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Full text of "Buddhist birth stories : or, Jataka tales : the oldest collection of folk-lore extant, being The Jatakatthavannana"

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BUDDHIST BIRTH STORIES ; " 

OR, 

JATAKA TALES. 

THE OLDEST COLLECTION OF FOLK-LORE EXTANT : 

BEING 

THE JATAKATTHAVAJSTNANA, 

For the first time Edited in the Original Pali 

BY Y. FAUSBOLL, 



AND TRANSLATED 



BY T. W. RHYS DAVIDS. 



TRANSLATION. 
VOLUME I. 



LONDON: 

TRUBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL. 

1880. 

[All rights reserved.] 



HERTFORD : 
PRINTED BY STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS. 



iMll 



TO 
GEHEIM-RATH PROFESSOE DOCTOR 

STENZLEK, 

MY FIRST GUIDE IN ORIENTAL STUDIES 

IN CONGRATULATION ON HIS 'DOCTOR JUBILAUM ' 

AND IN DEEP RESPECT FOR HIS PROFOUND SCHOLARSHIP 

THIS WORK IS DEDICATED BY 

HIS GRATEFUL PUPIL 

THE AUTHOR. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



TBASTSLATOB'S INTKODTJCTIOK. PAGE 

PAST I. 

The Boole of Birth Stories, and their Migration to the West. 
Orthodox Buddhist belief concerning it. Two reasons 

for the value attached to it . . . . i-iv 

Selected Stories. 1. The Ass in the Lion's Skin . v 

2. The Talkative Tortoise . . viii 

3. The Jackal and the Crow . . xii 

4. The Wise Judge . . . xiv 

5. Sakka's Presents . . . xvi 

6. A Lesson for Kings . . . xxii 
The Kalilag and Damnag Literature .... xxix 

Origin of ' ^sop's ' Fables xxxii 

The Barlaam and Josaphat Literature . . . xxxvi 

Other Migrations of the Buddhist Tales . . . xli 

Greek and Buddhist Fables xliii 

Solomon's Judgment ...... xliv 

Summary of Part I. . . . . . . . xlviii 

PAET II. 

The Birth Stories in India. 

Jatakas derived from the Pali Pitakas ... lii 

in the Cariya Pitaka and Jataka Mala . . liii 

,, Buddhavagsa Iv 

at the Council of Vesali .... Ivii 

,, on the Ancient Sculptures .... lix 

The Pali Names of the Jatakas Ix 

The Jatakas one of the Navaggani .... Ixii 

Authorship of our present Collection .... Ixiii 



X TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Jatakas not included in our present Collection . . Ixvii 

,, in post-Buddhistic Sanskrit Literature . . . Ixviii 

Form of the Jatakas. The Introductory Stories . . Ixxiv 

The Conclusions . . . Ixxv 

The Abhisambuddha-gatha, or 

Yerses in the Conclusion . Ixxvi 

Divisions of the Jataka Book . Ixxix 

Actual Number of the Stories . Ixxxi 

Summary of the Origin of the Present Collection . Ixxxii 

Special Lessons inculcated by the Birth Stories . Ixxxv 

,, Historical Yalue of the Birth Stories . . Ixxxvi 

SUPPLEMENTARY TABLES. 

I. Indian Works ...... Ixxxix 

II. The Kalilag and Damnag Literature . . xciii 

III. The Barlaam and Josaphat Literature . . XCT 

IV. The Cariya Pitaka and the Jataka Mala . . xcviii 
Y. Alphabetical List of Jataka Stories in the Maha- 

vastu ........ xcix 

YI. Places at which the Tales were Told . . c 

VII. The Bodisats ci 

VIII. Jatakas Illustrated in Bas-relief on the Ancient 

Monuments . cii 



THE CEYLON COMPILER'S INTRODUCTION, called the 

Nidana Kaiha. 

