The Jātaka, vol. VI (nos. 538-547)

[548] When the Great Being had made the gift, he was joyful, thinking how good a gift he had made, as he stood looking upon the children. And Jujaka went into the jungle, and bit off a creepei*, and with it he bound the boy's right hand to the girl's left, and drove them away beating them with the ends of the creeper. Explaining this, the Master said : " The cruel brahmin bit a length of creeper off" ; which done, He with the creeper bound their hands, and dragged the children on^ And then the brahmin, staff in hand, holding the creeper tight. Beat them and drove them on and on before their father's sight." Where he struck them, the skin was cut, the blood ran, when struck they staggered against each other back to back. But in a I'ugged })lace the man stumbled and fell : with their tender hands the children sli2)t off the light bond, and ran away weeping to the Great Being. Explaining this, the Master said : " The children thus at liberty then from the brahmin fly ; The boy looks on his father's face, the tears are in his eye. Then like a fig-leaf in the wind the little boy did quake, Embracing threw his arms around his father's feet, and spake :

' Father, will you dispose of us while mother is away ? O do not give us till she come ! till she return, 0 stay ! And will you then dispose of us while mother is away ? 0 wait until she shall return, then give us if you will ! Then let the brahmin sell us both, then let the brahmin kill ! His foot is huge, his nails are torn, his flesh hangs sagging down. Long underlip and broken nose, all trembling, tawny-brown. Pot-bellied, broken-backed, with eyes that shew an ugly squint-, All spots and wrinkles, yellow-haired, with beard of bloody tint, 2 visamacakklntlo : or ' of different colours,' as the Burmese version has it. 284 The Jataka. Book XXII. Yellow, loose-jointed, cruel, huge, in skins of goats bedight, A crooked and inhuman thing, a most terrific sight ; [549] A man, or monstrous cannibal ] and canst thou tamely see This goblin come into the wood to ask this boon of thee ? And is thy heart a piece of stone fast bound about with steel, To care not when this gi'eedy man, who can no pity feel. Binds us, and drives us off like kine ? At least I would appeal

That sister Kanha, who as \et no trouljle knows, may stay. Now crying like a sucking ftiwn lost from the herd away.'" [550] To this the Great Being answered not one w^ord. Then the boy said, lamenting on account of his parents ^ : " I care not for the pain of death, that is the lot of all : Ne'er more to see my mother's face, 'tis this that doth appal. I care not for the pain of death, that is the lot of all : Ne'er more to see my father's face, 'tis this that doth appal. Long will my parents mourn and weep, long will they nurse their woe. At midnight and at dawn their tears will like a river flow, No more to see Kanhajina, whom they had cherished so. Those clusters of rose-apple trees which droop around the lake, And all the fruitage of the woods this day we do forsake. Fig-tree and jack-fruit, banyan broad and every tree that grow.s, Yea! all the fruitage of the woods this day we do forsake. There stand they like a pleasant park, there cool the river flows, The place where once we used to play, this day we do forsake.

The fruit that once we used to eat, the flowers we used to wear. That yonder grow upon the hill, this day we do forsake. And all the pretty little toys that once we played with there, The horses, oxen, elephants, this day we do forsake." [551] In despite of these lamentations, Jujaka came and di'ove him away with his sister. Exjilaining this, the Master said : " The children to their father said as they were led away : ' O father ! wish our mother well, and happy be your day ! These oxen, horses, elephants wherewith we used to play, Give them to mother, and they will somewhat her grief allay. These oxen, horses, elephants wherewith we used to play, When she looks on them, will anon somewhat her grief allay.'" Now great pain arose in the Great Being because of his children, and his heart grcAv liot within him : he trembled violently, like an elephant seized by a maned lion, like the moon swallowed in Rahu's jaw's. Not strong enough to endure it, he went into the hut, tears streaming from his eyes, and wept pitifully. Explaining this, the Master said : "The warrior prince Vessantara thus gave his gift, and went, And there within his leafy bower he sadly did lament."

1 See above, p. 80. The verses have been compressed iu translation. What follow are the verses of the Great Being's lamentation. " 0 when at morning or at eve for food my children cry, Opprest by hunger or by thirst, who will their want supply? [552] How will their little trembling feet along the roadway go, Unshod? who'll take them by the hand and lead them gently so? How could the brahmin feel no shame, while I was standing liy, To strike my harmless innocents? a shameless man say I! No man with anj' sense of shame would treat another so, Were it a servant of my slave, and I brought very low. I cannot see him, but he scolds and beats my children dear. While like a fish caught in a trap I'm standing helpless here." These thoughts came into the Great Being's mind, thi'ough his affection for the. children; he could not away with the pain to think how the brahmin cruelly beat his children, and he resolved to go in chase of the man, and kill him, and to bring the children back. But no, he thought: that was a mistake; to give a gift, then to rei)ent because the children's ti'ouble would be very great, that was not the way of the righteous. And the two following stanzas contain the reflexions which throw light on that matter.

" He bound his sword upon his left, he armed him with his bow ; 'I'll bring my children back again; to lose them is great woe. But even if my children die 'tis wicked to feel pain^ : Who knows the customs of the good, yet asks a gift again ?'" [553] Meanwliile Jujaka beat the children as he led them along. Then the boy said lamenting : "How true that saying seems to be which men are wont to tell: Who has no mother of his own is fiitherless as well-. Life's nothing to us : let us die ; we are his chattels now, This cruel greedy violent man, who drives us like his cow. These clusters of rose-ai)ple trees, which droop around the lake, And all the verdure of the woods, O Kanha, we forsake. Fig-tree and jack -fruit, banyan tree, and eveiy tree that grows, Yea all the many kinds of fruit, 0 Kanha, we forsake. There stand they like a pleasant park, there cool the river flows; The place where once we used to play, 0 Kanha, we forsake. The fruit that once we used to eat, the flowers we used to wear, That yonder grow upon the hill, O Kanha, we forsake.

