The Jātaka, vol. II (nos. 151-300)

" He smiles not," etc. — This story the Master told whilst dwelling at Savatthi, about a certain Brother. This Brother took a piece of cloth, deposited by his teacher, feehng confident that if he took it his teacher would not be angry. Then he made a shoe-bag of it, and took his leave. When this teacher asked why he took it, he replied he had felt confident, if he did, that his teacher would not be angry. The teacher flew into a passion, [131] got up and struck him a blow. "What confidence is there between you and me^' he asked. This fact became known among the Brotherhood. One day the brotliers were all together talking about it in the Hall of Truth. "Friend, young Brother 92 The Jdtaka. Booh II. So-and-so felt so confident of his teacher's friendship, that he took a piece of cloth, and made it into a shoe-bag. Then the teacher asked him what confidence there was between them, flew into a passion, jumped up, and gave him a blow." The ]\Iaster came in, and asked them what they were talking of as they sat there together. They told him. Then he said, " This is not the first time. Brothers, that this man has disappointed the confidence of his fellow. He did the same before." And then he told an old-world tale.

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born as a brahmin's son in the 'realm of Kasi. When he came of age, he renounced the world ; he caused to grow in him the Supernatural Faculties and the Attainments, and took up his abode in the region of Himalaya with a band of disciples. One of this band of ascetics disobeyed the voice of the Bodhisatta, and kept a young elephant which had lost its dam. This creature by and by grew big, then killed its master and made off into the forest. The ascetics did his obsequies ; and then, coming about the Bodhisatta, they put this question to him. " Sir, how may we know whether one is a friend or an enemy % " This the Bodhisatta declared to them in the following stanzas : — " He smiles not when he sees him, no welcome will he show. He will not turn his eyes that way, and answers him with No. " These are the marks and tokens by which your foe you see : These if a wise man sees and hears he knows his enemy." [132] In these words the Bodhisatta declared the marks of friend and foe. Thereafter he cultivated the Excellences, and entered the heaven of Brahma.

When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth : — " The Brother in question was he who kept the pet elephant, his teacher was the elephant, the Buddha's followers were then the band of hermits, and I myself was their chief." " / come, my son" etc. — This story the Master told whilst living at Jetavana, about a brother who was a backslider. AVe hear that the blaster asked him if he really were a backslider ; and he replied, yes, he was. Being asked the reason, he reiilied, "Because my passions ' There are many variants of this story. Compare Gesta Romanoriim (Early Eng. Text See), no. 45, pp. 174 ff. ; Bake of the KnUjht dc la Tour Landry (same series), p. 22. Compare no. 145. were aroused on seeing a woman in her finery." Then the Master said, " Brother, there is no watching women. In days of yore, watchers were jilaced to guard the doors, and yet they could not keeji thcni safe ; even when you have got them, you cannot keep them." And ho told an old-world talc. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta came into the world as a young parrot. His name was Radha, and his 3'oungest brother was named Pottliapada. While th(^y were yet quite young, both of them were caught by a fowler and handed over to a brahmin in Benares. The brahmin cared for them as if they were his children. [133] But the brahmin's wife was a wicked woman; there was no watching her.

The husband had to go away on business, and addressed his young parrots thus. " Little dears, I am going away on business. Keep watch on your mother in season and out of season ; obsei-ve whether or not any man visits her." So oft' he went, leaving his wife in charge of the young parrots. As soon as he was gone, the woman began to do wrong; night and day the visitors came and went — there was no end to them, Potthapada, observing this, said to Radha — " Our master gave this woman into our charge, and here she is doing wickedness. I will speak to her." " Don't," said Radha. But the other would not listen. " Mother," said he, "why do you commit sin?" How she longed to kill him ! But making as though she would fondle him, she called him to her. " Little one, you are my son ! I will never do it again ! Here, then, the dear ! " So he came out ; then she seized him crying, " What ! you preach to me ! you don't know your measiire ! " and she wrung his neck, and threw him into the oven.

The brahmin returned. When he had rested, he asked the Bodhisatta: " Well, my dear, what about your mother — does she do wrong, or no ? " and as he asked the question, he repeated the first couplet : — " I come, my son, the journey done, and now I am at home again : Come tell me ; is your mother true ? does she make love to other men V Radha answered, " Father dear, the wise speak not of things which do not conduce to blessing, whether they have hajjpened or not " ; and he explained this by repeating the second couplet : [134] " For what he said he now lies dead, bm-nt up beneath the ashes there : It is not well the truth to tell, lest Potthapilda's fate I share." 94 The Jataka. Booh II. Thus did the Bodhisatta hold forth to the brahmin ; and he went on — " This is no place for me to live in either " ; then bidding the brahmin farewell, he flew away to the woods. When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths, and identified the Birth : — at the conclusion of the Truths the backsliding Brother reached the Fruit of the First Path: — "Anauda was Potthapada, and I myself was Radha."

" / like not this," etc. — This story the Master told, also about a backsliding Brother, during a sojourn in Jetavana, and in the course of his address he said, " Womankind can never be kept right ; somehow or other they will sin and trick their husbands." And then he told the following story. Once upon a time, in the reign of Brahmadatta, king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born in the realm of Kasi as a householder's son : and coming of age he married and settled down. Now his wife was a wicked woman, and she intrigued with the village headman. The Bodhisatta got wind of it, and bethouglit him how he might put her to the test. [135] At that time all the grain had been carried away during the rainy season, and there was a famine. But it was the time when the corn had just sprouted ; and all the villagers came together, and besought help of their headman, saying, "Two months from now, when we have harvested the grain, we will pay you in kind " ; so they got an old ox from him, and ate it. One day, the headman watched his chance, and when the Bodhisatta was gone abroad he visited the house. Just as the two were happy together, the Bodhisatta came in by the village gate, and set his face towards home. The woman was looking towai'ds the village gate, and saw him. "Why, who's this?" she wondered, looking at him as he stood on the threshold. " It is he ! " She knew him, and she told the headman. He trembled in terror.

"Don't be afraid," said the woman, "I have a plan. You know we have had meat from you to eat : make as thougli you were seeking the price of the meat ; I will climb up into the granary, and stand at the door of it, crying. ' No rice here ! ' while you must stand in the middle of the room, and call out insisting, again and again, ' I have children at home ; give me the price of the meat 1 '" ' So saying, she climbed up to the granary, and sat in the door of it. The other stood in the midst of the house, and cried, " Give me the price of the meat ! " while she replied, sitting at the granary door, " There is no rice in the granary ; I will give it when the harvest i§ home : leave me now ! " The goodman entered the house, and saw what they were about. " This must be that wicked woman's plan," he thought, and he called to the headman. " Sir Headman, when we had some of your old ox to eat, we promised to give you rice for it in two months' time. Not half a month has passed ; then why do you try to make us pay now 1 That's not the reason you are here : you must have come for something else. I don't like your ways. That wicked and sinful woman yonder knows that there is no rice in the garner, but she has climbed up, and there she sits, crying [136] ' No rice here!' and you cry 'Give!' I don't like your doings, either of you ! " and to make his meaning clear, he uttered these lines : —

" I like not this, I like not that ; I like not her, I say. Who stands beside the granary, and cries ' I cannot pay ! ' " Nor you, nor you. Sir ! listen now : — my means and store are small ; You gave me once a skinny cow, and two mouths' gi-ace withal ; Now, ere the day, you bid me pay ! I like it not at all." So saying, he seized the headman by the lock of hair on the top of his head, dragged him out into the courtyard, threw him down, and as he cried, " I'm the Headman ! " mocked him thus — " Damages, please, for injury done to the chattels under another man's watch and ward ! " while he thrashed him till the man was faint. Then he took him by the neck and cast him out of the house. The wicked woman he seized by the hair of her head, pulled lier away from the garner, knocked her down, and threatened her — "If you ever do this kind of thing again, I'll make you remember it ! " From that day forward the headman durst not even look at that house, and the woman did not dare to transgress even in thought.

[137] When this discourse was ended, the I\Iaster declared the Truths, at^the conclusion of which the backsliding Brother reached the Fruit of the First Path : — "The gooduian who piuiishcd that headman was I myself." 96 TJie Jdtaha. Book II.

" One is good" etc. — This story the Master told while dwelling at Jetavana, about a brahmin. This man, we are told, had four daughters. Four suitors wooed them ; one was fine and handsome, one was old and well advanced in years, the third a man of family, and the fourth was good. He thought to himself, " When a man is settling his daughters and disposing of them, whom should he give them to? the handsome man or the oldish man, or one of the other two, the highly born or the very virtuous man ? " Ponder as he would, he could not decide. So he thought he would tell the matter to the Supreme Buddha, who would be sure to know ; and then he would give the girls to the most suitable wooer. So he had a quantity of perfumes and garlands prepared, and visited the monastery. Saluting the Master, he sat on one side, and told him everything from beginning to end ; then he asked, "To which of these four should I give my daughters?" To this the Master replied, " In olden days, as now, wise men asked this question ; but now that re-birth has confused your memory, you cannot remember the case." And then at his request the Master told an old-world tale.

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta ruled in Benares, the Bodhisatta was born as a brahmin's son. He came of age, and I'eceived his education at Takkasila ; then on returning he became a famous teacher. Now there was a brahmin who had four daughters. These four were wooed by four persons as told above. The brahmin could not decide to whom to give them, "I will enquire of the teacher," he thought, "and then he shall have them to whom they should be given." So he came into the teacher's presence, and repeated the first couplet : — " One is good, and one is noble ; one has beauty, one has years. Answer me this question, brahmin ; of the four, which best appears ? " [138] Hearing this, the teacher replied, "Even though there be beauty and the like qualities, a man is to be despised if he fail in virtue. Therefore the former is not the measure of a man ; those that I like are the virtuous." And in explanation of this matter, he repeated the second couplet: — " Good is beauty : to the aged show respect, for this is right : Good is noble birth ; but virtue — virtue, that is my delight."

When the brahmin heard this, he gave all his daughters to the virtuous wooer. The Master, when this discourse was ended, declared the Truths and identified the Birth : — at the conchision of the Truths tlie brahmin attained the Fruit of the First Path :— " This brahmin was the brabruin then, and the famous teacher was I myself."

[139] " N'ot iron fetters" etc. — This story the Master told whilst staying in Jetavana, about the prison-house. At the time of this story we hear that a gang of burglars, highwaymen, and murderers had been caught and haled before the king of Kosala. The king ordered them to be made fost with chains, and ropes, and fetters. Thirty country Brothers, desirous of seeing the Master, had paid him a visit and offered their salutations. Next day, as they were seeking alms, they passed the prison and noticed these rascals. In the evening, after their return from the day's rounds, they approached the Buddha: " Su'," they said, "to-day, as we were seeking alms, we saw in the prison-house a number of criminals bound fast in chains and fetters, being in great misery. They could not break these fetters, and run away. Is there any fetter stronger than these?" The Master replied, " Brethren, those are fetters, it is true ; but the fetters which consist of a craving for wealth, corn, sons, wives and children are stronger than they are an hundred-fold, nay a thousand-fold. Yet even those fetters, hard to break as they are, have been broken by wise men of the olden time, who went to Himalaya and became anchorites." Then he told them an old-world tale.