Story of Sumedha, the First Bodisat .... 2 
The Successive Bodisats in the Times of the Previous 

Buddhas 31 

Life of the Last Bodisat (who became Buddha) . . 58 

His Descent from Heaven ...... 59 

His Birth 67 

Song of the Angels 69 

Prophecy of Ka}a Devala 70 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI 

Prophecy of the Brahman Priests .... 72 

The Ploughing Festival 75 

The Young Bodisat's Skill and Wisdom ... 76 

The Four Visions 77 

The Bodisat's Son is Born 79 

Kisa Gotaml's Song ....... 80 

The Great Renunciation ...... 82 

The Great Struggle against Sin ..... 89 

The Great Yictory over Satan ..... 96 

The Bliss of Nirvana 105 

The Hesitation whether to Publish the Good News . Ill 

The Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness . 113 

Uruvela Kassapa's Conversion . . . . . 114 

Triumphal Entrance into Raj agaha . . . . 116 

Foundation of the Order . . . . . . 119 

Return Home 121 

Presentation of the First Monastery to the Buddha . 131 

THE BIRTH STORIES. 

1. Holding to the Truth . . . Apannaka Jataka . 134 

2. The Sandy Road . . . Vannupatha Jataka . . 147 

3. The Merchant of Sen . . . Seri-vanija Jataka . 153 

4. The Story of Chullaka the Treasurer . . . Cullaka- 

setthi Jataka ....... 158 

5. The Measure of Rice . . . Tandula-nali Jataka . 172 

6. On True Divinity . . . Deva-dhamma Jataka . 178 
9. The Story of MakhaDeva . . . Makha-deva Jataka 186 

10. The Happy Life . . . Sukhavihari Jataka . . 190 

11. The Story of Beauty . . . Lakkhana Jataka . . 194 

12. The Banyan Deer . . . Nigrodha-miga Jataka . 199 

13. The Dart of Love . . . Kandina Jataka. . . 211 

14. The Greedy Antelope . . . Vata-miga Jataka . 214 

15. The Deer who would not Learn . . . Kharadiya 

Jataka 219 

16. The Cunning Deer . . . Tipallatha-miga Jataka . 221 



XII TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

17. The Wind . . . Maluta Jataka .... 224 

18. On Offering Food to the Dead . . . Mataka-bhatta 

Jataka 226 

19. On Offerings given under a Yow . . . Ayacita- 

bhatta Jataka 230 

20. The Monkeys and the Demon . . . Nalapana Jataka 232 

21. The Wily Antelope . . . Kurunga-miga Jataka . 237 

22. The Dog who turned Preacher . . . Kukkura 

Jataka 240 

23. The Bhoja Thoroughbred . . . Bhojajaniya Jataka 245 

24. The Thoroughbred War Horse . . . Ajaniia Jataka 249 

25. The Horse at the Ford . . . Tittha Jataka . . 251 

26. Evil communications corrupt good manners . . . 

Mahila-mukha Jataka . . . . . 257 

27. The Elephant and the Dog . . . Abhinha Jataka . 263 

28. The Bull who Won the Bet ... Nandi-Yisala 

Jataka . 266 

29. The Old Woman's Black Bull . . . Kanha Jataka . 270 

30. The Ox who Envied the Pig . . . Munika Jataka . 275 

31. On Mercy to Animals . . . Kulavaka Jataka . 278 

32. The Dancing Peacock . . . Nacca Jataka . . 291 

33. The sad Quarrel of the Quails . . . Sammodamana 

Jataka 295 

34. The Fish and his Wife . . . Maccha Jataka . 299 

35. The Holy Quail . . . Yattaka Jataka ... 302 

36. The Wise Bird and the Fools . . . Sakuna Jataka . 307 

37. The Partridge, Monkey, and Elephant . . . Tittira 

Jataka . 310 

38. The Cruel Crane Outwitted . . . Baka Jataka . 315 

39. Nanda on the Buried Gold . . . Nanda Jataka . 322 

40. The Fiery Furnace . . . Khadirangara Jataka . 326 

IXDEX 339 



INTRODUCTION. 