And all the little pretty toys that once we played with there, The horses, oxen, elephants, O Kanha, we forsake." 1 This line does not scan, and does not give the required sense, 'it is nothing to me' {mama na kind hotu, sch.). Bead with B'' athuna me for atthdnain (cp. line 25 of text), 'this is wrong,' and omit ta>h (or omit mc). — Perhaps atthrinam ctam is concealed here. 2 Reading : sakd mCUu, pita ?t' atthi (B'' has^;((d). So Burmese version. 286 The Jdtaka. Book XXII. Again the brahmin fell down in a rough place: the cord fell from his hand, and the children, trembling like wounded fowls, ran away without stopping back to their father. Explaining this, the Master said : "Now Jali and Kanhajina, thus by the brahmin led, Somehow got free, and then away and on and on they fled." [554] But Jujaka quickly got up, and followed them, cord and stick in hand, spitting like the tire at the world's end ; " Very clever you are indeed," said he, "at running away"; and he tied their hands and brought them back. Explaining this, the Master said : "And so the brahmin took his cord, and so his staff he took, And brought them back with beating, while the king was forced to look."

As they were led away, Kanhajina turned back, and lamented to her father. Explaining this, the Master said : " Then spake Kanhajina and said : ' My father, prithee see — As though I were a home-born slave this brahmin thrashes me I Brahmins are men of upright life : no brahmin he can be. A goblin sure in brahmin-shape, thcit leads us off to eat. And can you stay and see us led to be a goblin's meat ? ' " As his young daughter lamented, trembling as she went, dire grief arose in the Great Being : his heart grew hot w ithin him ; his nose was not large enough, so from his mouth he sent forth hot pantings ; tears like drops of blood fell from his eyes. Then he thought : " All this pain comes from affection, and no other cause ; I must quiet this affection, and be calm." Thus by power of his knowledge he did away with that keen pang of sorrow, and sat still as usual. Ere they had yet reached the entering in of the mountains, the girl went on lamenting : "Sore are these little feet of mine, hard in the way we go. The brahmin drives us on and on, the sun is sinking low.

[555] On hills and forests, and on those that dwell in them, we call, We reverently bow to greet the spirits, one and all, That haunt this lake ; its plants and roots and creepers, and we pray To wish our mother health : Init us the brahmin drive.s away. If she would follow after us, let her make no delay. Straight leads unto the hermitage this path by which we go ; And if she will but follow this, she soon will hnd us so. Thou gatherer of wild fruits and roots, thou of the knotted hair. To see the empty hermitage will cause thee great despair. Long stayed our mother on her quest, great store she must have found. Who knows not that a cruel man and greedy hath us bound, A very cruel man, who now like cattle drives us round. Ah, had our mother come at eve, and had they chanced to meet, Had she given him a meal of fx'uit with honey mixt, to eat, — He would not drive us cruelly, when he his meal had hent : Cruel he drove us, and our feet loud echoed as we went ! " So for their mother longing sore the children did lament i.

[556] Now whereas the king gave his dearly beloved children to the brahmin, the earth did resound with a great uproar that reached even to Brahma's heaven and pierced the hearts of the deities which dwelt in Himavat : who, hearing the children's lamentation as the man drove them along, thought with themselves, "If Maddi come betimes to the hermitage, not seeing her children she will ask Vessautara about it ; great will be her longing when she hears that they have been given away ; she will run after them, and will get into great tiouble: so they instructed three ^ of the gods to take upon them the shape of a lion and a tiger and a pard, and to obstruct^ her way, not to let her go back for all her asking until the setting of the sun, that she might only get back by moonlight, guarding her safe from the attacks of lions and other wild beasts. Explaining this, the Master said : "A Lion, Tiger, and a Pard, three creatures of the brake. Which heard this lamentation loud, thus each to other spake : 'Let not the princess back return at eve from seeking food, Lest the wild beasts should slay her in our kingdom of the wood.

If lion, pard, or tiger should the auspicious mother slay, 0 where would then Prince Jali be, O where Kanhajina ? The parent and the children both do you preserve this day.' " They agreed, and obeyed the words of the gods. Becoming a lion, a tiger, and a pai-d, they lay down near the road by which she must go JSTow Maddi was thinking to herself, [557] " Last night I saw a bad dream ; I will collect my fruits and roots and get me betimes to the hermitage." Trembling she searched for the roots and fruits : the spade fell from her hand, the basket fell fi'om her shoulder, her right eye went a-throl)bing, fruit-trees appeared as barren and barren trees as fruitful, she could not tell whether she were on head or heels'*. "What can be the meaning," she thought, " of this strangeness to-day ! " and she said — "Down falls my spade, a throbbing now in my right eye I feel, The fruitful trees unfruitful seem, all round me seems to reel ! " And when she turned at evening time to go, the day's work done, Wild beasts beset her homeward path at setting of the sun.

"The hermitage is far, methinks, the sun is sinking low And all the food they have to eat is wliat I bring, I know. And there my prince sits all alone within the leafy hut. The hungry children comforting : and I returning not. 1 " Here endeth the Children's Section {kaindraput'ilutih)." Schol. 2 te. So Burmese version. Tlie versicle has tayo. ^ ruinbhitvd ? * dasa disd na pahhuyimsu. 288 The Jataka. Book XXI I. It is the time of evening meal, O woe is me ! 'tis late : Thirsting for water or for milk my children me await ; They come to meet me, standing like calves looking for their dam ; Like wild-goose chicks above the lake — ^0 wretched that I am ! This is the sole and only path, with ponds and pits aronnd : And I can see no other road now I am homeward bound. 0 mighty monarchs of the woods, 0 royal beasts, I cvy, Be brothers now in righteousness *, and let me safe go by ! 1 am a bauisht prince's wife, a prince of glory fair ; As Sita did for Rama, so I for m^' husband care.

When you go home at evening time, your children you can see : So Jali and Kanhiijinil be given once more to me ! Here are abundant roots and fruits, much food I have to shew : The half T ofter now to you : O let me safely go ! [558] A king my father, and a queen my mother— hear my cry ! Be brothers now in righteousness, and let me safe go by ! " Then the gods, observing the time, saw that it was time to let her go ; and they rose up and departed. The Master explained it thus : "The beasts that heard her thus lament with great e.xceeding woe, In voice of sweet and gentle sound, went off and let her go." When the beasts had departed, she returned to the herniitage. Now it was the night of the full moon ; and when she came to the end of the covered walk, where she had been used to see her children, and saw them not, she cried out : [559] " The children, dusty, close to home, are wont to meet me here Like calves that seek the mother-cow, like birds above the mere.