Once iipon a time, while Brahmadatta ruled over Benares, the Bodhisatta was born into a poor man's family. When he grew up, his father died. He earned wages, and supported his mother. His mother, much against his will, brought a wife home for him, and soon after died. Now his wife conceived. Not knowing that she had conceived, he said to her, " Wife, you must earn your living ; I will renounce the world." Then said she, "Nay, for I am with child. [140] Wait and see the child that is born of me, and then go and become a hermit." To this he agreed. So when she was delivered, he said, " Now, wife, yo»i are safely delivered, and I must turn hermit." "Wait," said she, "till the time when the child is weaned." And after that she conceived again. " If I agree to her request," thought the Bodhisatta, " I shall never get away at all. I will flee without saying a word to her, and become a hermit." So he told her nothing, but rose up in the night, and fled away. 98 The Jdtaka. Book II. The city guards seized him. " I have a mother to support," said he — " let me go ! " thus he made them let him go free, and after staying in a certain place, he passed out by the chief gate and made his way to the Himalayas, where he lived as a recluse ; and caused the Supernatural Faculties and the Attainments to spring up within him, as he dwelt in the i-apture of meditation. As he dwelt there, he exulted, saying — " The bond of wife and child, the bond of passion, so hard to break, is broken ! " and he uttered these lines : —

"Not iron fetters — so the wise have told — Not ropes, or bars of wood, so fast can hold As passion, and the love of child or wife, Of precious gems and earrings of fine gold. "These heavy fetters — who is there can find Release from such ? — these are the ties that bind : These if the wise can burst, then they are fi'ee, Leaving all love and all desire behind ! " [141] And the Bodhisatta, after uttering this aspiration, without breaking the charm of his ecstasy attained to Brahma's world. When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths : — at the conclusion of the Trutlis, some entered the First Path, some the Second, some the Third, and some the Fourth : — " In the story, Mahamaya was the mother, King Suddhodana was the father, Rahula's mother was the wife, Rahula himself the son, and I was the man who left his family and became an anchorite."

[142] ''Geese, herom, elephants," e^c— This story the Master told while dwelling at J etavana, about Lakuntaka the venerable and good. Now this venerable ' Lakuntaka, we learn, was well known in the faith of the Buddha, a famous man,' speaking sweet words, a honeyed preacher, of keen discernment, with his passions perfectly subdued, but in stature the smallest of all the eighty Elders, no bigger than a novice, like a dwarf kept for amusement. One day, he had been to the gate of Jetavana to salute the Buddha, when thu'ty brothers from the country arrived at the gate on their way to salute him too. When they saw the Elder, they imagined him to be some novice; they pulled tlie corner of his robe, they caught his hands, held his head, tweaked his nose, got him by the ears and shook him, and handled him very rudely ; then after putting aside their bowl and robe, they visited the Master and sahitcd him. Next they a.sked him, " Sir, we understand that you have an Elder who goes by the name of Laktu.itaka tlie Good, a honeyed preacher. Where is he?" "Do you want to see him?" the IMaster asked. "Yes, Sir." " lie is the man you saw by the gate, and twitched his robe and pulled him about with great ruilene.sH before you came here." " Why, Sir," asked they, "how is it that a man devoted to prayer, full of high aspirations, a true disciple — how is it he is so insignificant?" " Because of his own sins," answered the blaster ;' and at their request he told them an old-world tale.

Once upon a time, when king Bi-ahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisatta became Sakka, king of the gods. Brahmadatta could not endure to look upon anything old or decrepit, whether elephant, horse, ox, or what not. He was full of prank.s, and whenever he saw any such, he would chase them away ; old carts he had broken up ; any old women that he saw he sent for, and beat upon the belly, then stood them up again and gave them a scare ; he made old men roll about and play on the ground like tumblers. If he saw none, but only heard that there was a greybeard in such and such a town, [143] he sent for him thence and took his sport with him. At this the people for very shame sent their parents outside the boundaries of the kingdom. No more did men tend or care for their mother and father. The king's friends were as wanton as he. As men died, they filled up the four' worlds of unhappiness ; the company of the gods grew less and less. Sakka saw that there were no newcomers among the gods ; and he cast about him what w^as to be done. At last he hit upon a plan. "I wall humble him ! " thought Sakka ; and he took ujDon him the form of an old man, and placing two jars of buttermilk in a crazy old waggon, he yoked to it a pair of old oxen, and set out upon a feast day.

Brahmadatta, mounted upon a richly caparisoned elephant, was making a solemn procession about the city, which was all decorated ; and Sakka, clad in rags, and driving this cart, came to meet the king. When the king saw the old cart, he shouted, "Away with that cai't, you!" But his people answered, "Where is it, my lord? we cannot see any cart! " (for Sakka by his power let it be seen by no one but the king). And, coming up to the king repeatedly, at last Sakka, still driving his cart, smashed one of the jars upon the king's head, and made him turn round ; then he smashed the other in like manner. And the buttermilk trickled down on either side of his head. Thus was the king plagued and tormented, and made miserable by Sakka's doings.

1 The four apdye = B.eU, birth as an animal, birth as a iieta (ghost), birth among the asaras (Titans or fallen spirits). 100 The Jataka. Book II. When Sakka saw his distress, he made the cart disappear, and took his proper shape again. Poised in mid-air, thunderbolt in hand, he upbraided him— "O wicked and unrighteous king ! Will you never become old yourself ? will not age assail you '? Yet you sport and mock, and do despite to those who are old ! It is through you alone, and these doings of yours, that men die on every hand, and fill up the four worlds of unhappiness, and that men cannot care for their parents' welfare ! If you do not cease from this, I will cleave your head with my thunderbolt. Go, and do so no more." With this rebuke, he declaied the worth of parents, and made known the advantage of reverencing old age ; after which discourse he departed to his own place. From that time forward the king never so much as thought of doing anything like what he had done before. [144] This story ended, the Master, becoming perfectly enlightened, recited these two couplets : —

"Geese, herons, elephants, and spotted deer Though all unlike, alike the lion fear. " Even so, a child is great if he be clever ; Fools may be big, but great they can be never i." When this discourse was ended, the Master declared the Truths and identified the Birth : — at the conclusion of the Truths some of those Brethren entered on the First Path, some on the Second, and some upon the Fourth : — "The excellent Lakuutaka was the king in the story, who made people the butt for his jests and then became a butt himself, whilst I myself was Sakka." " ^ Virilpakkha snakes I love," etc. — This story the Master told whilst living at Jetavana, about a certain brother. As he sat, we are told, at the door of his living room, chopping sticks, a snake crept out of a rotten log, and bit his toe ; he died on the spot. All the monastery learnt how he had come by his sudden death. In the Hall of Truth 1 These lines occur in Samyutta-Nikaya, pt. n. xxi. 6 (ii. p. 279, ed. P. T. S.). ■^ See Cullavagga v. 6 (iii. 75 in Vinaya Texts, S.B.E.), where the verses occur again. The verses partly recur in the ' Bower MS,' a Sanskrit MS lately found in the

they began talking about it; saying how Brother So-and-so was sitting at his door, chopping wood, when a snake bit him, and he died immediately of the bite. [145] The Master came in, and wanted to know what they were discussing as they sat there together. They told him. Said he, "Brethren, if our brotiior had practised kindness towards the four royal races of serpents, tliat snake would not have bitten him : wise anchorites in by-gone days, before the P>ud(ilia was born, by using kindness to these four royal races, were released from the fear that sprang from these serpents." Then he' told them an old-world tale. Once upon a time, during the reign of Brahmadatta king of Benai'es, the Bodhisatta came into the world as a young brahmin of Kasi. Wlien he came of age, he quelled his passions and took upon him the life of an ascetic ; he developed the Supernatural Faculties and the Attainments ; he built an hermitage by the bend of the Ganges near the foot of Himalaya, and there he dwelt, surrounded by a band of ascetics, lost in the rapture of meditation. At that time there were many kinds of snakes upon the Ganges bank, which did mischief to the hermits, and many of them perished by snakebite. The ascetics told the matter to the Bodhisatta. He summoned all the ascetics to meet him, and thus addressed them : " If you showed goodwill to the four royal races of snakes, no serpents would bite you. Therefore from this time forward do you show goodwill to the four royal races." Then he added this verse : —

" Virupakkha snakes I love, Erapatha snakes I love, Chabbyaputta snakes I love, Kanhagotamas I love." After thus naming the four royal families of the snakes, he added : " If you can cultivate goodwill towards these, no snake creature will bite you or do you harm." Then he repeated the second verse : — [146] "Creatures all beneath the sun. Two feet, four feet, more, or none— How I love you, every one ! " Having declared the nature of the love within him, he uttered another verse by way of prayer : — "Creatures all, two feet or four. You with none, and you with more, Do not hurt me, I implore ! " ruins of an ancient city in Kashgaria (see J.F.T.S., 1893, p. Gi). The kinds of snakes mentioned cannot be identified. Snake charms are extremely common in Sanskrit; there are many in the Atharva Veda. 102 77^6 Jdtaha. Booh II. Then again, in general terms, he repeated one verse more : — "All ye creatures that have birth, Breathe, and move iipon the earth, Happy be ye, one and all, Never into mischief falP." [147] Thus did he set forth how one must show love and goodwill to all creatures without distinction ; he reminded his hearers of the virtues of the Three Treasures, saying — " Infinite is the Buddha, infinite the Law, and the Order infinite." He said, " Remember the quality of the Three Treasures ;

" and thus having shown them the infinity of the Three Treasures, and wishing to show them that all beings are finite, he added, " Finite and measurable are creeping things, snakes, scorpions, centipedes, spiders, lizards, mice." Then again, " As the passions and lusts in these creatures are the qualities which make them finite and limited, let us be protected night and day against these finite things by the power of the Three Treasures, which are infinite : wherefore remember the worth of the Three Treasures." Then he recited this stanza : —

"Now I am guarded safe, and fenced around; Now let all creatures leave me to my ground. All honour to the Blessed One I pay. And the seven Buddhaa who have passed away." [148] And bidding them also remember the seven Buddhas^ whilst they did honoui*, the Bodhisatta composed this guardian charm and delivered it to his band of sages. Thenceforward the sages bore in mind the Bodhisatta's admonition, and cherished love and goodwill, and remembered the Buddha's virtues. As they did this, all the snake kind departed from them. And the Bodhisatta cultivated the Excellencies, and attained to Brahma's heaven. When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth :■ — " The Buddha's followers were then the followers of the sage ; and their Teacher was I myself." ^ All the verses hitherto given match, and are to be taken together as the "First gatha." The other is in a different metre, and is the "Second gatha." 2 For the seven Buddhas, see Wilson, Select Works, ii. 5.

" 0 have i/ou seen," etc. — This story the Master told, while dwelling at Jetavana, about imitating the Buddha. When the Elders had gone with their followers to visit Devadatta^, the Master asked Sfiriputta what Devadatta had done when he saw them. The reply was that he had imitated the Buddha. The Master rejoined, "Not now only has Devadatta imitated me and thereby come to ruin ; he did just the same before." Then, at the Elder's request, he told an old-world tale. [149] Once upon a time, while Brahmadatta reigned as king in Benares, the Bodhisatta became a marsh crow, and dwelt by a certain pool. His name was Viraka, the Strong. There arose a famine in Kasi. Men could not spare food for the crows, nor make offering to goblins and snakes. One by one the crows left the famine- stricken land, and betook them to the woods. A certain crow named Savitthaka, who lived at Benares, took with him his lady crow and went to the place where Viraka lived, making his abode beside the same pool. One day, this crow was seeking food about the pool. He saw how Viraka went down into it, and made a meal off some fish ; and afterwards came up out of the water again, and stood drying his feathei-s. "Under the wing of that crow," thought he, "plenty of fish are to be got. I will become his servant." So he drew near.