IT is well known that amongst the Buddhist Scriptures 
there is one book in which a large number of old stories, 
fables, and fairy tales, lie enshrined in an edifying 
commentary ; and have thus been preserved for the study 
and amusement of later times. How this came about 
is not at present quite certain. The belief of orthodox 
Buddhists on the subject is this. The Buddha, as occa- 
sion arose, was accustomed throughout his long career 
to explain and comment on the events happening around 
him, by telling of similar events that had occurred in 
his own previous births. The experience, not of one 
lifetime only, but of many lives, was always present to 
his mind ; and it was this experience he so often used 
to point a moral, or adorn a tale. The stories so told 
are said to have been reverently learnt and repeated by 
his disciples ; and immediately after his death 550 of 
them were gathered together in one collection, called 
the Book of the 550 Jiitakas or Births ; the commentary 
to which gives for each Jataka, or Birth Story, an 
account of the event in Gotama's life which led to his 



ii BUDDHIST BIRTH STORIES 

first telling that particular story. Both text and com- 
mentary were then handed down intact, and in the Pali 
language in which they were composed, to the time of 
the Council of Patna (held in or about the year 250 B.C.) ; 
and they were carried in the following year to Ceylon 
by the great missionary Mahinda. There the commentary 
was translated into Sinhalese, the Aryan dialect spoken 
in Ceylon ; and was re-translated into its present form 
in the Pali language in the fifth century of our era. 
But the text of the Jataka stories themselves has been 
throughout preserved in its original Pali form. 

Unfortunately this orthodox Buddhist belief as to the 
history of the Book of Birth Stories rests on a foundation 
of quicksand. The Buddhist belief, that most of their 
sacred books were in existence immediately after the 
Buddha's death, is not only not supported, but is con- 
tradicted by the evidence of those books themselves. 
It may be necessary to state what that belief is, in order 
to show the importance which the Buddhists attach to 
the book ; but in order to estimate the value we ourselves 
should give it, it will be necessary by critical, and more 
roundabout methods, to endeavour to arrive at some 
more reliable conclusion. Such an investigation cannot, 
it is true, be completed until the whole series of the 
Buddhist Birth Stories shall have become accessible in 
the original Pali text, and the history of those stories 



KNOWN IN EUROPE. iii 

shall have been traced in other sources. With the present 
inadequate information at our command, it is only pos- 
sible to arrive at probabilities. But it is therefore the 
more fortunate that the course of the inquiry will lead 
to some highly interesting and instructive results. 

In the first place, the fairy tales, parables, fables, 
riddles, and comic and moral stories, of which the 
Buddhist Collection known as the Jataka Book 
consists, have been found, in many instances, to bear 
a striking resemblance to similar ones current in the 
West. Now in many instances this resemblance is 
simply due to the fact that the Western stories were 
borrowed from the Buddhist ones. 

To this resemblance much of the interest excited 
by the Buddhist Birth Stories is, very naturally, due. 
As, therefore, the stories translated in the body of this 
volume do not happen to contain among them any of 
those most generally known in England, I insert here 
one or two specimens which may at the same time 
afford some amusement, and also enable the reader to 
judge how far the alleged resemblances do actually 
exist. 

It is absolutely essential for the correctness of such 
judgment that the stories should be presented exactly 
as they stand in the 'original. I am aware that a close 
and literal translation involves the disadvantage of pre- 



iv FOLK-LORE. 

senting the stories in a style which will probably seem 
strange, and even wooden, to the modern reader. But 
it cannot be admitted that, for even purposes of com- 
parison, it would be sufficient to reproduce the stories 
in a modern form which should aim at combining 
substantial accuracy with a pleasing dress. 

And the Book of Birth Stories has a value quite 
independent of the fact that many of its tales have been 
transplanted to the West. It contains a record of the 
every-day life, and every-day thought, of the people 
among whom the tales were told : it is the oldest, most 
complete, and most important Collection of Folk-lore extant. 

The whole value of its evidence in this respect would 
be lost, if a translator, by slight additions in some places, 
slight omissions in others, and slight modifications here 
and there, should run the risk of conveying erroneous 
impressions of early Buddhist beliefs, and habits, and 
modes of thought. It is important, therefore, that the 
reader should understand, before reading the stories I 
intend to give, that while translating sentence by 
sentence, rather than word by word, I have never lost 
sight of the importance of retaining in the English 
version, as far as possible, not only the phraseology, 
but the style and spirit of the Buddhist story-teller. 

The first specimen I propose to give is a half-moral 
half -comic story, which runs as follows. 



The Ass in the Lion's Skin. 
SIHA-CAMMA JATAKA. 

(Fausboll, No. 189.) 

Once upon a time, while Brahma-datta was reigning 
in Benares, the future Buddha was born one of a 
peasant family ; and when he grew up, he gained his 
living by tilling the ground. 