Like little deer, with prickt-up ear, they meet me on the way : With joy and happiness they skip and frolick in their play : But Jali and Kanhajina I cannot see to-day. As goat and lioness may leave their young, a bird her cage, To seek for food, so have I done their hunger to assuage : But Jali and Kanhajina I cannot see to-day. Here are their traces, close by home, like snakes upon the hill. The little heaps of earth they made all round, remaining still : But Jali and Kanhajina I cannot sec to-day. All covered up with dust to me my children used to run. Sprinkled with mud, but now indeed I can see neither one. Like kids to welcome back their dam they ran from home away As from the forest I returned ; I see them not to-day. Here they were playing, here this yellow vilva fruit let fall : But Jali and Kanh.ajina I cannot see to-day. These breasts of mine are full of milk, my heart will break withal: But Jali and Kanhajina I cannot see to-day. They used to cling about my hips, one hanging from my breast : How they would meet me, dust-begrimed, at time of evening rest ! But Jali and Kanhajina I cannot see to-day.

1 She appeals to them as a princess. Schol. Once on a time this hermitage became oiu" meeting-ground : But now I see no children here, the whole place spins around. [560] My children must be dead ! the place so silent has become — The very ravens do not caw, the very birds are dumb." Lamenting in tliis fashion, she came up to the Great Being, and set down the basket of fruit. Seeing him sitting in silence, and no children with him, she said : " Why art thou silent ? how that dream comes to my thought again : The birds and ravens make no sound, my children must be slain ! O sir, have they been carried off" by some wild beast of prey ? Or in the deep deserted wood have they been led astray ? [561] O do the pretty prattlers sleep? on errands do they fare? 0 have they wandered out afar in frolic or in play >. 1 cannot see their hands and feet, I cannot see their hair : Was it a bird that swooped ? or who has carried them away 1 " To this the Great Being made no reply. Then she asked, " My lord, why do you not speak to me ? wluit is my fault 1 " and said :

'"Tis like the wound of arrow-shot, and still more bitter smart (But Jali and Kanhajina I cannot see to-day !) This is a second wound that thou hast struck me to the heart. That I my children cannot see, that thou hast nought to say. And so, O royal prince ! this night since thou wilt not reply, I think my days are done indeed, and thou wilt see me die." The Great Being thought that he would assuage his pain for the children by hai'sh speech, and recited this stanza : [562] "0 Maddi, royal princess born, whose glory is so great, Thou wentst for food in early morn : why comest thou so late ? " " Did you not hear the lion and the tiger loudly roar When by the lake their thirst to slake they stood upon the shore ? As in the woods I walked, there came the sign I knew so well : My spade fell from my hand, and from my arm the basket fell. Then hurt, alarmed, I worshipt all the quarters, one by one. Praying that good might come of this, my hands outstretcht in prayer : And that no lion and no pard, hyena, wolf or bear. Might tear or harry or destroy my daughter or my son.

A lion, tiger, and a pard, three ravening beasts, laid wait And kept me from my homeward path: so that is why I'm late." This was all that the Great Being said to her until sunrise : after which Maddi uttered a long lament : [563] "My husband and my children I have tended day and night, As pupil tends a teacher, when he tries to do the right. In goatskins clothed, wild roots and fruits I from the forest brought, And every day and every night for your convenience sought. I brought you yellow vilva fruit, my little girl and boy. And many a ripe woodland fruit, to play and make you joy. 290 The Jdtaka. Book XXII. This lotas root and lotus stalk, of golden j^ellow hue, Join with your little ones, O prince, and eat your portion too. Give the white lily to your girl. to.Jali give the blue, And see them dance in garlands deckt : O call them, Sivi, do ! 0 mighty monarch ! lend an ear while with delightful sound Kanhajina sings sweetly, and enters our settling-ground. Since we were banisht, joy and woe in common shared has been : O answer I my Kanhajina and Jfdi hast thou seen 'i

How many holy brahmins I must have offended sore, Of holy life, and vii-tuous, and full of sacred lore, That Jali and Kanhajina 1 cannot see to-day ! " [564] To this lament the Great Being answered not one word. As he said nothing, trembling she sought her children by the light of the moon ; and wheresoever they used to play, under the rose-apple trees or where not, slie sought them, weeping the while, and saying ; " These clusters of rose-apple trees, that droop around the mere, And all the fruitage of the woods— my children are not here ! Fig-tree and jack-fruit, banyan broad, and every tree that grows, Yea, all the fruitage of the woods — my children are not here ! There stand they like a pleasant park, there cool the river flows, The place where once they used to play^ — but now they are not here. The fruit that once they used to eat, the flowers they used to wear That j'onder grow upon the hill — the children are not there ! And all the little toys that once they played with, there are those, The oxen, horses, elephants — the children are not there !

Here are the many hares and owls, the dark and dappled deer, With which the children used to play, but they themselves not here ! The peacocks with their gorgeous wings, the herons and the geese. With which the children used to play, but they themselves not here ! " Not finding her darling children in the hermitage, she entered a clump of flowering plants and looked here and there for them, saying : "The woodland thickets, full of flowers that every season blow. Where once the children used to play, but they themselves not here ! The lovely lakes that listen, when the ruddy geese give call. When lotus white and lotus blue and trees like coral grow^. Where once the children played, but now no children are at all." [565] But nowhere could she see the children. Then returning to the Great Being, whom she beheld with his face cast down, she said to him : "The kindling wood you have not split, the fire you have not lit, Nor brought the water as before : why do you idly sit ? When I return unto my den my toil is done away. But Jali and Kanhajina I cannot see to-day I "

Still the Great Being sat silent ; and she distrest at his silence, 1 See IV. 3591 (p. 226 of the translation). trembling like a wounded fowl, went again round the places which she had searched before, and returning said : " O husband mine, I cannot see by whom their death lias come : The very ravens do not caw, the very birds ai'e dumb." Still the Great Being said no word. And she, in her longing for the little ones, a third time searched the same places quick as the wind : in one night the space which she traversed in seeking them was fifteen leagues. Then the night gave place to dawn, and at sunrise she came again to the Great Being, and stood before him lamenting. The Master explained it thus : " When she had traversed in the search each forest and each hill. Back to her husband she returned, and stood lamenting still. [566] ' In hills, woods, caves I cannot see by whom their death has come : The very ravens do not caw, the very birds are dumb.' Then Maddl, dame of high renown, princess of royal birth, Lamenting with her arms outstretcht fell down u2)on the earth."