" What is it, Sir ? " asked Viraka. " I want to be your servant, my lord ! " was the reply. Viraka agreed, and from that time the other served him. And from that time, Viraka used to eat enough fish to keep him alive, and the rest he gave to Savitthaka as soon as he had caught them ; and when Savitthaka had eaten enough to keep him alive, he gave what was over to his wife. After a while pride came into his heart. "This crow," said he, "is black, and so am I : in eyes and beak and feet, too, there is no difference between us. I don't want his fish ; I will catch my own ! " So he told Viraka that for the future he intended to go down to the water and catch fish himself. Then Viraka said, " Good friend, you do not belong to a ^ Sariputta and MogRalljlna visited the arch-heretic to try if they could win back his followers to the Master. The story of their visit, and how it succeeded, is told in the Vinaya, Cullavagga, vii. 4 foil, (translated in S.B.E., Vinaya Texts, iii. 256). See also vol. i. no. 11,

104 The Jataka. Book II. tribe of such crows as are born to go into water and catch fish. Don't destroy yourself ! " But in spite of this attempt to dissuade him, Savitthaka did not take the warning to heart. Down he wont to the pool, down into the water ; but he could not make his way through the weeds and come out again — there he was, entangled in the weeds, with only the tip of his beak appearing above the water. So not being able to breathe he perished there beneath the water. [150] His mate noticed that he did not return, and went to Viraka to ask news of him. " My lord," she asked, " Savitthaka is not to be seen : where is he 1, " And as she asked him this, she repeated the first stanza : — "O have you seen Savitthaka, 0 Viraka, have you seen My sweet-voiced mate whose neck is like the peacock in its sheen?" "When Viraka heard it, he replied, " Yes, I know where he is gone," and recited the second stanza : — " He was not born to dive beneath the wave. But what he could not do he needs must try; So the poor bird has found a watery grave, Entangled in the weeds, and left to die."

When the lady-crow heard it, weeping, she returned to Benares. After this discourse was ended, the Master identified the Birth : — "Devadatta was then incarnate as Savitthaka, and I myself was Viraka."

[151] " Fine are the fish," eic— This story the Master told while dwelling at Jetavana, about two young Brethren. These two young fellows, we are told, belonged to a good family of Savatthi, and had embraced the faith. But they, not realising the impurity of the body i, sang the praises of their beauty, and went about bragging of it. One day they fell into a dispute on this point. " You're handsome, but so am I," said each of them ; then, spying an aged Elder .sitting not far away, they agreed that he was likely to know whether they were beautiful or not. Then they a[>proached him with the que.stion, "Sir, which of us is beautiful?" The Elder replied, "Friends, I am more beautiful than citlier of y<ni." At this the young men reviled him, and went oft", gruml)ling that he told them something they did not ask, but would not tell them what they did. The Brotlierhood became aware of this event ; and one day, wlien they were all together in the Hall of Ti'Uth, they began talking aliout it. "Friend, liow the old Elder shamed those two young fellows whose heads were full of their own beauty!" The Master ctime in, and asked what they were talking of now as they sat together. They told him. He rejoined, "This is not the only time. Brethren, that our friends were full of the praises of their own beauty. In olden times tliey used to go about boasting of it as they do now." And then he told them an old-world tale.

Once upon a time, during the reign of Brahmadatta, king of Benares, the Bodhisatta became a tree sprite on the bank of the Ganges. At the point where Ganges and Jumna meet, two fish met together, one from the Ganges and one from the Jumna. " I am beautiful ! " said one, "and so are you ! " and then they fell to quarrelling about their beauty. Not far from the Ganges they saw a Tortoise lying on the bank. " Yon fellow shall decide whether or no we are beautiful ! " said they ; and they went up to him. " Which of us is beautiful, friend Tortoise," they asked, " the Ganges fish or the Jumna fish?" The Tortoise answered, "The Ganges fish is beautiful, and the Jumna fish is beautiful : but I am more beautiful than you both." And to explain it, he uttered the first verse : — [152] "Fine are the fish of Jumna stream, the Ganges fish are fine. But a foiu"- footed creature, with a tapering neck like mine. Round like a spreading banyan tree, must all of them outshine." When the fish heard this, they cried, " Ah, you rascally Tortoise ! you won't answer our question, but you answer another one ! " and they repeated the second verse : —

" We a.sk him this, he answers that : indeed a strange reply ! By his own tongue his praise is sung: — I like it not, not I!" When this discourse was concluded, the ]\[aster identified the Birth : — " In those days the young Bi'others were the two fish, the old man was the tortoise, and I was the tree-sprite who saw the whole thing from the Ganges bank." 106 The Jcitaka. Book II. ^'Come, Tortoise," etc.— This story the Master told at Veluvana, about Devadatta. News came to the Master that Devadatta was plotting his death. " Ah, Brethren," said he, "it was just the same long ago; Devadatta tried then to kill me, as he is trying now." And he told them this story. [153] Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta became an Antelope, and lived within a forest, in a thicket near a certain lake. Not far from the same lake, sat a Woodpecker perched at the top of a tree; and in the lake dwelt a Tortoise. And the three Ijecame friends, and lived together in amity. A hunter, wandering about in the wood, observed the Bodhisatta's footprint at the going down into the water ; and he set a trap of leather, strong, like an iron chain, and went his way. In the first watch of the night the Bodhisatta went down to drink, and got caught in the noose : whereat he cried loud and long. Thereupon the Woodpecker flew down from her tree-top, and the Tortoise came out of the water, and consulted what was to be done.

Said the Woodpecker to the Tortoise, " Friend, you have teeth — bite this snare through ; I will go and see to it that the hunter keeps away ; and if we both do our best, our friend will not lose his life." To make this clear he uttered the first stanza : — " Come, Tortoise, tear the leathern snare, and bite it through and through, And of the hunter I'll take care, and keep him oft' from you." The Tortoise began to gnaw the leather thong : the Woodpecker made his way to the hunter's dwelling. At dawn of day the hunter went out, knife in hand. As soon as the bird saw him start, he uttered a cry, flapped his wings, and struck him in the face as he left the front door. " Some bird of ill omen has struck me ! " thought the hunter ; he turned back, and lay down for a little while. Then he rose up again, and took his knife. The bird reasoned within himself, " The first time he went out by the front door, so now he will leave by the back : " and he sat him down behind the house. [154] The hunter, too, reasoned in the same way : " When I went out by the front door, I saw a bad omen, now will I

1 Figured on the Bharhut Stupa (Cunningham, p. 67, and pi. xxvii. 9). go out by the back ! " and so he did. But the bird cried out again, and struck him in the face. Finding that he was again struck by a bird of ill omen, the hunter exclaimed, " This creature will not let me go ! " and turning back he lay down until sunrise, and when the sun was risen, he took his knife and started. The Woodpecker made all haste back to his friends. " Here comes the hunter!" he cried. By this time the Tortoise had gnawed through all the thongs but one tough thong : his teeth seemed as though they would fall out, and his mouth was all smeared with blood. The Bodhisatta saw the young hunter coming on like lightning, knife in hand : he burst the thong, and fled into the woods. The Woodpecker perched upon his tree-top. But the Tortoise was so weak, that he lay where he was. The hunter threw him into a bag, and tied it to a tree. The Bodhisatta observed that the Tortoise was taken, and determined to save his friend's life. So he let the hunter see him, and made as though he were weak. The hunter saw him, and thinking him to be weak, seized his knife and set out in pursuit. The Bodhisatta, keeping just out of his reach, led him into the forest ; and when he saw that they had come far away, gave him the slip and returned swift as the wind by another way. He lifted the bag with his horns, threw it upon the ground, ripped it open and let the Tortoise out. And the Woodpecker came down from the tree.

Then the Bodhisatta thus addressed them both : " My life has been saved by you, and you have done a friend's part to me. Now the hunter will come and take you ; so do you, friend Woodpecker, migrate elsewhere with your brood, and you, friend Tortoise, dive into the water." They did so. The IMaster, becoming perfectly enlightened, uttered the second stanza : [155] "The Tortoise went into the pond, the Deer into the wood. And from the tree the Woodpecker carried away his brood." The hunter returned, and saw none of them. He found his bag torn ; picked it up, and went home sorrowful. And the three friends lived all their life long in unbroken amity, and then passed away to fare according to their deeds. When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth:— "Devadatta was the huntsman, Siiriputta the Woodpecker, Moggallana the Tortoise, and I was the Antelope." 108 The Jdtaka. Book II.

" Once with the great king Assaka" etc. — This story the Master told whilst staying in Jetavana, about some one who was distracted by the recollection of a former wife. He asked the Brother whether he were really lovesick. The man said, Yes. "Whom are you in love with?" the Master continued. "My late wife," was the reply. Then the Master said, " Not this once only, Brother, have you been full of desire for this woman ; in olden days her love brought you to great misery." And he told a story. Once upon a time, there was a king Assaka reigning in Potali, which is a city of the kingdom of Kasi. His queen consort, named Ubbarl, was very dear to him ; she was charming, and graceful, and beautiful passing the beauty of women, though not so fair as a goddess. She died : and at her death the king was plunged in grief, and became sad and miserable. He had the body laid in a coffin, and embalmed with oil and ointment, and laid beneath the bed ; and there he lay without food, weeping and wailing. [156] In vain did his parents and kinsfolk, friends and courtiers, priests and laymen, bid him not to grieve, since all things pass away ; they could not move him. As he lay in sorrow, seven days passed by.

Now the Bodhisatta was at that time an ascetic, who had gained the Five Supernatural Faculties and the Eight Attainments ; he dwelt at the foot of Himalaya. He was possessed of perfect supernatural insight, and as he looked round India with his heavenly vision, he saw this king lamenting, and straightway resolved to help him. By his miraculous power he rose in the air, and alighted in the king's park, and sat down on the ceremonial stone, like a golden image. A young brahmin of the city of Potali entered the park, and seeing the Bodhisatta, he greeted him and sat down. The Bodhisatta began to talk pleasantly with him. " Is the king a just ruler?" he asked. "Yes, Sir, the king is just," replied the youth; "but his queen is just dead ; he has laid her body in a coffin, and lies down lamenting her ; and to-day is the seventh day since he began. — Why do you not free the king from this great grief 1 Virtuous beings like you ought to overcome the king's sorrow." "I do not know the king, young man," said the Bodhisatta; "but if he were to come and ask me, I would tell him the place where she has now come into the flesh again, and make her speak herself."

"Then, holy Sir, stay here until I bring the king to you," said the youth. The Bodhisatta agreed, and he hastened into the king's presence, and told him about it. "You should visit this being with the divine insight ! " he told the king. The king was overjoyed at the thought of seeing UbbarT ; and he entered his chariot and drove to the place. Greeting the Bodhisatta, he sat down on one side, and asked, " Is it trute, as I am told, that you know where my queen has come into being again 1 " " Yes, I do, my lord king," replied he. Then the king asked where it was. The Bodhisatta replied, " O king, she was intoxicated with her beauty, and so fell into negligence and did not do fair and virtuous acts ; so now she has become a little dung- worm in this very park." [157j " I don't believe it ! " said the king. "Then I will show her to you, and make her speak," answered the Bodhisatta. " Please make her speak ! " said the king. The Bodhisatta commanded — "Let the two that are busy rolling a lump of cow-dung, come forth before the king ' " and by his power he made them do it, and they came. The Bodhisatta pointed one out to the king: "There is your queen UbbarT, O king! she has just come out of this lump, following her husband the dung-worm. Look and see."

"What! my queen UbbarT a dung-worm 1 I don't believe it!" cried the king. " I will make her speak, O king ! " " Pray make her speak, holy Sir ! " said he. The Bodhisatta by his power gave her speech. " Ubbarl ! " said he. " What is it, holy Sir ? " she asked, in a human voice. "What was your name in your former character?" the Bodhisatta asked her. "My name was UbbarT, Sir," she replied, "the consort of king Assaka." "Tell me," the Bodhisatta went on, "which do you love best now — king Assaka, or this dung- worm 1 " "O Sir, that was my former birth," said she. "Then I lived with him in this park, enjoying shape and sound, scent, savour and touch ; but now that my memory is confused by re-birth, what is he 1 Why, now I would kill king Assaka, and would smear the feet of my husband the dungworm with the blood flowing from his throat ! " and in the midst of the king's comjjany, she uttered these verses in a human voice : — "Once with the great king Assaka, who was my husband dear, Beloving and beloved, I walked about this garden here.