At that time a hawker used to go from place to place, 
trafficking in goods carried by an ass. Now at each 
place he came to, when he took the pack down from the 
ass's back, he used to clothe him in a lion's skin, and 
turn him loose in the rice and barley-fields. And when 
the watchmen in the fields saw the ass, they dared not 
go near him, taking him for a lion. 

So one day the hawker stopped in a village ; and whilst 
he was getting his own breakfast cooked, he dressed the 
ass in a lioa's skin, and turned him loose in a barley- 
field. The watchmen in the field dared not go up to 
him ; but going home, they published the news. Then 
all the villagers came out with weapons in their hands ; 
and blowing chanks, and beating drums, they went near 
the field and shouted. Terrified with the fear of death, 
the ass uttered a cry the cry of an ass ! 

And when he knew him then to be an ass, the future 
Buddha pronounced the First Stanza : 

" This is not a lion's roaring, 
Nor a tiger's, nor a panther's ; 
Dressed in a lion's skin, 
'Tis a wretched ass that roars ! " 



vi THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN. 

But when the villagers knew the creature to be an ass, 
they beat him till his bones broke ; and, carrying off the 
lion's skin, went away. Then the hawker came ; and 
seeing the ass fallen into so bad a plight, pronounced the 
Second Stanza : 

" Long might the ass, 
Clad in a lion's skin, 
Have fed on the barley green. 

But he brayed ! 
And that moment he came to ruin." 

And even whilst he was yet speaking the ass died on 
the spot ! 



This- story will doubtless sound familiar enough to 
English ears ; for a similar tale is found in our modern 
collections of so-called ' ^Esop's Fables.' 1 Professor 
Benfey has further traced it in mediaeval French, 
German, Turkish, and Indian literature. 2 But it may 
have been much older than any of these books ; for 
the fable possibly gave rise to a proverb of which we 
find traces among the Greeks as early as the time 
of Plato. 3 Lucian gives the fable in full, localizing it 

1 James's 'JEsop's Fables' (London, Murray, 1852), p. Ill ; La Fontaine, 
Book v. No. 21 ; ^sop (in Greek text, ed. Furia, 141, 262 ; ed. Coriae, 113); 
Babrius (Lewis, vol. ii. p. 43). 

2 Benfey' s Pancha Tantra, Book iv. , No. 7, in the note on which, at vol. i. 
p. 462, he refers to Halm, p. 333 ; Robert, in the ' Fables inedites du Moyen 
Age, vol. i. p. 360; and the Turkish Tuti-namah (Eosen, vol. ii. p. 149). 
In India it is found also in the Northern Buddhist Collection called Katha 
Sarit Sagara, by Somadeva ; and in Hitopadesa (iii. 2, Max Miiller, p. 110). 

3 Kratylos, 411 (ed. Tauchnitz, ii. 275). 



THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN. v ii 

at Kume, in South Italy, 1 and Julien has given us a 
Chinese version in his 'Avadanas.' 2 Erasmus, in his 
work on proverbs, 3 alludes to the fable ; and so also does 
our own Shakespeare in 'King John.' 4 It is worthy 
of mention that in one of the later story-books in a 
Persian translation, that is, of the Hitopadesa there is 
a version of our fable in which it is the vanity of the 
ass in trying to sing which leads to his disguise being 
discovered, and thus brings him to grief. 5 But Pro- 
fessor Benfey has shown 6 that this version is simply 
the rolling into one of the present tale and of another, 
also widely prevalent, where an ass by trying to sing 
earns for himself, not thanks, but blows. 7 I shall 
hereafter attempt to draw some conclusions from the 
history of the story. But I would here point out that 
the fable could scarcely have originated in any country 
in which lions were not common ; and that the Jataka 
story gives a reasonable explanation of the ass being 
dressed in the skin, instead of saying that he dressed 
himself in it, as is said in our '^Esop's Fables.' 

The reader will notice that the 'moral' of the tale 



1 Lucian, Piscator, 32. 2 Vol. ii. No. 91. 

3 ' Adagia,' under ' Asinus apud Cumanos.' 