"She's dead !" thought the Great Being, and trembled. "Ah, this is no place for Maddl to die ! Had she died in Jetuttara city, great pomp there would have been, two kingdoms would have quaked. But I am alone in the forest, and what can I do 1 " Great trouble came upon him ; then recovering himself somewhat, he determined to do what he could. Rising up he laid a hand on her heart, and felt it to be still warm : lie brought water in a pitcher, and although for seven months past he had not touched her l)ody, in his disti'ess he could no longer keep to the asc('tic's part, but with tears in his eyes he raised her head and laid it upon his lap, sprinkling it witli water, and chahng her face and bosom as he sat. Then Maddl after a little while regains her senses, and, rising up in confusion, does obeisance to the Great Being, and asks, " My lord Vessantara, vvhere are the children gonel" "I have given them," says he, "to a brahmin." The Master thus explained it : " He sprinkled her with water as she fell down faint as dead. And when she had come back again to consciousness, he said " : —

[567] She asked him, "My dear, if you had given tlu; children to a bralimin, why did you let me go weeping about all night, without saying a word 1 " The Great Being replied : " I did not speak at once, because I shrank to cause you pain. A poor old brahmin came to beg, and so, of giving fain, I gave the children : do not fear, O Maddl ! breathe again. O Maddi, do not grieve too sore, but set your eyes on mo : We'll get them back alive once more, and happy shall we be. Good men should ever give when asked, sons, cattle, wealth, and grain. Maddl, rejoice ! a greater gift than children cannot be." 292 The Jataka. Book XXII. " I do rejoice ! a greater gift than children cannot be. By giving set your mind at rest ; pray do the like again : For you, the mighty fostering king of all the Sivi land, Amidst a world of selfish men gave gifts with lavish hand." To this the Great Being answered: "Why do you say tliis, Maddl? If I had not been able to set my mind at peace by giving my children, these miracles would not have happened to me " ; and then he told her all the earth-rumblings and what else had happened. [568] Then Maddi rejoicing described the miracles in these words :

"The earth did rumble, and the sound the highest heaven fills, The lightning flared, the thunder woke the echoes of the hills ! Then Narada and Pabbata both greatly did rejoice, Yea, all the Three and Thirty Gods with Indra, at that voice^. Thus Maddl, dame of royal birth, princess of high degree, Rejoiced with him : a greater gift than children none can be." Thus the Great Being described his own gift ; and thus did Maddi repeat the tale, affirming that he had given a noble gift, and there she sat rejoicing in the same gift : on which occasion the Master repeated the stanza, "Thus Maddi," etc.^ As they were thus talking together, Sakka thought : " Yesterday Vessantara gave his children to Jiijaka, and the earth did resound. Now suppose a vile creature should come and ask him for Maddi herself, the incomparable, the virtuous, and should take her away with him leaving the king alone : he will be left helpless and destitute. Well, then, I will take the form of a brahmin, and beg for Maddi. Thus I will enable him to attain the supreme height of perfection; I shall make it impossible that she should be given to anyone else and then I will give her back." So at dawn, to him goes Sakka. The Master explained it thus :

"And so when night was at an end, about the peep of day, Sakka in brahmin's form to them first early made his way. [569] 'O holy man, I trust that you are prosperous and well. With grain to glean, and roots and fruit abundant where you dwell 3. Have you been much by flies and gnats and creeping things annoyed, Or from wild beasts of prey have you immunity enjoyed?'" The Great Being replied : "Thank you, brahmin — yes, I am both prosperous and well, ^^'^ith grain to glean, and fruits and roots abundant where I dwell. From flies and gnats and creeping things I suffer no annoy, And from wild beasts of prey I here immunity enjoy. ^ Four lines in another metre interrupt this couplet, which mention the names of Indra, Brahma, Prajapati, with kings Soma, Yama, and Vessavana. - " Here endeth the Chapter of Marldi." Schol. ^ See above, p. 276. I've lived here seven sad luuiitlis, and you the secund brahmin found, Holding a goat-staff" in his hand, to reach this forest-ground. Welcome, O brahmin ! blest the chance directed you this wayi ; Come enter with a blessing, come, and wash your feet, I pray.

The tindook and the piyal leaves, and kasumarl sweet, And fruits like honey, brahmin, take the best I have, and eat. And this cool water from a cave high hidden on a hill, 0 noble brahmin ! take of it, drink if it be your will^." As thus they talked pleasantly together he asked of his coining : " And now what reason or what cause directed you this way / Why have you sought the mighty woods ? resolve me this, I pray." Then Sakka replied : " 0 king, I am old, but I have come here to beg your wife Maddl ; pray give her to me," and he repeated this stanza : " As a great water-flood is full and fails not any day, So you, from whom I come to beg— give me your wife, I pray." To this the Great Being did not reply — " Yesterday I gave away my children to a brahmin, how can I give Maddi to you and be left alone in the forest ! " No, he was as though putting a purse of a thousand pieces in his hand : indifferent, unattached, with no clinging of mind, he made the mountain re-echo with this stanza :

[570] " Weary am I, nor hide I that : yet in my own despite, 1 give, and shrink not: for in gifts my heart doth take delight." This said, quickly he drew water in a pitcher, and poured it upon his hand*, and made over Maddi to the brahmin. At that moment, all the portents which had occurred before were again seen and heard. The Master thus explained it : "Then he took up a water-jar, the king of Sivi land, And taking Maddi, gave her straight into the brahmin's Jiand. Then was there terror and affi-ight, then the great earth did quake, What time he rendered Maddi for his visitor to take. The face of Maddi did not frown*, she did not chafe or cry. But looked on silent, thinking, He knows best the reason why. 'Both Jali and Kanhajina I let another take, And Maddi my devoted wife, and all for wisdom's sake. Not hateful is my faithful wife, nor yet my children are. But perfect knowledge, to my mind, is something dearer far.'" Then the Great Being looked upon Maddi's face to see how she took it; and she, asking him why he looked upon her, cried aloud with a lion's

voice in these words : "From maidenhood I was his wife, he is my master still : Let him to whomso he desire or give, or sell, or kill." 1 See above, pp. 48, 277, 280. - See p. 280. * As a symbol of donation, water was poured upon the right band {dakkhinodakam). ■• hhakutl is "'J^^T ' a frown.' Not in Childers. 294 TJie Jdtaka. Book XXII. [571] Then Sakka, seeing her excellent resolution, gave her praise; and the Master exj)]ained it thus : "Thereat spake Sakka, seeiug how her wishes did incline: 'Conquered is every obstacle, both human and divine. The earth did rumble, and the sound the highest heaven fills, The lightning flares, the thunder wakes the echoes of the hills. Now Narada and Pabbata to hear this mighty voice. Yea, all the Three and Thirty Gods at this hard feat rejoice. 'Tis hard to do as good men do, to give as the}^ can give, Bad men can hardly imitate the life that good men live. And so, when good and evil go to pass away from earth. The bad arc born in hell below, in heaven the good have birth'. This is the Noble Vehicle^: both wife and child were given, Therefore let him descend ^ no more, but this bear fruit in heaven.'"