"But now new sorrows and new joys have made the old ones flee, And dearer far than Assaka my Worm is now to uic." no The Jdtaha. Book II. [158] When king Assaka heard this, he repented on the spot; and at once he caused the queen's body to be removed and washed his head. He saluted the Bodhisatta, and went back into the city ; where he married another queen, and ruled in rigliteousness. And tlie Bodhisatta, having instructed the king, and set him free from .sorrow, returned again to the Himalayas. When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths and identified the Birth :— at the conclusion of the Truths, the lovesick Brother reached the Fruit of the First Path : — " Your late wife was Ubbari ; you, the lovesick Brother, were king Assaka ; Sariputta was the young brahmin ; and the anchorite was I myself."

" Rose-apple, jach-fruit" etc. — This story the Master told at Jetavana, about Devadatta's attempts to murder him 2. When he heard of these attempts, the Master said, " This is not the first time that Devadatta has tried to murder me ; 1 Cf. Blarkata-jdtaka, Mahavastu ii. 208 ; Cariyu-Pitaka, iii. 7 ; Morris, Contemp. Rev. vol. 39, quoting Griffis, Japanese Fairy World, p. 153. A monkey outwits a crocodile in No. 57, above. The following variant, from Russia (Moscow district) may be of interest. It was given me by Mr I. Nestor Schnurmann, who heard it from his nurse (about 1860). — Once upon a time, the King of the Fishes was wanting in wisdom. His advisers told him that once he could get the heart of the fox, he would become wise. So he sent a deputation, consisting of the great magnates of the sea, whales and others. ' ' Our king wants your advice on some state affairs." The fox, flattered, consented. A whale took him on his back. On the way the waves beat upon him ; at last he asked what they really wanted. They said, what their king really wanted was to eat his heart, by which he hoped to become cliever. He said, " Why didn't you tell me that before? I would gladly sacrifice my life for such a worthy object. But we foxes always leave our hearts at home. Take me back and I'll fetch it. Otherwise I'm sure your king will be angry." So they took him back. As soon as he got near the shore, he leaped on land, and cried " Ah you fools ! Have you ever heard of an animal not carrying his heart with him ? " and ran off. The fish had to return empty.

- These attempts of Devadatta, and how they were foiled, are set forth in Cullavagga, VII. iii. 6 foil., trans, in S. B. E., Vinaya Texts, iii. 243 f. No. 208. I 1 I he did the same before, and yet could not so much as make me afraid." Then he told tliis story. Once upon a time, while Bralimadatta was king of Benares, the Bodliisatta came to life at the foot of Himalaya as a 'Monkey. Ho grew strong and sturdy, big of frame, well-to-do, and lived by a curve of the river Ganges in a forest haunt. Now at that time there was a Crocodile dwelling in the Ganges. The Crocodile's mate saw the great frame of the monkey, [loOJ and she conceived a longing for his heart to eat. So she said to her lord : " Sir, I desire to eat the heart of that great king of the monkeys ! " " Good wife," said the Crocodile, " I live in the water and he lives on dry land : how can we catch him 1 " "By hook or by crook," she replied, "caught he must be. If I don't get him, I shall die."

" All right," answei'ed the Crocodile, consoling her, " don't trouble yourself. I have a plan ; I will give you his heart to eat." So when the Bodhisatta was sitting on the bank of the Ganges, after taking a drink of water, the Crocodile drew near, and said : " Sir Monkey, why do you live on bad fruits in this old familiar place'? On the other side of the Ganges there is no end to the mango trees, and labuja trees', with fruit sweet as honey 1 Is it not better to cross over and have all kinds of wild fruit to eat 1 " " Lord Crocodile," the Monkey made answer, " deep and wide is the Ganges : how shall I get across 1 " . " If you will go, I will mount yoi; on my back, and carry you over." The Monkey trusted him, and agreed. " Come here, then," said the other, " up on my back with you ! " and up the monkey climbed. But when the Crocodile had swum a little way, he plunged the Monkey under the water. " Good friend, you are letting me sink ! " cried the Monkey. " What is that for 1 "

Said the Crocodile, " You think I am carrying you out of pure good nature 1 Not a bit of it ! My wife has a longing for your heart, and I want to give it her to eat ! " " Friend," said the Monkey, " it is nice of you to tell me. Why, if our heart were inside us when we go jumping among the tree-tops, it would be all knocked to pieces ! " "Well, where do you keep if?" asked the other. The Bodhisatta pointed out a fig-tree, with clusters of ri])e fruit, 1 Artocarpus Lacucba (C]ulders). 112 The Jdtaka. Booh II. standing not far off. "See," said he, "there are onr heai'ts hanging on yon fig-tree." [160] "If you will show me your heart," said the Crocodile, "then I won't kill you." "Take me to the tree, then, and I will point it out to you hanging upon it." The Crocodile brought him to the place. The Monkey leapt ofi" his back, and climbing up the fig-tree sat upon it. " O silly Crocodile ! " said he, " you thought that there were creatures that kept their hearts in a tree-top ! You are a fool, and I have outwitted you ! You may keep your fruit to yourself. Your body is great, but you have no sense." And then to explain this idea he uttered the following stanzas : —

" Rose-apple, jack-fruit, mangoes too across the water there I see ; Enough of them, I want them not ; my fig is good enough for me ! " Great is your body, verily, but how much smaller is your wit ! Now go your ways. Sir Crocodile, for I have had the best of it." The Crocodile, feeling as sad and miserable as if he had lost a thousand pieces of money, went back sorrowing to the place where he lived. When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth : — " In those days Devadatta was the Crocodile, the lady Ciiica was his mate, and I was the Monkey," " Trees a many have I seen" etc. — This story the Master told while dwelling at Jetavana, about a Brother who was one of the fellow-students of Elder Sariputta, Captain of the Faith. This fellow, as we learn, [161] was clever at taking care of his person. Food very hot or very cold he would not eat, for fear it should do him harm. He never went out for fear of being hurt by cold or heat ; and he would not have rice which was either over-boiled or too hard.

The Brotherhood learnt how much care he took of himself In the Hall of Truth, they all discussed it. " Friend, what a clever fellow Brother So-and-so is in knowing what is good for him ! " The Master came in, and asked what they were talking of as they sat there together. They told him. Then he rejoined, 1 Compare latter part of the Second Cakimtaka Jdtaka, Mahavastu ii. 250 ; the first line of the first verse and the whole of the second are nearly the same. "Not only now is our young friend careful for his personal comfort. He was just the same in olden days." And he told them an old-world tale. Once upon a time, in the reign of Brahmadatta, king of Benares, the^ Bodhisatta became a Tree-spirit in a forest glade. A certain fowler, witli a decoy bird, hair noose, and stick, went into the forest in search of birds. He began to follow one old bird which flew off into the woods, trying to escape. The bird would not give him a chance of catching it in his snare, but kept rising and alighting, rising and alighting. So the fowler covered himself with twigs and branches, and set his noose and stick again and again. But the bird, wishing to make him ashamed of himself, sent forth a human voice and repeated the first stanza : —

"Trees a many have I seen Growing in the woodland green : But, 0 Tree, they could not do Any such strange things as you!" So saying, the bird flew off and went elsewhere. When it had gone, the fowler repeated the second verse: — [162] "This old bird, that knows the snare, Off has flown into the air; Forth from out his cage has broken, And with human voice has spoken ! " So said the fowler ; and having hunted through the woods, took what he could catch and went home asrain. When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth: — " Devadatta was the fowler then, the young dandy was the bii'd, and the treesprite that saw the whole thing was I myself."

" 0 friend" e^c— This was told by the Master, during a stay in Veluvana, about Devadatta's attempts to iujitate him^. When he heard of these attempts to imitate him, the Master said, "This is not the first time Devadatta has destroyed himself by imitating me ; the same thing happened before." Then he told this story. ' See above, note to no. 208. 114 The Jataka. Book II. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta entered into life as a Woodpecker. In a wood of acacia trees he lived, and his name was Khadiravaniya, the Bird of the Acacia Wood. He had a comrade named Kandagalaka, or Eatbulb, who got his food in a wood full of good fruit. One day the friend went to visit Khadiravaniya. "My friend is come ! " thought Khadiravaniya ; and he led him into the acacia wood, and pecked at the tree-trunks until the insects came out, which he gave to his friend. As each was given him, the friend pecked it up, and ate it, as if it were a honey cake. As he ate, pride arose in his heart. [163] "This bird is a woodpecker," thought he, " and so am I. What need for me to be fed by him? I will get my own food in this acacia wood!" So he said to Khadiravaniya,

" Friend, don't trouble yourself, — I will get my own food in the acacia wood." Then said the other, " You belong to a tribe of birds which finds its food in a forest of pithless silk-cotton trees, and trees that bear abundant fruit ; but the acacia is full of pith, and hard. Please do not do so ! " "What!" said Kandagalaka — "am I not a woodpecker 1" And he would not listen, but pecked at an acacia trunk. In a moment his beak snapped off, and his eyes bade fair to fall out of his head, and his head split. So not being able to hold fast to the tree, he fell to the ground, repeating the first verse : — " 0 friend, what is this thorny, cool-leaved tree Which at one blow has broke my beak for me?" Having heard this, Khadiravaniya recited the second stanza : — " This bird was good for rotten wood And soft; but once he tried. By some ill hap, hard trees to tap ; And broke his skull, and died." [164] So said Khadiravaniya; and added, "0 Kandagalaka, the tree where you broke your head is hard and strong ! " But the other perished then and there.

When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth; " Devadatta was Kandagalaka, but Khadiravaniya was I myself." ^^All the year long never ceasing," etc. — This story the Master told while dwelling at Jetavana, about Elder Laludayl, or Udilyl the Simpleton. This man, we learn, was unable to get out a single sound in the presence of two or three people. He was so very nervous, that he said one thing when he meant another. It happened that the Brethren were speaking of this as they sat together in the Hall of Truth. [165] The Master came in, and asked what they were talking of as they sat there together. They told him. He answered, "Brethren, this is not the first time that Laludayi has been a very nervous man. It was just the same before." And he told an old-world tale. Once on a time, while Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born into a certain brahmin family in the kingdom of Kasi. When he came of age, he went to study at Takkasila. On returning he found his family poor; and he bade his parents farewell and set out to Benares, saying to himself, " I will set up my fallen family again ! "

At Benares he became the king's attendant ; and he grew very dear to the king and became a favourite. Now his father lived by ploughing the land, but he had only one pair of oxen ; and one of them died. He came before the Bodhisatta, and said to him, " Son, one of my oxen is dead, and the ploughing does not go on. Ask the king to give you one ox ! " "No, Father," answered he, "I have but just now seen the king; I ought not to ask him for oxen now : — you ask him." "My son," said his father, "you do not know how bashful I am. If there are two or three people present I cannot get a word out. If I go to ask the king for an ox, I shall end by giving him this one ! " "Father," said the Bodhisatta, "what must be, must be. I cannot ask the king; but I will train you to do it." So he led his father to a cemetery where there were clumps of sweet grass ; and tying up tufts of it, he scattered them here and tliere, and named them one by one, pointing them out to his father : " That is the King, that is the Viceroy, this is the Chief Captain. Now, Father, when you come before the king, you must first say — ' Long live the king ! ' and then repeat this verse, to ask for an ox ; " and this is the verse he taught him : —