4 Act ii. scene 1 ; and again, Act iii. scene 1. 

5 De -S'aey, ' Notes et Extraits,' x. 1, 247. 

6 Loc. cit. p. 463. 

7 Pancha Tantra, v. 7. Prof. Weber (Indische Studien, iii. 352) compares 
Phadnts (Dressier, App. vi. 2) and Erasmus's ' Adagia ' under ' Asinus ad 
Lyrum.' See also Tuti-namah (Eosen ii. 218) ; and I would add J"an-o, in 
Aulus Gellius, iii. 16 ; and Jerome, Ep. 27, ' Ad Marcellam.' 



viii THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN. 

is contained in two stanzas, one of which is put into 
the mouth of the Bodisat or future Buddha. This will 
be found to be the case in all the Birth Stories, save 
that the number of the stanzas differs, and that they 
are usually all spoken by the Bodisat. It should also 
be noticed that the identification of the peasant's son 
with the Bodisat, which is of so little importance to 
the story, is the only part of it which is essentially 
Buddhistic. Both these points will be of importance 
further on. 

The introduction of the human element takes this 
story, perhaps, out of the class of fables in the most 
exact sense of that word. I therefore add a story con- 
taining a fable proper, where animals speak and act 
like men. 



The Talkative Tortoise. 
KACCHAPA JATAKA. 

(Fausboll, No. 215.) 

Once upon a time, when Brahma- datta was reigning 
in Benares, the future Buddha was born in a minister's 
family ; and when he grew up, he became the king's 
adviser in things temporal and spiritual. 

Now this king was very talkative : while he was 
speaking, others had no opportunity for a word. And 
the future Buddha, wanting to cure this talkativeness of 
his, was constantly seeking for some means of doing so. 



THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE. i x 

At that time there was living, in a pond in the Hima- 
laya mountains, a tortoise. Two young harjsas (i.e. wild 
ducks 1 ) who came to feed there, made friends with him. 
And one day, when they had become very intimate with 
him, they said to the tortoise 

" Friend tortoise ! the place where we live, at the 
Golden Cave on Mount Beautiful in the Himalaya 
country, is a delightful spot. "Will you come there with 
us?" 

" But how can I get there ? " 

" We can take you, if you can only hold your tongue, 
and will say nothing to anybody." 2 

" ! that I can do. Take me with you." 

" That's right," said they. And making the tortoise 
bite hold of a stick, they themselves took the two ends in 
their teeth, and flew up into the air. 3 

Seeing him thus carried by the harjsas, some villagers 
called out, " Two wild ducks are carrying a tortoise along 
on a stick ! " Whereupon the tortoise wanted to say, 
" If my friends choose to carry me, what is that to you, 
you wretched slaves ! " So just as the swift flight of the 
wild ducks had brought him over the king's palace in the 
city of Benares, he let go of the stick he was biting, and 
falling in the open courtyard, split in two ! And there 
arose a universal cry, " A tortoise has fallen in the open 
courtyard, and has split in two ! " 

1 Pronounced hangsa, often rendered swan, a favourite bird in Indian tales, 
and constantly represented in Buddhist carvings. It is the original Golden 
Goose. See below, p. 294, and Jataka Xo. 136. 

2 There is an old story of a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, who 
inherited a family living. He went in great trouble to Dr. Routh, the Head 
of his College, saying that he doubted whether he could hold, at the same 
time, the Living and the Fellowship. " You can hold anything," was the 
reply, " if you can only hold your tongue." And he held all three. 

3 In the Vimla Jataka (No. 160) they similarly carry a crow to the 
Himalaya mountains. 



X KACCHAPA JATAKA. 

The king, taking the future Buddha, went to the place, 
surrounded by his courtiers ; and looking at the tortoise, 
he asked the Bodisat, " Teacher ! how comes he to be 
faUen here ? " 

The future Buddha thought to himself, " Long expect- 
ing, wishing to admonish the king, have I sought for 
some means of doing so. This tortoise must have made 
friends with the wild ducks ; and they must have made 
him bite hold of the stick, and have flown up into the 
air to take him to the hills. But he, being unable to 
hold his tongue when he hears any one else talk, must 
have wanted to say something, and let go the stick ; and 
so must have fallen down from the sky, and thus lost his 
life." And saying, " Truly, O king ! those who are 
called chatter-boxes people whose words have no end 
come to grief like this," he uttered these Verses : 

" Yerily the tortoise killed himself 
Whilst uttering his voice ; 
Though he was holding tight the stick, 
By a word himself he slew. 