When thus Sakka had expressed his approval, he thought, " Now I must make no more delay here, but give her back and go"; and he [572] "Sir, now I give you Maddi back, your fair and lovely wife, A pair well-matched, and fitted for a most harmonious life. Like the inevitable bond 'twixt water and a shell. So you with jNIadd! ; mind and heart are both according well. Of equal birth and family on either parents' side Here in a forest hermitage together you abide, That ye may go on doing good where in the woods you dwell." This said, he went on, otFering a boon: "Sakka the King of Gods am I, here come thy place to see: Choose thou a boon, 0 royal sage, eight boons I give to thee." As he spoke, he rose into the air ablaze like the morning sun. Then the Bodhisatta said, choosing his boons : "Sakka, the lord f)f all the earth, has given me a boon. Prithee my ftither reconcile, let him recall me soon And set me in ray royal seat : this the first boon I crave. May I condemn no man to death, not though he guilty he : Condemned, may I release from death : this second boon I crave. May all the j^eople for their help look only unto me. The young, the old, the middle-aged: this the third boon I crave.

May I not seek my neighbour's wife, contented with my own, Nor subject to a woman's will: this the fourth boon I crave. 1 See II. 86 (trans., p. 59), iv. 65 (trans., p. 42). - No trace has hitherto been found iu the South of the Three Vehicles of Northern Buddhism [(^iksiisaynuccaya 328*, cp. Lotm de la Bonne Lot 315); it is therefore worth while quoting the note on the word brahmat/dnaih : " setthayanam, tividho hi sucaritadhammo evarupo danadhammo ariyamaggassa paccayo hotiti, brahmayanam ti vnccati." ' anokkamma: " apayabhfimim anokkamitva," used absolutely. No example in Childers. I prithee, Sakka, grant long life to my beloved son, Conquering the world in righteousness : this the fifth boon I crave. Then at the end of every night, at dawning of the day, May food celestial be revealed : this the sixth boon I crave. May means of giving never fail, and may I give alway With hearty gladness and content: this the seventh boon I crave. [573] Hence freed, may I be straight advanced to heaven, then that I may No more be bom upon the earth : this the eighth boon I crave." When Sakka, King of Gods, had heard his saying, thus said he : "Ere long, the father whom you love, will wish his sou to see."

With this address, Sakka went back to his own place. Explaining this, the Master said : "The Mighty One, the King of Gods, this said, Sujampati, After the giving of the boons straight back to heaven went he^'' Now the Bodhisatta and Maddl lived liappily together in the hermitage ■which Sakka had given them; but Jujaka, with the children, went on a journey of sixty leagues. The deities watched over the children ; Jujaka when the sun went down used to tie up the children with osiers and leave them lying upon the ground, but himself in fear of cruel and wild beasts would climb up a tree and would sit in the fork of the boughs. Then a god would come to the children in the form of Vessantara, and a goddess in the form of Maddi ; they would set free the children, and chafe their hands and feet, wash them and dress them, would give them food and })ut them to rest on a celestial couch : [574] then at dawn they would lay them down again in their bonds, and would disappear. Thus by help of the gods the children ^vent on their way unhurt. Jujaka also was guided by the gods, so that intending to go to the kingdom of Kaliuga, in fifteen days he came to the city of Jetuttara. The same night, Saiijaya, king of Sivi, dreamt a dream, and his dream was on this fashion:

As he was seated in high durbar, a man came and gave him two blossoms into his hand, and he hung them one on either ear; and the pollen fell from them upon his chest. When he awoke in the morning, he asked his brahmins what it meant. They said, "Some knights of yours, sire, who have been long absent, will return." So next morning, after feasting on many a dainty dish, he sat in his durbar, and the deities brought this brahmin and set him in the courtyard of the palace. In a moment the king saw the children, and said :

"Whose face is this that yellow shines, dry as thougli fire did scorch, Like some gold bangle — one as though all shrivelled with a torch ^ Both like in body, like in marks— who can these children be? Like Jali is the boy, and like Kanhajiua is she. 1 "Here endeth the Sakka Chapter." Schol. {Sakka-pahbum). 296 The Jataka. Book XXII. They'i-e like two little lion cubs that from their cave descend. And like each other: and they seem all golden as they stand." After thus praising them in three stanzas the king sent a courtier to them, with instructions to bring them to him. Quickly he brought them ; and the king said to the brahmin : "Good Bharadvaja, tell me whence you have those children brought?" Jujaka said : "A fortnight since one gave them me, well pleased with what he wrought." [575] The king said: "By what soft speech or word of truth did you make him believe? From whom these children, chiefest of all gifts, did you receive?" "It was the King Vessantara, in forest lands who lives, Gave them as slaves, who like the earth to all suitors freely gives. 'Twas King Vessantara who gave his own as slaves to me. To whom all suitors go, as go all rivers to the sea."

Hearing this, the courtiers spake in dispraise of Vessantara: "Were he at home, it were ill done by any king that's good: How could he give his children then, when banisht in the wood? O listen to me, gentles all, that here assembled stand. How could the king his children give to serve another's hand? Slaves male or female he might give, a horse, a mule, a car. Or elephants: but how give those who his own children are?" But the boy hearing this, could not stomach his father's blame; but as though raising with his arm Mount Sineru smitten by the windblast', he recited this stanza; "How, gi'andsire, can he give, when none in his possession are, Slaves male or female, elephants, a horse, a mule, a car?" The king said : [576] "Children, I praise your father's gift: no word of blame I say. But then how was it with his heart when he gave you away?" The lad replied : "All full of trouble was his heart, and it burned hot as well, His eyes were red like Rohini, and down the teardrops fell." Then spake Kanhajina and said : "Father, this brahmin see — With creepers, like his homeborn slave, my back he loves to beat. This is no brahmin, father dear ! for brahmins righteous be ; A goblin this in brahmin shape, who drives us off to eat. How can you see us driven off" with all this cruelty?"