" I had two oxen to my plough, with which my work was done, But one is dead! 0 mighty prince, plea.se give me another one!" ^ Fau8b<|ill, Five Jdtakas, p. 31 ; Comm. on Dhammapada verse 152 (p. 317 of F.'a edition). 116 The Jataka. Book II. [166] For the space of a whole year the man learnt this couplet; and then he said to his son — " Dear Somadatta, I have learnt the lines ! Now I can say it before any man ! Take me to the king." So the Bodhisatta, taking a suitable present, led his father into the king's presence. " Long live the king ! " cried the brahmin, offering his present. " Who is this brahmin, Somadatta ? " the king asked. " Great king, it is my father," he answered. "Why has he come herel" asked the king. Then the brahmin repeated his couplet, to ask for the ox : — "I had two oxen to my plough, with which my work was done. But one is dead! 0 mighty prince, please take the other one!" The king saw that there was some mistake. "Somadatta," said he, smiling, " you have plenty of oxen at home, I suppose? "

" If so, great king, they are your gift ! " At this answer the king was pleased. He gave the man, for a brahmin's offering, sixteen oxen, with fine caparison, and a village to live in, and sent him away with great honour. The brahmin ascended a car drawn by Sindh horses, pure white, and went to his dwelling in gi'eat pomp. As the Bodhisatta sat beside his father in the chariot, said he, " Father, I taught you the whole year long, and yet when the moment came you gave your ox to the king ! " and he uttered the first stanza ; — "All the year long never ceasing with vmwearied diligence Where the sweet grass grows in clusters day by day he practised it: When he came amid the courtiers all at once he changed the sense ; Practice truly nought availeth if a man has little wit." [167] When he heard this, the brahmin uttered the second stanza : — "He that asks, dear Somadatta, takes his chance between the two — May get more, or may get nothing: when yovi ask, 'tis ever so." When the Master by this story had shown how Simpleton Udayi had been just as bashful before as he was then, he identified the Birth :— " Laludayl was the father of Somadatta, and I was Somadatta myself."

"Hot at top," etc. This is a story told by the Master while at Jetavaiia, about one who hankered after a lost wife. The Brother in question was ivsked by the Master if he really was lovesick. Yes, he said, so he was. " For whom ? " was the next question. " For my late wife." " Brother," the Master said, " this same woman in former days was wicked, and made you eat the leavings of her paramour." Then he told this story of the past. Once upon a time, while Brahinadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was boi-n as one of a family of poor acrobats, that lived by begging. So when he grew up, he was needy and squalid, and by begging he lived. Thei'e was at the time, in a certain village of Kasi, a brahmin whose wife was bad and wicked, and did wrong. [168] And it befel that the husband went abroad one day upon some matter, and her lover watching his time went to visit the house. After she had received him, he said, " I will eat a bit before I go." So she made ready the food, and served up rice hot with sauce and cui-ry, and gave it him, bidding him eat : she herself stood at the door, watching for the brahmin's coming. And while the lover was eating, the Bodhisatta stood waiting for a morsel.

At that moment the brahmin set his face for home. And his wife saw him drawing nigh, and ran in quickly — " Up, my man is coming ! " and she made her lover go down into the store-room. The husband came in ; she gave him a seat, and water for washing the hands ; and upon the cold rice that was left by the other she turned out some hot rice, and set it before him. He put his hand into the rice, and felt that it was hot above and cold below, "This must be some one else's leavings," thought he; and so he asked the woman about it in the words of the first stanza : " Hot at top, and cold at bottom, not alike it seems to be : I would ask you for the reason : come, my lady, answer me ! " Again and again he asked, but she, fearing lest her deed should be discovered, held her peace. Then a thought came into our tumbler's mind. " The man down in the store-room must be a lover, and this is the master of the house : the wife says nothing, for fear that her deed be made manifest. Soho ! I will declare the whole matter, and show the brahmin that a man is hidden in his larder ! " [1G9] And he told him the whole

118 TJie Jdtaka. Booh II. matter: how that when he had gone out from his house, another had come in, and had done evil ; how he had eaten the first rice, and the wife had stood by the door to watch the road; and how the other man had been hidden in the store-room. And in so saying, he repeated the second stanza : — "I am a tumbler, Sir: I came on begging here intent; He that you seek is hiding in the store-room, where he went!" By his top-knot he haled the man out of the store-room, and bade him take care not to do the like again ; and then he went away. The brahmin rebuked and beat them both, and gave them such a lesson that they were not likely to do the same again. Afterwards he passed away to fare according to his deserts. When the Master had ended his discourse, he declared the Truths, and identified the Birth :— at the conclusion of the Truths the lovesick Brother reached the Fruit of the First Path:— "Your late wife was then the brahmin's lady; you, the lovesick Brother, were the brahmin himself; and I was the tumbler."

" The king of Bharu" etc. This story the Master told while staying at Jetavana, about the king of Kosala. Now we read that magnificent presents were made to the Blessed One and his company, and they were held in great respect, as it is written : "At that time the Blessed One was honoured and revered, respected, reverenced, highly esteemed, and received rich presents — robes, food, lodgement, drugs and medicines, and provisions ; and the Brotherhood was honoured, etc. (as before) ; but the pilgrims of heterodox schools were not honoured, etc. (as before)'." Well, the sectaries, finding that honour and gifts diminished, convened a secret meeting for deliberation. "Since the appearance of the Priest Gotama," they said, [170] "honour and gifts come no more to us, but he has got the best of both. What can be the reason of his good fortune?" Then one of them spoke as follows. "Priest Gotama has the best and chiefest place in all India to live in, and that is the reason of his success." Then the others said, " If this is the reason, we will make a rival settlement above Jetavana, and then we shall receive presents." This was the conclusion they came to.

1 This appears to be a regular formula; the Sanskrit equivalent occurs in Divyuvaduna, p. 91. " But," thought they, " if we make our settlement unknown to the king, the Brethren will prevent us. If he accepts a present, he will not be disinclined to break up their settlement. So we had best bribe hira to give us a place for ours." So by the intervention of his courtiers, they offered an hundred thousand pieces to the king, with this message ; " Great King, we want to make a rival settlement in Jetavana. If the Brethren tell you they won't permit it, plc;ise do not give them any answer." To this the king agreed, because he wanted the bribe. After thus conciliating the king, the schismatics got an architect and put the work in hand. There was a good deal of noise about it. "What is all this great noise and tumult, Ananda?" the Master asked. " The noise," said he, " is some sectaries who are having a new settlement built." " That is not a fit place," he rejoined, " for them to settle. These sectaries are fond of noise; there's no living with them." Then he called the Brotherhood together, and bade them go inform the king, and have the building put a stop to.

The Brethren went and stood by the palace door. The king, as soon as he heard of their coming, knew they must be come about stopping the new settlement. But he had been bribed, and so he ordered his attendants to say the king was not at home. The Bretln-en went back and told the ]\Iaster. The Master guessed that a bribe had been given, and sent his two chief disciples ^ But the king, as soon as he heard of their coming, gave the same order as before ; and they too returned and told the Master. The Master said, " Doubtless the king is not able to stay at home to-day ; he must be out." Next forenoon, he dressed himself, took his bowl and robe, and with five hundred brethren walked to the door of the palace. The king heard them come; he descended from the upper story, and took from the Buddha his alms- bowl. Then he gave rice and gruel to him and his followers, and with a salutation sat down on one side. The Master began an exposition for the king's behoof, in these words. "Great King, other kings in by -gone days have taken bribes, and then by making virtuous people quarrel together have been dispossessed of their kingdom, and been utterly destroyed." And then, at his request, the Master told an old-world tale.

[171] Once upon a time, king Bharu was reigning over the kingdom of Bhai'u. At the same time the Bodhisatta was Teacher of a troop of monks. He was an ascetic who had acquired the Five Supernatuial Faculties and the Eight Attainments ; and he dwelt a long time in the region of Himalaya. He came down from Himalaya to buy salt and seasoning, followed by five hundred ascetics ; and they came by stages to the city of Bharu. He went a-begging through the city ; and then coming forth from it, he sat down by the northern gate, at the root of a banyan tree all covered with twigs and branches. There he made a meal, and there he took up his abode. Now when that band of hermits had dwelt there by the space of half a moon, there came another Teacher with another five hundred, who went seeking alms about the city, and then came out and sat beneath just such ^ Sariputta and Moggallsnu. 120 The Jataka. Book II. another banyan tree by the south gate, and ate, and dwelt there. And the two bands abode there so long as they would, aud then returned again to Himalaya,

When they had gone, the tree by the south gate withered away. Next time, they who had dwelt under it came first, and perceiving that their tree was withered, they first went on their rounds throughout the city, seeking alms, and then passing out by the northern gate, they ate and abode under the banyan tree that was by that gate. And the other band, coming afterwards, went their rounds in the city, and then made ready their meal and would have dwelt by their own tree, "This is not your tree, 'tis ours ! " they cried ; and they began to quarrel about the tree. The quarrel waxed great : these said — " Take not the place where we dwelt aforetime ! " and those — " This time are we first come ; do not you take it ! " So crying aloud each that thej' were the owners of it, they all went to the king's palace. The king ordained that they who had first dwelt there should hold it. [172] Then the others thought — "We will not allow ourselves to say that we have been beaten by these ! " They looked about them with divine vision \ and observing the body of a chariot fit for an emperor to use, they took it and offered it as a gift to the kiug, begging him to give them too possession of the tree.

He took their gift, and ordained that both should dwell under the tree ; and so they were there all masters together. Then the other hermits fetched the jewelled wheels of the same chariot, and offered them to the king, praying him, " 0 mighty king, make us to possess the tree alone ! " And the king did so. Then the ascetics repented, and said: "To think that we, who have overcome the love of riches and the lust of the flesh, and have renounced the world, should fall to quarrelling by reason of a tree, and offer bribes for it ! This is no seemly thing." And they went away in all haste till they came to Himalaya, And all the spirits that dwelt in the realm of Bharu with one mind were angry with the king, and they brought up the sea, and for the space of three hundred leagues they made the kingdom of Bharu as though it were not. And so for the sake of the king of Bharu alone, all the inhabitants of the kingdom perished thus.

When the Teacher had ended this tale, in his perfect wisdom, he uttered the following stanzas : — "The king of Bharu, as old stories say. Made holy hermits quarrel on a day : For the which sin it fell that he fell dead, And with him all his kingdom perished. ^ One of the Abhiunds or Supernatural Faculties ; see above. " Wherefore the wise do not approve at all When that desire into the heart doth fall. He that is free from guile, whose heart is i)urc, All that he says is ever tnie and sure^" [173] AVhen the Master had ended this story, he added, "Great King, one should nut be under the jiower of desire. Two religious persons ouglit not to quarrel together." Then he identihed the Birth '. — " In those days, I wjis the le<ider of the sages." AVhen the king had entertained the Buddha, and he had dcpiu-ted, the king sent some men and had the rival settlement destroyed, and the sectaries Ijccamc homeless.