" Behold him then, excellent by strength ! 
And speak wise words, not out of season. 
You see how, by his talking overmuch, 
The tortoise fell into this wretched plight ! " 

The king saw that he was himself referred to, and said, 
" Teacher ! are you speaking of us ? " 

And the Bodisat spake openly, and said, "0 great 
king ! be it thou, or be it any other, whoever talks 
beyond measure meets with some mishap like this." 

And the king henceforth refrained himself, and became 
a man of few words. 



THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE. xi 

This story too is found also in Greek, Latin, Arabic, 
Persian, and in most European languages, 1 though, 
strangely enough, it does not occur in our books of 
^sop's Fables. But in the ' ^Esop's Fables ' is usually 
included a story of a tortoise who asked an eagle to teach 
him to fly ; and being dropped, split into two ! 2 It is 
worthy of notice that in the Southern recension of the 
Paiica Tantra it is eagles, and not wild ducks or swans, 
who carry the tortoise ; 3 and there can, I think, be little 
doubt that the two fables are historically connected. 

Another fable, very familiar to modern readers, is 
stated in the commentary to have been first related in 
ridicule of a kind of Mutual Admiration Society existing 
among the opponents of the Buddha. Hearing the 
monks talking about the foolish way in which Devadatta 
and Kokalika went about among the people ascribing 
each to the other virtues which neither possessed, he is 
said to have told this tale. 



1 Panca Tantra, vol. i. p. 13, where Professor Benfey (i. 239-241) traces 
also the later versions in different languages. He mentions Wolff's German 
translation of the Kalilah and Dimnah, vol. i. p. 91 ; Knatchbull's English 
version, p. 146 ; Simeon Setk's Greek version, p. 28 ; John of Capua's Direc- 
torium Humanae Yitse, D. 5 h. ; the German translation of this last (Ulm, 
1483), F. viii. 6 : the Spanish translation, xix a.; Firenzuola, 65; Doni, 93; 
Anvar i Suhaili, p. 159 ; Le Livre des Lumieres (1664, 8vo.), 124 ; Le Cabinet 
des Fees, xvii. 309. See also Contes et Fables Indiennes de Bidpai et de 
Lokman, ii. 112 ; La Fontaine, x. 3, where the ducks fly to America (!) ; and 
ickell's ' Kalilag und Dimnag,' p. 24. In India it is found in Somadeva, 
and in the Hitopadesa, iv. 2 (Max Miiller, p. 125). See also Julien, i. 71. 

2 This version is found in Babrius (Lewis, i. 122) ; Phcedrus, ii. 7 and 
vii. 14 (Orelli, 55, 128) ; and in the JEsoptean collections (Fur. 193; Coriffi, 
61) and in Abstewius, 108. 

3 Dubois, p. 109. 



Xll 



The Jackal and the Crow. 
JAMBU-KHADAKA JATAKA. 

(Fausboll, No. 294.) 

Long, long ago, when Brahma- datta was reigning in 
Benares, the Bodisat had come to life as a tree-god, 
dwelling in a certain grove of Jambu- trees. 

Now a crow was sitting there one day on the branch 
of a Jambu-tree, eating the Jambu-fruits, when a jackal 
coming by, looked up and saw him. 

" Ha ! " thought he. " I'll flatter that fellow, and get 
some of those Jambus to eat." And thereupon he uttered 
this verse in his praise : 

" "Who may this be, whose rich and pleasant notes 
Proclaim him best of all the singing-birds ? 
Warbling so sweetly on the Jambu- branch, 
Where like a peacock he sits firm and grand ! " 

Then the crow, to pay him back his compliments, re- 
plied in this second verse : 

" Tis a well-bred young gentleman, who understands 
To speak of gentlemen in terms polite ! 
Good Sir ! whose shape and glossy coat reveal 
The tiger's offspring eat of these, I pray ! " 

And so saying, he shook the branch of the Jambu-tree 
till he made the fruit to fall. 

But when the god who dwelt in that tree saw the two 
of them, now they had done flattering one another, eating 
the Jambus together, he uttered a third verse : 



THE FOX AND THE CROW. xiii 

" Too long, forsooth, I've borne the sight 
Of these poor chatterers of lies 
The refuse-eater and the offal-eater 
Belauding each other ! " 

And making himself visible in awful shape, he frightened 
them away from the place ! 