1 The world is destroyed sometimes by fire or water, sometimes by wind. The construction is diflficult; I take vdtiibhihatassa sinenino as gen. absol., and the object as understood. The king, seeing that the brahmin did not let them go, recited a stanza : "You children of a king and qneen, royal your parents are: Once you would climb upon my hip; why do you stand afar?" The lad replied : "We're children of a king and queen, royal our parents arc, But now a brahmin's slaves are we, and so we stand afar." The king said : "My dearest children, speak not so; my heart is parcht with heat, My body's like a blazing fire, uneasy is this seat. My dearest children, S2)eak not so ; you make me sorrow sore. Come, I will buy you with a price, ye shall be slaves no more. [577] Come tell me truly as it is, — I will the brahmin jjay — What price your father set on you when he gave you away/" The lad replied : "A thousand pieces was my price: to set my sister free, Of elephants and all the rest^ a hundred each fixed he." The king bade pay the price for the children.

"'Up, bailiff, pay the brahmin quick, and let the price be told: A hundred male and female slaves, and cattle from the fold, A hundred elephants and bulls, a thousand pounds in gold.' The bailiff paid the brahmin quick, at once the price was told : A hundred male and female slaves, and cattle from the ft)ld, A hundred bulls and elephants, a thousand pounds in gold." Thereto he gave him a seven-storeyed palace; great was the brahmin's pomp! He put away all his treasure, and went up into his palace, and lay down on his fine couch, eating choice meats. The children were then washed and fed and drest; the grandfather took one on his hip, tlie grandmother took the other. To explain this, the Master said: "The childi-en bought, well washt and drest, richly adorned, and fed, [578] And set on their grandparents' hips, the king then spake and said : 'Jali, your parents are we trust both prosperous and well 2, With grain to glean and roots and fruits abundant where they dwell. Have they been much by flies and gnats and creeping things annoyed, And have they from wild beasts of prey immunity enjoyed?'" The lad replied :

"I thank thee, king, and answer thus: my parents both are well, With grain to glean and roots and fruits abundant where tliey dwell. From flies and gnats and creeping things they suffer not annoy. And from wild beasts of prey they there inununity enjoy. Wild bulVis and radishes she digs, catmint and herbs seeks she. With jujubes, nuts, and vilva fruit she finds us food alway. 1 Reading hattUnudisatena with B''. This must be the sense, but the reading is uncertain. •-' See m. 371"-'i (trans., p. 234). 298 The Jdtaka. Book XXII. And when she brings wild fruits and roots, whatever they may be, We all together come and eat by night and eke by day. Our mother's thin and yellow grown by seeking for our food. Exposed to heat, exposed to wind in the beast-haunted wood. Like to a tender lotus flower held in the hand which fades: Her hair is thin^ with wandering amid the forest glades. Beneath her armpits clotted dirt, her hair in topknot bound. She tends the fire, and clothed in skins she sleeps upon the gi'ound." Thus having described his mother's hardships, he reproached his grandfather in these words : " It is the custom in the world that each man loves his son ; But this in one case it would seem your honour has not done."

[579] The king acknowledged his fault : " It was ill done of me indeed to ruin the innocent, When by the people's voice I drove my son to banishment. Then all the wealth which I possess, all that I have in hand, Be his ; and let Vessantara come and rule in Sivi land." The lad replied : " Not for my word will he return, the chief of Sivi land : Then go thyself and fill thy son with blessings from thy hand." Then to his general-iu-chief King Saiijaya thus said : "My horses, chariots, elephants, and soldiers go prepare. And let the people come around, the chaplains all be there. The sixty thousand warrior lords armed and adorned so fair, Drest up in blue or brown or white, with bloodred crests, be there. Like as the spirit-haunted hills, where trees a plenty grow. Are bright and sweet with plants divine, so here the breezes blow. Bring fourteen thousand elephants, with trappings all of gold, With drivers holding lance and hook : as many horse be told. Sindh horses, all of noble breed, and very swift to go. Each ridden by a henchman bold, and holding sword and bow 2.

[580] Let fourteen thoilsaud chariots be yoked and well arrayed, Their wheels well wrought of iron bands, and all with gold inlaid. Let them prepare the banners there, the shields and coats of mail. And bows withal, those men of war that strike and do not fail." Thus the king described the constitution of his army ; and he gave orders to level the road from Jetuttara away to Mount Vaiiika to a width of eight rods^ and thus and thus to decorate it. He said : "Strow laja flowers all about, and scented garlands strow, Let there be pious offerings on the way that he shall go. Each hamlet bring a hundx*ed jars of wine for those who wish, And set them down beside the road by which my son shall go. ^ " Torn out by the twigs of the trees." Schol. - Compare v. 259* (trans., p. 132). 3 usa6/ia?K = 20 yatthis. Let flesh and cakes be ready there, soup garnisht well with fish, And set them down beside the road by which my sun shall go. Wine, oil, and ghee, milk, millet, rice, and curds in many a dish. Let them be set beside the road by which my son shall go.

Cooks and confectioners be there, and men to sing or play. Dancers and tumblers, tomtom men, to drive dull care away. The lutes give voice, the harsh-mouth'd conch, and let the people thrum On timbrels and on tabours and on every kind of drum." [581] Thus the king described the preparation of tlie road. But Jujaka ate too much and could not digest it, so lie died on the spot. The king arranged for his funeral : proclamation was made through the city by beat of drum, but no relative could be found, and his goods fell to the king again. On the seventh day, all the host a.ssembled. The king in great ceremony set out with Jali as his guide. This the Master explained as follows : " Then did the mighty host set forth, the army of the land. And went towards the Vamka bill, while Jali led the band. The elephant of sixty years gave forth a trumpet sound ^, Loud trumpeted the mighty beast what time his girth they bound. Then rattled loud the chariot wheels, then neighed the horses loud, As the great army mai-ched along the dust rose in a cloud. For every need provided well the host marcht with a will. And Jali led the army on as guide to Varuka hill.

They entered in the forest wide, so fall of birds and trees, With every kind of flowering plant and any fruit you please. There when the forest is in flower, a shower of song is heard, The twitter here and twitter there of many a bright- winged Ijird. A night and day they marcht, and came to the end of their long road, And entered on the district where Vessantara abode ■^." [582] On the banks of Lake Mucalinda, Prince Jali caused them to intrench a camp : the fourteen thousand chariots he set facing the road by which they came, and a guard here and there to keep off lions, tigers, rhinoceros, and other wild beasts. There was a great noise of elepliants and so forth; this the Great Being heard, and scared to death thought he — " Have they killed my father and come hither after me ! " Taking Maddi Avith him he climbed a hill and surveyed the army. Explaining this, the Master said : " The noise of this approaching ho.st Vessantara did hear ; He climbed a hill and looked upon the army, full of fear. ' O listen, Maddi, how the woods are full of roaring sound. The neighing of the horses hear, the banners see around.