" That rollick can drink," etc. — This story the Master told while sfcxying at Jetavana, about perfect wisdom. On one occasion, the Brethren were gathered in the Hall of Truth, talking of the Buddha's wisdom. " Friend, the SujJreme Buddha's wisdom is great, and wide, cutting, and quick, sharp, penetrating, and full of resource." The Mixster came in, and asked what they talked of as they sat there together. They told him. " Not now only," said he, " is the Buddha wise and resourceful ; he was so in days of yore." And then he told them a story. Once on a time, while Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodliisatta came into the world as the son of the court chaplain. When he grew up, he studied at Takkasila; and at his father's death he received the office of chaplain, and he was the king's counsellor in things human and divine. Afterwards the king opened his ear to breedbates, and in anger bade the Bodhisatta dwell before his face no more, and sent liim away from Benares. So he took his wife and family with him, and abode in a certain village of Kasi. Afterward the king remembered his goodness, and said to himself :

' In commenting upon this line, the Scholiast says : " And those who at that time spoke the truth, blaming king Bharu for taking a bribe, found standing room upon a thousand islands which are yet to be seen to-day about the island of NAlikera." 122 The Jdtaka. Booh 11. " It is not meet that I should send a messenger to fetch my teacher. I will compose a verse of poetry, [174] and write it upon a leaf; I will cause crow's flesh to be cooked ; and after I have tied up letter and meat in a white cloth, I will seal it with the king's seal, and send it to him. If he is wise, when he has read the letter and seen that it is crow's-meat, he will come ; if not, then he will not come." And so he wrote on the leaf this stanza : — " That which can drink when rivers are in flood ; That which the corn will cover out of sight; That which forebodes a traveller on the road — 0 wise one, eat! my riddle read aright i." This verse did the king write upon a leaf, and sent it to the Bodhisatta. He read the letter, and thinking — "The king wishes to see me" — he repeated the second verse : — [175]

"The king does not forget to send me crow: Geese, herons, peacocks, — other birds there are: If he gives one, he'll give the rest, I know; If he sent none at all 'twere worser far'^." Then he caused his vehicle to be made ready, and went, and looked upon the king. And the king, being pleased, set him again in the place of the king's chaplain. This discourse ended, the Master identified the Birth: — "Ananda was the king in those days, and I was his chaplain." 1 Kakapeyya, both in Skr. and in Pali, is proverbial for rivers at the flood. For Skr. see Panini, 2. 1. 33, where some comm. say ' deep,' some ' shallow.' The scholiast here says : " They call rivers K. when a crow standing on the bank can stretch out its neck and drink." Buddbaghosha, quoted by Eh. D. in note to Buddhist Siittas, S. B. E., p. 178, says the same. — Kukaguyha is corn tall enough to hide a crow ; see Pan. 3. 2. 5 and the Ka(;ika's comment, with the scholiast's note here. — In the dictionary of Vacaspati, vol. 2, p. 1846, col. 1, it is said " When the crow cries Khare Khare, a traveller is coming." The schol. here says : " If people wish to know whether an absent friend is coming back, they say — Caw, crow, if so-and-so is coming ! and if the crows caw, they know that he will come." — This verse riddles on these three proverbs and beliefs. [For part of this note I am indebted to Prof. Cowell.]

- I am not sure of the meaning of these obscure lines, but this is the best I can make of it. The schol. says " When he gets crow's flesh he remembers to send me some ; surely he will remember when he gets geese, etc." The phrase — " Geese, herons, peacocks," is a reminiscence of the verse quoted in No. 202, above. *'7%e Tortoise needs must speak" etc. — This is a story told by the Master while staying in Jetavana, about Kokalika. The circumstances which gave rise to it will be set forth vuider the Mahfitakkari l^irth''^. Here again tlie Master said : " This is not the only time, Brethren, that Kokalika has been ruined by talking ; it was the same before." And then he told the story as follows. Once on a time Brahmadatta was king of Benares, and the Bodhisatta, being born to one of the king's court, grew up, and became the king's adviser in all things human and divine. But this king was very talkative; and when he talked there was no chance for any other to get in a word. [176] And the Bodhisatta, wishing to put a stop to his much talking, kept watching for an opportunity.

Now there dwelt a Tortoise in a certain pond in the region of Himalaya. Two young wild Geese, searching for food, struck up an acquaintance with him ; and by and bye they grew close friends together. One day these two said to him : " Friend Tortoise, we have a lovely home in Himalaya, on a plateau of Mount Cittakiita, in a cave of gold ! Will you come with us ?" " Why," said he, "how can I get there?" " Oh, we will take you, if only you can keep your mouth shut, and say not a word to any body." " Yes, I can do that," says he ; " take me along ! " So they made the Tortoise hold a stick between his teeth ; and themselves taking hold so of the two ends, they sprang up into the air. The village children saw this, and exclaimed — "There are two geese carrying a tortoise by a stick ! " (By this time the geese flying swiftly had arrived at the space above the palace of the king, at Benares.) The Tortoise wanted to cry out — ^ Fau8b<()ll, i<'iue Jdtakas, p. 41 ; Dhammapada, p. 418 ; cp. Benfey's Pantschatantra, i. p. 239 ; Babrius, ed. Lewis, i. 122 ; Phaedrus, ed. Orelli, 55, 128 ; llhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories, viii. ; Jacobs, Indian Fairy Tales, pp. 100 and 245.

^ Takkciyiya-jutuka, No. 481. 124 The Jdtaka. Book II. "Well, and if my friends do carry me, what is that to you, you caitiflFsl" — and he let go the stick from between his teeth, and falling into the open courtyard he split in two. What an uproar there was ! " A tortoise has fallen in the courtyard, and broken in two ! " they cried. The king, with the Bodhisatta, and all his court, came up to the place, and seeing the tortoise asked the Bodhisatta a question. " Wise Sir, what made this creature fall 1 " " Now's my time ! " thought he. " For a long while I have been wishing to admonish the king, and I have gone about seeking my opportunity. No doubt the truth is this : the tortoise and the geese became friendly ; the geese must have meant to carry him to Himalaya, and so made him hold a stick between his teeth, and then lifted him into the air ; then he must have heard some remark, and wanted to reply ; and not being able to keep his mouth shut he must have let himself go ; [177] and so he must have fallen from the sky and thus come by his death." So thought he; and addressed the king: "0 king, they that have too much tongue, that set no limit to their speaking, ever come to such misfortune as this ; " and he uttered the following verses : —

"The Tortoise needs must speak aloud, Although between his teeth A stick he bit: yet, spite of it. He spoke — and fell beneath. "And now, 0 mighty master, mark it well. See thou speak wisely, see thou speak in season. To death the Tortoise fell : He talked too much : that was the reason." " He is speaking of me ! " the king thought to himself; and asked the Bodhisatta if it was so. " Be it you, O great king, or be it another," replied he, " whosoever talks beyond measure comes by some misery of this kind ; " and so he made the thing manifest. And thenceforward the king abstained from talking, and became a man of few words. [178] This discourse ended, the Master identified the Birth : — " Kokahka was the tortoise then, the two famous Elders were the two wild geese, Anauda was the kins;, and I was his wise adviser."

"'Tis not the fire" eic— This story the Master told during a stay in Jetavana, about one who hankered after a former wife. The Master asked this Brother, "Is it time, Brother, what I hear, that you are lovesick?" "Yes, Sir." "For whom?" "For my late wife." Then the Master said to him: "This wife, Brother, has been the mischief to you. Long ago by her means you came near being spitted and roasted for food, but wise men saved your life." Then he told a tale of the past. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodbisatta was his chaplain. Some fishermen drew out a Fish which had got caught in their net, and cast it upon hot sand, saying, " We will cook it in the embers, and eat." So they sharpened a spit. And the Fish fell a- weeping over his mate, and said these two verses : — "'Tis not the fii'e that biu-ns me, nor the spit that hurts me sore; But the thought my mate may call me a faithless paramour. " 'Tis the flame of love that biu-ns me, and fills my heart with pain ; Not death is the due of loving; 0 fishers, free me again!"

[179] At that moment the Bodhisatta approached the river bank ; and hearing the Fish's lament, he went up to the fishermen and made them set the Fish at liberty. This discourse ended, the Master declared the Truths and identified the Birth : — at the conclusion of the Truths the lovesick Brother reached the Fruit of the First Path : — " The wife was in those days the fish's mate, the lovesick Brother was the fish, and I myself was the chaplain." 126 The Jataha. Booh II.

^'' All the ivorld's on pleamre bent" etc. — This story the Master told, while dwelling at Jetavana, about a greengrocer who was a lay-brother. The circumstances have been already given in the First Book^. Here again the Master asked him where he had been so long ; and he replied, " My daughter. Sir, is always smiling. After testing her, I gave her in marriage to a young gentleman. As this had to be done, 1 had no opportunity of paying you a visit." To this the Master answered, "Not now only is your daughter virtuous, but virtuous she was in days of yore ; and as you have tested her now, so you tested her in those days." And at the man's request he told an old-world tale. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was a tree- spirit. This same pious greengrocer took it into his head to test his daughter. He led her into the woods, [180] and seized her by the hand, making as though he had conceived a passion for her. And as she cried out in woe, he addi'Bssed her in the words of the first stanza : —

"All the world's on pleasure bent; Ah, my baby innocent! Now I've caught you, pray don't cry; As the town does, so do I." When she heard it, she answered, " Dear Father, I am a maid, and I know not the ways of sin : " and weeping she uttered the second stanza : — " He that should keep me safe from all distress, The same betrays me in my loneliness; My father, who should be my sure defence, Here in the forest offers violence." And the greengrocer, after testing his daughter thus, took her home, and gave her in marriage to a young man. Afterwards he passed away according to his deeds. When the Master had ended this discom-se, he declared the Truths and identified the Birth : — at the end of the Truths the greengrocer entered on the Fruit of the First Path : — " In those days, father and daughter were the same as now, and the tree-spirit that saw it all was I myself." ^ No. 102, Parmika-Jutaka, where recurs the second stanza.

" Well planned indeedP' etc. — [181] This story the Master told while staying in Jetavana, about a dishonest trader. There were two traders of Savatthi, one pious and the other a cheat. These two joined partnership, and loaded live hundred waggons full of wares, journeying from east to west for trade ; and returned to Savatthi with large profits. The pious trader suggested to his partner that they should divide their stock. The rogue thought to himself, " This fellow has been roughing it for ever so long with bad food and lodging. Now he's at home again, hell eat all sorts of dainties and die of a surfeit. Then I shall have all the stock for myself." What he said was, " Neither the stars nor the day are favourable ; to-morrow or tlie next day we'll see about it;" so he kept putting it off. However, the pious trader pressed him, and the division was made. Then he went with scents and garlands to visit the Master ; and after a respectful obeisance, he sat on one side. The Master asked when he had returned. "Just a fortnight ago. Sir," said he. "Then why have you delayed to visit the Buddha?" The trader explained. Then the Master said, " It is not only now that your partner is a rogue ; he was just the same before;" and at his request told him an old-world tale.

Once upon a time, while Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta came into this world as the son of one in the king's court. When he grew up he was made a Lord Justice. At that time, two traders, one from a village and one of the town, were friends together. The villager deposited with the townsman five hundred ploughshares. The other sold these, and kept the price, and in the place where they were he scattered mouse dung. By and by came the villager, and asked for his ploughshare\ "The mice have eaten them up^ !" said the cheat, and pointed out the mouse dung to him. 1 Here, in the last sentence but one, and in the verses the singular plullam is used. It is possible this may be a collective, but more likely that it harks back to a simpler and older version, where only one is spoken of. Eeaders cannot fail to have marked the fondness of the Jataka editor for round numbers, especially five hundred. - Things gnawed by mice or rats were unlucky; cp. vol. i. p. 372 (Pali), TevijjaSutta Mahusilaih i (trans, in S. B. E., Buddhist Suttas, p. 196). The man here goes further than he need; if the mice had but nibbled the ploughshares perhaps he might throw them away. — We may also have a reference to an old proverb, found both in Greek and Latin: "where mice eat iron" meant "nowhere." Herondas 3. 70 ov5' okov Xti/>7?s 01 /jlvs ofiolus Tov ffldtjpov Tpihyovaiv. Seneca, Apocolocyntosis chap. 7 (to Claudius in heaven) venisti hue ubi mures ferrum rodunt.

