrace me, mother, ere we part, 'Tis a long journey which I go, a bitter sorrow to thy heart." [151] Then his mother uttered her stanzas of wailing: " Bind on your head, my darling son, a diadem of lotus leaves. With campak flowers, — such coronal thy manly beauty well receives. For the last time anoint thyself with all those unguents rich and rare Which in old days before the king in court festivities thou didst wear. For the last time put on, my boy, bright KasI silk in fine array. And wear the jewels and the pearls which thou shouldst wear on gala ilay." Then his chief queen, named Canda, fell at his feet and bitterly lamented : "This lord of lands, this sovereign king, whose will in all his realm is done, Sole heir of all his country's wealth, has no affection for his son."

When the king heard her he replied : " Aly sons are dear, myself is dear, and ye, my queens, are dear as well ; I sacrifice my son, because I wish to go to heaven, not hell." [152] Cauda exclaimed : "0 king, in mercy slay me first, nor let the anguish rend my heart. Thy boy is garlanded for Ijoth, he is complete in every part. Slay us together on the pile, and let me go where Canda goes : Infinite merit will be thine, two souls will rise to heaven's repose." The king answered : "Wish not for death before its time; gallant brothers-in-law hast thou; They will console thee, large-eyed one, for the dear prince thou losest now." Then she beat her breast with her hands, and threatened to drink poison, and at length she burst into loud lamentations : " No friends or counsellors surround this king, Who dare to warn him not to do this thing, ' I omit the eight fines repeated from p. 7i. 78 The Jataha. Booh XXII. He has no faithful ministers, not one, Who dares persuade him not to slay his son. [153] His other sons wear all their bravery, l^et them be offered and set Cauda free.

Cut me in pieces, ofier me, — but spare my elde.st son, my knight. Him whom the world doth reverence, the lion-hearted in the tight." Having thus mourned out her soul and found no comfort, she went iij) to the Bodhisatta and stood weeping by his side, until he said to her, " O Cauda, during my lifetime many various peai'ls and gems have been given by me to thee in times of social unbending ; now to-day T give thee this last ornament from my body; pray accept it." Cauda burst into tears, uttering the following stanzas: " His shoulders once were bright with flowers, which hung down as his diadem, — To-day the cruel sharp bright sword spreads its dark shadow over them. Soon will the sword come sweeping down upon that guiltless royal neck, — Ah ! iron bands must liind my heart, — or else what could it do but [154] With aloes and with sandal decked, wearing rich silks and many a ring. Go, Canda-Suriya, to the pile, befitting oflering for the king. With aloes and with sandal-wood, with silken robes and gems of price, Go, Canda-Sm-iya, to the pile, the gi-eat king's worthy S£xcrifice.

Bathed for the offering, waiting tliere in silk and gems the impending blow. Go, Canda-Suriya, to the pile, filling the people's hearts with woe." While she thus lamented, all the preparations were completed in the sacrificial pit. They brought the prince and placed him in his proper position with his neck bent forward. Khandahala held the golden bowl close and took the sword and stood up, saying, " 1 will cut his neck." When the queen Cauda saw this, she .said to herself, " I have no other refuge, I will bless my lord with all my power of truth," and she clasped her hands, and, walking amidst the as.sembly, performed a solemn asseveration of truth. The Teacher thus described it : " When all is ready for the rite and Cauda sits and waits the blow. The daughter of the Paucal king went through the assembly, high and low : ' As ti-uly as the brahmin here works a vile purpose by his guile, So may 1 gain my dear-loved lord restored me in a little while. May all the spirits in this place — ghosts, goblins, fairies — hear my word, Do my commission loyally and reunite me to my lord.