1 " The people of Kasi had returned him to Safijaya, ruin having fallen in tbeir country; he trumpeted with joy because he expected to see his mother again." Schol. 2 " Here eudeth the Maharaja Section {Mahanya-pabbam)." Schol. 300 The Jdtaka. Book XXII. Can they be hunters, who with pits or hunting-nets or knives Seek the wild creatures in the woods with shouts to take their lives ? So we, exiled though innocent, in this wild forest land, Expect a cruel death, now fallen into an enemy's hand.'" When she had heard these words, she looked at the army, and convinced that it was their own army, she i-ecited this stanza to comfort him : [583] " All will be well : thy enemies can do no hurt to thee. No more than any flame of fire could overcome the sea." So the Great Being was reassured, and with Maddi came down from the hill and sat before his hut. This the Master explained : " Then King Vessantara hereat descended from the hill. And sat before his leafy hut and bad his heart be still." At that moment, Sanjaya sent for his queen, and said to her : " My dear Phusati, if we all go together it will be a great shock, so I will first go alone. When you feel that they must be quiet and reassured, you may come with a company." After a little time he told Jali and Kaiihajina to come. He turned his chariot to face the road by which he had come, and set a guard in this place and in that, mounted upon his caparisoned elephant, and went to seek his son. The Master explained it thus :

" He set his army in array, his car turned to the road. And sought the forest where his son in loneliness abode. Upon his elephant, his robe over one shoulder thrown. Clasping his upraised hands, he went to give his son the throne. Then he beheld the beauteous prince, fearless, composed in will. Seated before his hut of leaves and meditating still. [584] Vessantara and Maddl then their father went to greet. As they beheld him drawing nigh, eager his son to see. Then Maddi made obeisance, laid her head before his feet, Then he embraced them : with his hand he stroked them pleasantly." Then weeping and lamenting for sorrow, the king spoke kindly to them. " I hope and trust, my son, that you are prosperous and well. With grain to glean and fruits and roots abundant where you dwell. , Have you been much by flies and gnats and creeping things annoyed, And have you from wild beasts of prey immunity enjoyed ? " The Great Being answered his father : " My lord, the life we had to live a wretched life has been ; We had to live as best we could, to eat what we could glean.

Adversity breaks in a man, just as a charioteer Breaks in a horse: adversity, 0 king, has tamed us here. But 'tis our parents' absence which has made our bodies thin, Banisht, O king, and with the woods and forests to live in." After this he asked the fate of his children. " But Jali and Kanhajina, your hapless heirs, whom now, A brahmin cruel, merciless, drives on like any cow, [585] If you know anything of these the royal children, tell, As a physician tries to make a man with snake-bite well." The king said : "Both Jali and Kanhajina, your children, now are bought: I paid the brahmin : therefore be consoled, ray son, foar nought." The Great Being was consoled to hear this, and conversed pleasantly with his father. " I hope, dear father, you are well, and trouble comes no more, And that my mother does not weep until her eyes are sore." The king replied : "Thank you, my son, I am quite well, and trouble comes no more, So too your mother does not weep until her eyes are sore." The Great Being said : "I hope the kingdom all is well, the countryside at peace. The animals all strong to work, the rain clouds do not cease."

The king replied : " O yes, the kingdom all is well, the countryside at peace. The animals all strong to work, the rain clouds do not cease." As they thus talked together, Queen Phusati, feeling sui-e that they must be all relieved from anxiety, came to her son with a great company. [586] The Master explained it thus : " Now while they talked together thus, the mother there was seen Approaching to the door afoot, barefooted though a queen. Vessantara and Maddl then their mother went to greet. And Maddl ran and laid her head before her mother's feet. The children safe and sound afar then ]\Iaddl did espy. Like little calves that see their dain loud greetings they did cry. And Maddl saw them safe and sound : like one possest she sped. Trembling, and felt all full of milk the breasts at which they fed." At that moment the hills resounded, the earth quaked, the great ocean was troubled, Sineru, king of mountains, bent down : the six abodes of the gods were all one mighty sound. Sakka, king of the gods, perceived that six royal personages and their attendants lay senseless on the ground, and not one of them could arise and sprinkle the others with water; so he resolved to produce a shower of rain. This he did, so that those who wished to be wet were wet, and those who did not, not a drop of rain fell upon them, but the water ran off as it runs from a lotus-leaf. That rain was like rain that falls on a clump of lotus-lilies. [oS7] The six royal persons were restored to their senses, and all the people cried out at the marvel, how the rain fell on the group of kinsfolk, and the great earth did quake. This the Master explained as follows :

"When these of kindred blood were met, a mighty sound outspake, That all the hills reechoed round, and the great earth did quake. 302 Tlie Jdtaka. Booh XXII. God brought a mighty cloud wherefrom he sent a shower of rain, When as the King Vessautara his kindred met again. King, queen, and son, and daughter-in-law, and grandsons, all were there. When they were met their flesh did cn-eep with rising of the hair. The people clapt their hands and loud made to the king a prayer: They called upon Vessantara and Maddl, one and all : ' Be thou our lord, be king and queen, and listen to our call i ! ' " Then the Great Being addressed liis father: " You and the people, countryfolk and townsfolk, banisht me, When I upon my royal throne was ruling righteously." The king replied, to allay his son's resentment : "It was ill done of me indeed to ruin the innocent, When by the people's voice I drove my son to banishment." After reciting this verse, he added yet another, to ask for relief from his own sorrow : "A father's or a mother's pain, or sister's, to relieve, A man should never hesitate his very life to give."