128 Tlie Jataka. Book II. " Well, well, so be it," replied the other : " what can be done with things which the mice have eaten 1 " Now at the time of batliing he took the other trader's son, and set him in a friend's house, in an inner chamber, bidding them not suffer him to go out any whither. [182] And having washed himself he went to his friend's house. " Where is my son 1 " asked the cheat. " Dear friend," he replied, " I took him with me and left him on the river side ; and when I was gone down into the water, there came a hawk, and seized your son in his extended claws, and flew up into the air. I beat the water, shouted, struggled — but could not make him let go." " Lies ! " cried the rogue. " No hawk could carry off a boy ! " " Let be, dear friend : if things happen that should not, how can I help it 1 Your son has been carried off by a hawk, as I say." The other reviled him. "Ah, you scoundrel! you murderer! Now I will go to the judge, and have you dragged before him ! " And he departed. The villager said, " As you please," and went to the court of justice. The rogue addressed the Bodhisatta thus :

" My lord, this fellow took my son with him to bathe, and when I asked where he was, he answered, that a hawk had carried him off. Judge my cause ! " " Tell the truth," said the Bodhisatta, asking the other. "Indeed, my lord," he answered, "I took him with me, and a falcon has carried him off." " But where in the world are there hawks which carry off boys?" " My lord," he answered, " I have a question to ask you. If hawks cannot carry off boys into the air, can mice eat iron ploughshares ? " " What do you mean by that 1 " " My lord, I deposited in this man's house five hundred ploughshares. The man told me that the mice had devoured them, and showed me the droppings of the mice that had done it. My lord, if mice eat ploughshares, then hawks carry off boys : but if mice cannot do this, neither will hawks carry the boy off. This man says the mice ate my ploughshares. Give sentence whether they are eaten or no. [183] Judge my cause ! " " He must have meant," thought the Bodhisatta, " to fight the trickster with his own weapons. — Well devised ! " said he, and then he uttered these two verses : —

" Well planned indeed ! The biter bit, The trickster tricked — a pretty hit! If mice eat ploughshares, hawks can fly With boys away into the sky ! " A rogue out-rogued with tit for tat ! Give hack the plough, and after that Perhaps the man who k).st the plough May give your son back to you now I"* [184] Thus ho that had lost his sou received him again, and ho received his ploughshare that had lost it ; and afterwards both passed away to fare according to their deeds. "When this discourse was ended, the Master identified the JJirth : — " The cheat in both cases was the same, and so was the clever man ; I myself waa the Loi'd Chief Justice." " The gold is mine" etc. — This story the blaster told at Jetavana, about a brother who was downcast and discontent. This man could not concentrate his mind on any single object, but his life was all full of discontent ; and this was told to the Master. When asked by the Master if he really were discontented, he said yes ; asked why, he replied that it was through his passions. "O Brother!" said the ]\Iaster, "this passion has lieen despised even by the lower animals; and can you, a priest of such a doctrine, yield to discontent arising from the passion that even brutes despise?" Then he told him an old-world tale.

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta reigned over Benares, the Bodhisatta came into the world as a Monkey, in the region of Himalaya. A woodranger caught him, brought him home and gave him to the king. For a long time he dwelt with the king, serving him foithfully, and he learnt a great deal about the manners of the world of men. The king was ' A like repartee is found in North Ind. N. and Q. iii. 214 (The Judgement of the Jackal) ; Swynnerton, Iiul. Nights Entertainments, p. 142 (The Traveller and the Oilman) \ and a story of an oilman in Stumme's Tuni^che Miirchen, vol. ii. - Folk-Lore Journal, iii. 253. ^' 130 TJie Jataka. Book II. pleased at his faithfulness. He sent for the woodranger, and bade him set the monkey free in the very place where he had been caught ; and so he did. All the monkey tribe gathered together upon the face of a huge rock, to see the Bodhisatta now that he had come back to them ; and they spoke pleasantly to him. " Sir, where have you been living this long time ? " " In the king's palace at Benares."

" Then how did you get free 1 " " The king made me his pet monkey, and being pleased with my tricks, he let me go." The monkeys went on — "You must know the manner of living in the world of men : [185] tell us about it too — we want to hear ! " " Don't ask me the manner of men's living," quoth the Bodhisatta. " Do tell — we want to hear ! " they said again. "Mankind," said he, "both princes and Brahmans, cry out^ — ^' Mine ! mine ! ' They know not of the impermanence, by which the things that be are not. Hear now the way of these blind fools;" and he spake these verses : — "'The gold is mine, the precious gold!' so cry they, night and day: These foolish folk cast never a look upon the holy way. "There are two masters in the house; one has no beard to wear. But has long breasts, ears pierced with holes, and goes with plaited hair; His price is told in countless gold; he plagues all people there." [186] On hearing this, all the monkeys cried out — "Stop, stop! we have heard what it is not meet to hear ! " and with both hands they stopped their ears tight. And they liked not the place, because they said, "In this place we heard a thing not seemly;" so they went elsewhere. And this rock went by the name of Garahitapitthi Rock, or the Rock of Blamincr.

When the Master had ended this discovu-se, he declared the Truths and identified the Birth:— at the conclusion of the Truths this Brother reached the Fruit of the First Path:— "The Buddha's present followers were that troop of monkeys, and their chief was I myself." " Vou look OA thmigh," etc. — This was told by the jMastor while staying at the Bamboo Grove, about attempts to murder him. On this occasion, as before, the Master said, " This is not the tirst time Devadatta has tried to murder me and has not even frightened me. He did the same before." And he told this story. Once upon a time reigned at Benares a king named Yasapani, the Glorious. His chief captain was named Kalaka, or Blackie, At that time the Bodhisatta was his chaplain, and had the name of Dhammaddhaja, the Banner of the Faith. There was also a man Chattapaui, maker of ornaments to the king. The king was a good king. But his chief captain swallowed bribes in the judging of causes; he was a backbiter; he took bribes, and defrauded the rightful ownei-s. On a day, one who had lost his suit was departing from the court, weeping and stretching out his arms, [187] Avhen he fell in with the Bodhisatta as he was going to pay his service to the king. Falling at his feet, the man cried out, telling how he had been worsted in his cause : " Although such as you, my lord, instruct the king in the things of this world and the next, the Commander-in-Chief takes bribes, and defrauds rightful owners ! "

The Bodhisatta pitied him. " Come, my good fellow," says he, " I will judge your cause for you ! " and he jiroceeded to the court-house. A great company gathered together. The Bodhisatta reversed the sentence, and gave judgement for him that had the right. The spectators applauded. The sound was great. The king heard it, and asked — "What sound is this I hear 1. " "My lord king," they answered, "it is a cause wrongly judged that has been judged aright by the wise Dhammaddhaja ; that is why there is this shout of applause." The king was pleased and sent for the Bodhisatta. "Thoy tell me," he began, "that you have judged a cau.se?" "Yes, gi'eat king, I have judged that which Kalaka did not judge aright." ^ Here we have the " Hero's Tasks " in a new form. 132 Tlie Jataka. Book II. "Be you judge from this day," said the king; "it will be a joy for my ears, and prosperity for the world ! ' ' He was unwilling, but the king begged him — " In mercy to all creatures, sit you in judgement ! " and so the king won his consent.

From that time Kajaka received no presents ; and losing his gains he spoke calumny of the Bodhisatta before the king, saying, " O mighty King, the wise Dhammaddhaja covets your kingdom ! " But the king would not believe ; and bade him say not so. " If you do not believe me," said Kalaka, "look out of the window at the time of his coming. Then you will see that he has got the whole city into his own hands." The king saw the crowd of those that were about him in his judgement hall. " There is his retinue," thought he. He gave way. " What are we to do, Captain ? " he asked. " My lord, he must be put to death." [188] " How can we put him to death without having found him out in some great wickedness ? " " There is a way," said the other, " What way ? " " Tell him to do what is impossible, and if he cannot, put him to death for that." " But what is impossible to him 1 " "My lord king," replied he, "it takes two years or twice two for a garden with good soil to bear fruit, being planted and tended. Send you for him, and say — ' We want a garden to disport ourselves in to-morrow. Make us a garden ! ' This he will not be able to do ; and we will slay him for that fault."

The king addressed himself to the Bodhisatta. "Wise Sir, we have sported long enough in our old garden ; now we crave to sport in a new. Make us a garden ! If you cannot make it, you must die." The Bodhisatta reasoned, " It must be that Kalaka has set the king against me, because he gets no presents. — If I can," he said to the king, " O mighty king, I will see to it." And he went home. After a good meal he lay upon his bed, thinking. Sakka's palace grew hot'. Sakka reflecting perceived the Bodhisatta's difficulty. He made haste to him, entered his chamber, and asked him — " Wise Sir, what think you on?" — poised the while in mid-air. " Who are you 1 " asked the Bodhisatta. 1 This was supposed to happen when a good man was in straits. Some modern superstitions, turning upon the pity of a god for creatures in pain, may be seen in North Ind. N. and Q. iii. 285. As this : " Hot oil is poured into a dog's ear and the pain makes him yell. It is believed that his yells are heard by Raja Indra, who in pity stops the rain."

" The king bids me make a garden : that is what I am thinking upon." " Wise Sir, do not trouble : I will make you a garden like the groves of Nandana and Cittalata ! In what place shall I make it 1 " " In such and such a place," he told him. Sakka made it, and returned to the city of the gods. Next day, the Bodhisatta beheld the garden there in very truth, and sought the king's pi-esence. " O king, the garden is ready : go to your sport ! " The king came to the place, and beheld a garden girt with a fence of eighteen cubits, vermilion tinted, having gates and ponds, [189] beautiful with all manner of trees laden heavy with flowers and fruit! "The sage has done my bidding," said he to Kiilaka : "now what are we to dol" " O mighty King ! " replied he, " if he can make a garden in one night, can he not seize upon your kingdom 1 " " Well, what are we to do ? " " We will make him perform another impossible thing." " What is that 1 " asked the king.

" We will bid him make a lake possessed of the seven precious jewels ! " The king agreed, and thus addressed the Bodhisatta : "Teacher, you have made a park. Make now a lake to match it, with the seven precious jewels. If you cannot make it, you shall not live ! " " Very good, great King," answered the Bodhisatta, " I will make it if I can." Then Sakka made a lake of great splendour, having an hundred landing-places, a thousand inlets, covered over with lotus plants of five different colours, like the lake in Nandana. Next day, the Bodhisatta beheld this also, and told the king : " See, the lake is made ! " And the king saw it, and asked of Kalaka what was to be done. " Bid him, my lord, make a house to suit it," said he. "Make a house. Teacher," said the king to the Bodhisatta, "all of ivory, to suit with the park and the lake : if you do not make it, you must die ! " Then Sakka made him a house likewise. The Bodhisatta beheld it next day, and told the king. When the king had seen it, he asked Kalaka again, what was to do. Kalaka told him to bid the Bodhisatta make a jewel to suit the house. The king said to him, " Wise Sir, make a jewel to suit with this ivory house ; I will go about looking at it by the light of the jewel : if you cannot make one, you must die ! " Then Sakka

134 The Jataka. Book II. made him a jewel too. Next day the Bodhisatta beheld it, and told the king. [190] When the king had seen it, he again asked Kalaka what was to be done. " Mighty king ! " answered he, " I think there is some sprite who does each thing that the Brahmin Dhammaddhaja wishes. Now bid him make something which even a divinity cannot make. Not even a deity can make a man with all four virtues ' ; therefore bid him make a keeper with these four." So the king said, "Teacher, you have made a park, a lake, and a palace, and a jewel to give light. Now make me a keeper with four virtues, to watch the park ; if you cannot, you must die." " So be it," answered he, "if it is possible, I will see to it." He went home, had a good meal, and lay down. When he awoke in the morning, he sat upon his bed, and thought thus. " What the great king Sakka can make by his power, that he has made. He cannot make a park-keeper with four virtues'. This being so, it is better to die forlorn in the woods, than to die at the hand of other men." So saying no word to any man, he went down from his dwelling and passed out of the city by the chief gate, and entered the woods, where he sat him down beneath a tree and reflected upon the religion of the good. Sakka perceived it ; and in the fashion of a forester he approached the Bodhisatta, saying,