[155] Oh all ye gods who fill this place, lo ! prostrate at your feet I fall. Protect me in my helplessness, hear me in mercy as I call.' ''' Sakka, the king of the gods, having heard her cry^ and seen what had happened, took a blazing mass of iron and friglitened the king, and dispersed the assembly. The Teacher has described the scene : " A heavenly being heard the cry and came to earth to help the right, Whirling a blazing iron mass, tilling the tyrant's heart with fright, ' Know me, 0 tyrant, who I am ; mark well the weapon which I wield, Harm not thy guiltless eldest son, the lion of the battlefield. Where has earth seen a crime like this, — thy sons, their wives, to slaughter given. With all thy noblest citizens, worthy to fill my highest heaven?' The tyrant and his minister then set the guiltless victims free, And all the crowd seized sticks and stones, and in a fit of frenzied glee Made Khandahala there and then pay forfeit for his cruelty." [156] When they had killed the minister, the great crowd sought to put the king himself to death ; but Sakka embraced him and would not allow them to kill him. The multitude decided that they would spai'e his life, " but we will not give him rule or dwelling in this city, — we will make him an outcast and appoint his dwelling outside this city." So they stripped him of his royal garments and made him wear a yellow dress, and put a yellow cloth on his head, and having made him an outcast sent him away to an outcast-settlement. And all who had helped in any way in the sacrifice or approved of it went to hell as their portion.

The Teacher uttered this stanza : "All who had done so vile a deed passed straight to hell, — none could attain An afterbirth in any heaven, who bore the trace of such a stain." The great multitude, having caused the two monsters of wickedness to be removed out of sight, brought the materials for the coronation and anointed Prince Cauda as king. " When all the captives were released, a vast assembly gathering With solemn pomp and festival anointed r'auda to be king ; A vast assembly, gods and men, waved cloths and flags and sang his praise. Starting a new and happy I'eign of plenty, peace and halcyon days. Men, women, gods and goddesses joined in one great festivity. Comfort and peace filled every home and every captive was set free." [157] The Bodhisatta caused all his father's wants to be attended to, but he was not allowed to enter within the city ; and when all his allowance was spent, he used to go up to the Bodhisatta, when the latter went to join in the amusements of the public gardens or other public spectacles. At these times he did not use to join his hands to salvite his son, for he said to himself, "I am the true king," but he addressed him, "Live

' I read tassd. 80 Tlie Jdtaka. Booh XXII. long, O Master " ; and when he was asked what he wanted, he mentioned it, and the Bodhisatta ordered the sum to be given to him. Wlieu the ^Master had ended his discourse, he added, " Brethren, this is not the first time that Devadatta has sought to kill many persons on my sole account ; he did the same before.' Then he identified the Birth : "At that time Devadatta was Khandahala, Mahamaya was Queen Gotama, Rahula's mother was Cauda, Rahula wa.s Vasula, Uppalavanna was Sela, Kassapa of the Vama family was Sura, Moggallana was Candasena, Sariputta was Prince Suriya and I myself was Candaraja."

" Whatever jeu-eh there may he" etc. This story the Master told, while dwelling at Savatthi, about .some lay- brethren who kept the fa.st-days. On a fast-day, it is said, they rose early in the morning, took npon them the fasting vows, gave alms, and after their meal took perfumes and garlands in their hands and went to Jetavana, and at the time of hearing the Law seated them.selves on one side. The Master, coming to the Hall of Truth, having sat down in the adorned Buddha-seat, looked upon the assembly of the brethren. [158] Now the Tathagatas like to converse with those among the brethren or others, in reference to whom a religious discom'se takes its rise ; therefore on the present occasion, as he knew that a religious di.scourse concerning former teachers would arise in connection with the.se lay -brethren, while he was conversing with them, he asked them, "0 lay-brethren, do you keep the fast-day?" On their replying in the affirmative, he .said, " It is right and well done of you, 0 lay-brethren ; but yet it is no matter for wonder that you who have a Buddha teacher like me should keep the fast-day, — sages of old who were without any teacher forsook great glory and kept the fast-da\-." And so saying, he told at their request an old legend of the past.

Once upon a time, Brahniadatta, when he was reigning in Benares, had made his son viceroy ; but wlien he saw his great glory, he became suspicious lest he should also seize the kingdom. So he said to him, " Do 3^ou depart hence and dwell for the present where you please, and at my death take the hereditary kingdom." The prince complied, and after saluting his father, went out and proceeding to the Yamuna built a hut of leaves between the river and the sea and dwelt there, living on roots and fruits. Now at that time a young Naga female in the Naga-world beneath the ocean who had lost her husband, and on account of her carnal passions when she saw the happiness of the other Nagas who had husbands living she had left the Naga-world, was wandering by the seashore, when she observed the prince's foot-priiits, and following the track saw the hut of leaves. Now the pi'ince happened to be away, having gone out in seai-ch of various kinds of fruit. She entered into the hut, and as she saw the wooden bedstead and the rest of the fiirnitui-e she thought to herself, "This is the dwelling-place of some ascetic, I will prove him, whether he is an ascetic from faith or iiot. If he is an ascetic from faith and bent upon self-abnegation he will not accept my adorned bed ; but if he is at heart a lover of pleasure and not an ascetic from faith he will lie down on my bed ;