[588J The Bodhisat, who had been desirous of resuming his royalty, but had refrained from saying so much in order to inspire respect, now agreed ; whereupon the sixty thousand courtiers, his l)irthmate.s, cried out — "'Tis time to wash, O mighty king — wash off the dust and dirt !" But the Great Being replied, " Wait a little." Then he entered his hut, and took off his hermit's dress, and put it away. Next he came out of the hut, and said, " This is the place where I have spent nine months and a half in ascetic practices, whei-e I attained the summit of perfection in giving, and where the earth did quake" : thrice he went about tlie hut riglitwise and made the five-fold prostration before it^ Then they attended to his hair and beard, and poured over him the water of consecration, while he shone in all his magnificence like the king of the gods. So it is said, " Then did the King Vessantara wash off" the dust and dirt." Great was his glory ; every place quaked that he looked on, those skilled in auspicious words uttered them, they caught up all manner of musical instruments; over the mighty ocean there was a sound like the noise of thunder; the precious elephant they brought richly caparisoned, and girding himself with the sword of price he mounted the precious elephant, whilst the sixty thousand courtiers, his birthuiates, compassed him around in gorgeous array,

^ " Here endeth the Section of the Six Princes (Chakhattiya-khandaih)." Schol. 2 Touching the earth with forehead, elbows, waist, feet, and knees. Maddi also they bathed and adorned and sprinkled with the water of consecration, and as they poured the water they cried aloud, " May Vessantara protect thee!" with other words of good omen. The Master explained it thus : "With washen head and goodly robes and ornaments of state, Girt with his awful sword he rode the elephant his mate'. And then the sixty thousand chiefs, so beauteous to view, His birthmates, came about their lord and did obeisance due. [589] The women then bathed Maddl, and all together pray — 'Vessantara and Saiijaya preserve you all alway!' Thus reestablished, and their past trouble remembering. There in the pleasant master's land they made a merry cheer. Thus reestablished, and the past trouble rememliering, Happy and glad the lady went with her own children dear." So in happiness she said to her children : "I only ate one meal a day, I slept upon the ground. That was my vow for love of you until you should be found. But now my vow is brought to pass, and now again I pray, What good so ever we have done preserve you both alway. And may the gi-eat king Saiijaya preserve you both alway:

What good so ever has been done by father or by me, By that truth grow thou never old, immortal do thou be." [590] Queen Phusati said also, "Henceforth let my daughter-in-law be I'obed in these robes, and wear these ornaments!" These she sent her in boxes. This the Master explained thus: "Garments of cotton and of silk, linen and cloth so fine Her mother-in-law to Maddi sent which made her beauty shine. Necklet and bracelet, frontlet-piece, foot-bangle, jewelled zone Her mother-in-law to Maddi sent, wherewith her beauty shone. And when the princess passing fair her jewellery surveyed. She shone, as shines in Nandana the goddesses arrayed. With washen head and ornaments and goodly robes to see, She shone, like to some heavenly nymph before the Thirty-Three. As when in Cittalata Grove- the wind a plantain sways, The princess of the beauteous lips looked lovely as that tree. Like as a brilliant-feathered bird that flies the airy ways. She with her pretty pouting lips and beauty did amaze. [591] They brought a fine young elephant, a mighty and a strong. Which neither spear nor battle din could fright, whose tusks were long. She mounts upon the elephant, so mighty and so strong.

Which neither spear nor battle din could fright, whose tusks were long." So they two in great pomp proceeded to the camp. King Sanjaya and his innumerable host^ amused themselves in hill sports and woodland 1 jmccayo : " born on the same day as himself." Schol. - One of Indra's gardens. * akkholunl, the proverbial word for an army complete iu all points and numbering 10,000,000*=. 304 Tlie Jdtaka. Booh XXII. sports for a whole month. During that time, by the Great Being's glory, no hurt was done in all that great foi'est by wild beast or bird. The Master thus explained it : "By glory of Vessantar.a, through all that mighty wood, No beast or bird did any harm to the others, all did good. And when he was to go away, they all with one consent, Birds, beasts, and all the creatures of the wood, together went : But silent were all pleasant s(mnds when he had left the wood." [592] After the month's merry-making, Saiijaya summoned his captainin-chief, and said, "We have stayed a long time in the forest; is the road ready for my son's return?" He replied, "Yes, my lord, it is time to go." He sent word to Vessantai-a, and with his army departed, following with all his host the road which had been prepared from the heart of Vaiiika hill to the city of Jetuttara. This the Master explained as follows :

"The royal road was newly made, with flowers and bunting fair arrayed From where he lived in foi-est glade down to the town Jetuttara. His sixty thousand mates around, and boys and women places found, Brahmins and Vesiyas, homeward bound unto the town .Jetuttara. There many an elephant mahout, the charioteers and men afoot, With all the royal guard to boot were going to Jetuttara. Warriors that skulls ^ or pelties wore, of mailed men with swords good store, To guard the prince went on before down to the town Jetuttara." The king traversed this journey of sixty leagues in two months. He then entered Jetuttai-a, decorated to receive him, and went up to the palace. This the Master explained : "Then the fair city entered they, with walls and arches high, With songs and dances, food and drink in plentiful supply. Delighted were the countrj' folk and people of the town To welcome back to Sivi land their prince of high renown. All waved their kerchiefs in the air to see the giver come ; Now is a gaol-delivery proclaimed by beat of drum." [593] So King Vessantara set free all creatures, down to the very cats; and on the day that he entered the city, in the evening, he thought : "When day dawns, the suitors who have heard of my return will come, and what shall I give them?" At that moment Sakka's throne grew hot: he considered, and saw the reason. He brought down a rain of the seven kinds of jewels like a thundershower, filling the back and front of the palace with them waist-high, and over all the city knee-deep. Next day, he allotted this or that place to various families and let them pick up the jewels; the rest he made to be collected and placed in his own dsvelling with his treasure ; and in his treasui-ies he had enough to distribute always in future. This the Master explained as follows :

1 karotiya : sisakarotiko ti laddhanama sise patimukkakarotino yodha. "When as Vessantara came back, Sivi's protector king, The god a shower of precious gold upon the place did In-ing. So when Vessantara the prince his generous gifts had given, He died at last, and fully wise, he passed away to heaven." When the Master had ended this discourse of Vessantai'a, with its thousand stanzas, he identified the Birth : " At that time, Devadatta was Jiijaka, the lady Cinca was Amittatapani, Channa was Cetaputta, Sariputta was the ascetic Accuta, Anuruddha was Sakka, King Suddhodana was King Sanjaya, Mahamaya was Phusati, Rahula's mother was Queen Maddi, Rahula was Prince Jali, Uppalavanna was Kanhajina, the followers of Buddha were the rest of the }»eople, and King Vessantara was I myself." ' A number of verses follow, describing the contents of the Jataka book. They are the work of some copyist.