" Brahmin, you are young and tender : why sit you here in this wood, as though you had never seen pain before % " As he asked it, he repeated the first stanza : — " You look as though yom- life must happy be ; Yet to the wild woods you would homeless go, Like some poor wretch whose life was misery, And pine beneath this tree in lonely woe." [191] To this the Bodhisatta made answer in the second stanza : — " I look as though my life must happy be ; Yet to the wild woods I would homeless go. Like some poor wretch whose life was misery, And pine beneath this tree in lonely woe. Pondering the truth that all the saints do know." Then Sakka said, " If so, then why. Brahmin, are you sitting here? " " The king," he made answer, " requires a park-keeper with four good qualities ; such an one cannot be found ; so I thought — Why perish by the hand of man] I will ofi" to the woods, and die a lonely death. So here I came, and here I sit." Then the other replied, " Brahmin, I am Sakka, king of the gods. By

' Caturavga-samanndgatam ; it is an odd coincidence that the Pythagoreans called the perfect man Terpdywos, ' four-square ' (see the poem of Simonides, in Plat. Prot. 339 b). me was your park made, and those other things. A park-keeper possessed of four virtues cannot be made ; but in your country there is one Chattapani, who makes ornaments for the head, and he is such a man. If a park-keeper is wanted, go and make this workman the keeper." With these words Sakka departed to his city divine, after consoling him and bidding him fear no more. [192] The Bodhisatta went homo, and having broken his fast, he rei)aired to the palace gates, and tlieve in that spot he saw Chattapani. He took him by the hand, and asked him — " Is it true, as I hear, Chattapani, that you are endowed with the four virtiies? " " Who told you so ] " asked the other. " Sakka, king of the gods." *• Why did he tell you 1 " He recounted all, and told the reason. The other said, "Yes, I am endowed with the four virtues." The BodhLsatta taking him by the hand led him into the king's presence. " Here, mighty monarch, is Chattapani, endowed with four virtues. If there is need of a keeper for the park, make him keeper."

"Is it true, as I hear," the king asked him, "that you have four virtues 1 " " Yes, mighty king." " What are they ? " he asked. " I envy not, and drink no wine ; No strong desire, no wrath is mine," " Why, Chattapani," cried the king, " did you say you have no envy 1 " " Yes, O king, I have no envy." " What are the things you do not envy 1 " " Listen, my lord ! " said he ; and then he told how he felt no envy in the following lines' : — 1 The following is the commentary on these lines. Tlie story is tliat of No. 120, where the first stanza of those which follow, is given. " This is the meaning. In former days, I was a king of Benares like this, and for a woman's sake I imprisoned a chaplain. The free are bound, when folly has her say ; When wisdom speaks, the bond go free away. Just as in the Birth now spoken of, this Chattapani became king. The <iuccn intrigued with sixty-four of the slaves. She tempted the Bodhisatta, and when lie would not consent she tried to ruin him by speaking calumny of him ; then the king threw him into prison. The Bodhisatta was brought before bim bound, and explained the real state of the case. Then he was set free himself ; and then be got tlic king to release all those slaves who had been imprisoned, and advised him to forgive both

136 The Jataka. Book II. "A chaplain once in bonds I threw — Which thing a woman made me do: Ho built me up in holy lore; Since when I never envied more." [193] Then the king said, " Dear Chattapani, why do you abstain from strong drink]" And the other answered in the following verse' : — the queen and them. All the rest is to be understood exactly as explained above. It was in reference to this he said " A chaplain once in bonds I threw — Which thing a woman made me do : He built me up in holy lore ; Since when I never envied more." But then I thought, 'I have avoided sixteen thousand women, and I cannot satisfy this one in the way of passion. Such is the anger of women, hard to satisfy. It is like being angry, saying, ' Why is it dirty ? ' when a worn garment is dirty ; it is like being angry, saying, ' Why does it become like this ? ' when after a meal some passes into the draught. I made a resolve that henceforth no envy should arise in me by way of passion, lest I should fail to become a saint. From that time I have been free from envy. This is the point of saying, ' Since lohen I never envied more.'' "

1 The scholiast tells the foUomng story to illustrate this verse. — " I was once," says the speaker, "a king of Benares; I could not live without strong drink and meat. Now in that city animals might not be slaughtered on the Sabbath (uposathadivasesu) ; so the cook had prepared some meat for ray Sabbath meal the day before (the 13th of the lunar fortnight). This, being badly kept, the dogs ate. The cook durst not come before the king on the Sabbath to serve his rich and varied repast in the upper chamber without meat, so he asked the queen's advice. "My lady, to-day I have no meat; and without it I dare not offer a meal to him, what am I to do?" Said she, " The king is very fond of my son. As he fondles him, he hardly knows whether he exists or not. [194] I will dress my son up, and give him into the king's hands, and while he plays with him you shall serve his dinner ; he vWll not notice." So .she dressed up her darling son, and put him into the king's hands. As he was playing with the lad, the cook served the dinner. The king, mad with drink, and seeing no meat upon the dish, asked where the meat was. The answer was that no meat was to be had that day because there was no killing on the Sabbath.

" Meat is hard to get for me, is it ? " he said ; and then he wrung his dear son's neck as he sat in his arms, and killed him ; threw him down before the cook, and told him to look sharp and cook it. The cook obeyed, and the king ate his own son's flesh. For dread of the king not a soul durst weep or wail or say a word. The king ate, and went to sleep. Next morning, having slept off his intoxication, he asked for his son. Then the queen fell weeping at his feet, and said, " Oh, sir, yesterday you killed your son and ate his flesh ! " The king wept and wailed for grief, and thought, " This is because of drinking strong drink ! " Then, seeing the mischief of drinking, I made a resolution that lest I should never become a saint, I would never touch this deadly liquor; taking dust, and rubbing it upon my mouth. From that time I have drunk no strong drink. This is the point of the lines, " Once I was drunken."

" Once I was drunken, and I ate My own sou's flesh upon my plate ; Then, touched with sorrow and with pain, Swore never to touch drink again." [194] Then the king said, "But what, dear sir, makes you indifferent, without love?" The man explained it in these \vords' : — "King Kitavasa was my name; A mighty king was I ; My boy the Buddha's basin broke And so he had to die." [195] Said the king then, "What was it, good friend, that made you to be without angerf And the other made the matter clear in these lines: "As Araka, for seven years I practised charity; And then for seven ages dwelt In Brahma's heaven on high." When Chattapani had thus explained his four attributes, the king made a sign to his attendants. And in an instant all the court, [196] priests and laymen and all, rose up, and cried out upon Kalaka — "Fie, bribe-swallowing thief and scoundrel! You couldn't get your bribes, and so you would murder the wise man by speaking ill of him!" They seized him by hand and foot, and bundled him out of the palace ; and catching up whatever

^ The scholiast tells this story: "The meaning is, Once ui)on a time I was a king named Kitavasa, and a son was born to me. The fortune-tellers said that the boy would perish of lack of water. So he was named Dutthakumara. When he grew up, he was viceroy. The king kept his son close to him, before or behind ; and to break the prophecy had tanks made at the four city gates and here and tliere inside the city ; he made halls in the squares and crossways, and set water jars in them. One day the young man, dressed finely, went to the park by himself. On his way he saw a Pacceka-Buddha in the road, and many people spoke to him, praised him, did obeisance before him. [195] ' What ! ' thought the i^rince, ' when such as I am passing by, do people show all this respect to yonder shavepate ? ' Angry, he dismounted from the elephant, and asked the Buddha if he had received his food. 'Yes,' was the reply. The prince took it from him, cast it on the ground, rice and bowl together, and crushed it to dust under his feet. ' The man is lost, verily ! ' said the Buddha, and looked into his face. ' I am Prince Duttha, son of king Kitavasa ! ' said the prince — ' what harm will you do me, by looking angrily at me and opening your eyes ?

' The Buddha, having lost his food, rose up in the air and went off to a cave at the foot of Nanda, in Northern Himalaya. At that very moment the prince's evil-doing began to bear fruit, and he cried — 'I burn ! I burn ! ' His body burst into flame, and he fell down in the road where he was ; all the water that there was near disappeared, the conduits dried up, then and there he perished, and passed into hell. The king heard it, and was overcome with giief. Then he thought — ' This grief is come upon me because my son was dear to me. If I had had no affection, I had had no pain. From this time forward I resolve that I will fix my affection on nothing, animate or inanimate.'"

138 The Jataka. Book II. they could get hold of, this a stone, and this a staff, they broke his head and did him to death : and dragging him by the feet they cast him upon a dunghill. Thenceforward the king ruled in righteousness, until he passed away according: to his deserts. This discourse ended, the Master identified the Birth: — "Devadatta was the Commander Kalaka, Sariputta was the artisan Chattapaiii, and I was Dhammaddhaja."

" If ani/ maji" etc. — This story the ^Master told while staying at Jetavana, about Devadatta. It was occasioned by something that happened at Rajagaha. At one period the Captain of the Faith was living with five hundred brethren at the Bamboo Grove. And Devadatta, with a body of men wicked like himself, lived at Gayasisa. At that time the citizens of Rajagaha used to club together for the pm^^ose of almsgiving. A trader, who had come there on business, brought a magnificent IJerfumed yellow robe, asking that he might become one of them, and give this garment as his contribution. The townspeople brought plenty of gifts. All that was contributed by those who had clubbed together consisted of ready money. There was this garment left. The crowd which had come together said, " Here is this beautiful perfumed robe left over. Who shall have it — Elder Sariputta, or Devadatta?" Some were in favour of Sariputta; others said, "Elder Sariputta will stay here a few days, [197] and then go travelling at his own sweet will ; but Devadatta always lives near our city ; he is our refuge in good fortune or ill. Devadatta shall have it!" They made a division, and those who voted for Devadatta were in the majority. So to Devadatta they gave it. He had it cut in strips, and sewn together, and coloured like gold, and so he wore it upon him.

At the same time, thirty Brethren went from Savatthi to salute the Master. After gi-eetings had been exchanged, they told him all this affair, adding, " And so, sir, Devadatta wears this mark of the saint, which suits him ill enough." " Brethren," said the Master, " this is not the first time that Devadatta has pvit on the garb of a saint, a most unsuitable dress. He did the same betore." And then he told them an old-world tale. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta came into this world as an Elephant in the Himalaya region. Lord of a hei'd that numbered eighty thousand wild elephants, he dwelt in the forest land. A poor man that lived in Benai-es, seeing the workers of ivory in the ivory bazaar making bangles and all manner of ivory trinkets, he a-sked them would they buy an elephant's tusks, if he should get them. To which they answered, Yes. So he took a weapon, and clothing himself in a yellow robe, he put on the guise of a Pacceka-Buddha", with a covering band about his head. Taking his stand in the path of the elephants, he slew one of them with his weapon, and sold the tusks of it in Benares; and in this manner he made a living. After this he began always to slay the very last elephant in the Bodhisatta's troop. Day by day the elephants grew fewer and fewer.

Then they went and asked the Bodhisatta how it was that their numbers dwindled. He perceived the reason. "Some man," thought he, "stands in the place where the elephants go, having made himself like a Pacceka-Buddha in appearance. Now can it be he that slays the elephants? I will find him out." So one day he sent the others on before him [198] and he followed after. The man saw the Bodhisatta, and made a rush at him with his weapon. The Bodhisatta turned and stood. "I will beat him to the eai-th, and kill him!" thought he: and stretched out his trunk, — when he saw the yellow robes which the man wore. "I ought to pay respect to those sacred robes!" said he. So drawing back his trunk, he cried — "0 man! Is not that dress, the flag of sainthood, unsuitable to you? Why do you wear it?" and he repeated these lines : —