then I will take him and make him my husband and dwell here." So she went back to the Naga-world and collected divine flowers and perfumes and prepared a bed of flowers, and having made an offering of flowers and scattered perfumed powder about and adorned the hut, she departed to the abode of the Nagas. When the prince returned at evening time and entered the hut, and saw what she had done, he said, "Who has prepared [159] this bed?" And when he ate the various fruits, he exclaimed, "Oh these sweet-scented flowers, this bed has been pleasantly arranged," and being filled with pleasure as he was not a true ascetic at heart, he lay down on the couch of flowers and fell fast asleep. The next day he rose at sunrise and went off" to collect fruits, without sweeping his hut of leaves. At that moment the female Naga came up and seeing the withered flowers knew at once, " This man is a lover of pleasure and not an ascetic from faith, I shall be able to capture him " ; so she took away the old flowers and brought others and spread a fresh bed and adorned the hut of leaves and strewed flowers etc. in the covered walk and then returned to the Naga-world. He rested that night also on that bed of flowers and the next day he thought to himself, "Who can it be that adorns this hut ?

" So he did not go out to gather fruits, but remained concealed not far from the hut. The Naga woman, having collected perfumes and flowers, came along the path to the hermitage. The prince, having beheld the Naga in all her great beauty, at once fell in love with her, and, without letting himself be seen, entered the hut as she was preparing the couch and asked her who she was. " My lord, I am a Naga woman." "Hast thou a husband or not?" "I am a widow without a husband; and where dost thou dwell?" "I am Brahmadattakumara, the son of the king of Benares ; but why dost thou wander about, leaving the abode of the Nagas?" "My lord, as I beheld the happiness of the other Naga women who had husbands I became discontented on account of carnal passion and I came away and go wandering about, seeking for a husband." " I also am not an ascetic from faith, but I have come to dwell here because my father drove me away ; vex not thyself, I will be thy husband and we will dwell here in concord." She at once consented ; J. VI. 6

82 The JdtaJca. Book XXII. and from that time they lived harmoniously together there. By her magic power she made a costly house and brought a costly couch and spread a bed. Thenceforth he ate no roots or fruits but feasted on divine meat and drink. After a while she conceived and brought forth a son whom they called Sagara-Brahmadatta. [160] When the child was able to walk, she brought forth a daughter, and as she was born on the seashore they called her Samuddaja, Now a fore.ster who lived in Benares came to that place, and on giving him greeting recognised the prince, and after he had stayed there a few days, he said, " My lord, I will tell the king's family that you ax"e dwelling here," and he accordingly departed and went to the city. Now just then the king died, and after the ministers had buried him they met together on the seventh day, and they deliberated togethei-, "a kingdom without a king cannot stand ; we know not where the prince dwells nor whether he is alive or dead, — we will send forth the festal car and so get a king." At that time the forester came to the city, and having heard the news went to the ministers and told them that before he came there he had been staying thi'ee or four days near the prince. The ministers paid him respect and went there under his guidance, and after a friendly gi-eeting told the prince that the king was dead and asked him to assume the kingdom.

He thought to himself, "I will learn what the Naga woman thinks " ; so he went to her and said, " Lady, my father is dead and his ministers have come to raise the royal umbrella over me ; let us go and we will both reign in Benares which is twelve yojanas in extent, and you shall be the chief among the sixteen thousand queens." "My lord, I cannot go." "Why?" "We possess deadly poison and we are ea.sily displeased for a trifling matter; and the anger of a co-wife is a serious thing ; if I see or hear anything and cast an angry glance thereon, it will be instantly scattered like a handful of chaflf ; therefore I cannot go." The prince asked her again the next day ; and then she said to him, " I myself will on no account go, but these my sons are not young Nagas ; as they are your children they are of the race of men ; if you love me watch over them. But as they are of a watery nature and therefore delicate, they would die if they went by the road and bore the burden of the wind and sunshine ; so I will hollow out a boat and fill it with water, and you shall let them play in the water and when you have brought them to the city [161] you shall have a lake prepared in the precincts of the palace;