It is easy to understand, that when this story had been 
carried out of those countries where the crow and the 
jackal are the common scavengers, it would lose its 
point ; and it may very well, therefore, have been 
shortened into the fable of the Fox and the Crow and 
the piece of cheese. On the other hand, the latter is 
so complete and excellent a story, that it would scarcely 
have been expanded, if it had been the original, into 
the tale of the Jackal and the Crow. 1 

The next tale to be quoted is one showing how a wise 
man solves a difficulty. I am sorry that Mr. Fausboll 
has not yet reached this Jataka in his edition of the 
Pali text; but I give it from a Sinhalese version of 
the fourteenth century, which is nearer to the Pali than 
any other as yet known. 2 It is an episode in 



1 See La Fontaine, Book i. No. 2, and the current collections of JEsop's 
Fables (e.g. James's edition, p. 136). It should be added that the Jambu- 
khudaka-sanyutta in the Sarjyutta Nikuya has nothing to do with our fable. 
The Jambu-eater of that story is an ascetic, who lives on Jambus, and is con- 
verted by a discussion on Nirvana. 

2 The Sinhalese text will be found in the ' Sidat Sa^garuwaJ p. clxxvii. 



The Birth as 'Great Physician.' 1 
MAHOSADHA JATAKA. 

A woman, carrying her child, went to the future 
Buddha's tank to wash. And having first bathed the 
child, she put on her upper garment and descended 
into the water to bathe herself. 

Then a Yakshim, 2 seeing the child, had a craving to 
eat it. And taking the form of a woman, she drew near, 
and asked the mother 

"Friend, this is a very pretty child, is it one of 
yours ? " 

And when she was told it was, she asked if she might 
nurse it. And this being allowed, she nursed it a little, 
and then carried it off. 

But when the mother saw this, she ran after her, and 
cried out, " Where are you taking my child to ? " and 
caught hold of her. 

The Yakshim boldly said, "Where did you get the 
child from ? It is mine ! " And so quarrelling, they 
passed the door of the future Buddha's Judgment Hall. 

He heard the noise, sent for them, inquired into the 
matter, and asked them whether they would abide by his 

1 Literally ' the great medicine.' The Bodisat of that time received this 
name because he was born with a powerful drug in his hand, an omen of 
the cleverness in device by which, when he grew up, he delivered people from 
their misfortunes. Compare my ' Buddhism,' p. 187. 

2 The Yakshas, products of witchcraft and cannibalism, are beings of 
magical power, who feed on human flesh. The male Yaksha occupies in 
Buddhist stories a position similar to that of the wicked genius in the 
Arabian Nights ; the female Yakshim, who occurs more frequently, usually 
plays the part of siren. 



THE WISE JUDGE. xv 

decision. And they agreed. Then he had a line drawn 

on the ground ; and told the Yakshini to take hold of the 

child's arms, and the mother to take hold of its legs ; and 

said, "The child shall be hers who drags him over the line." 
But as soon as they pulled at him, the mother, seeing 

how he suffered, grieved as if her heart would break. 

And letting him go, she stood there weeping. 

Then the future Buddha asked the bystanders, " Whose 

hearts are tender to babes ? those who have borne chil- 
dren, or those who have not ? " 

And they answered, " Sire ! the hearts of mothers 

are tender." 

Then he said, " Whom think you is the mother ? she 

who has the child in her arms, or she who has let go ? " 
And they answered, " She who has let go is the 

mother." 

And he said, "Then do you all think that the other 

w r as the thief ? " 

And they answered, " Sire ! we cannot tell." 

And he said, " Verily this is a Yakshini, who took the 

child to eat it." 

And they asked, " O Sire ! how did you know it ? " 
And he replied, " Because her eyes winked not, and 

were red, and she knew no fear, and had no pity, I knew 

it." 

And so saying, he demanded of the thief, " Who are 

you?" 

And she said, " Lord ! I am a Yakshini." 
And he asked, " Why did you take away this child ? " 
And she said, " I thought to eat him, O my Lord ! " 
And he rebuked her, saying, " foolish woman ! For 

your former sins you have been born a Yakshini, and now 



xvi THE WISE JUDGE. 

do you still sin ! " And he laid a vow upon her to keep 
the Five Commandments, and let her go. 

But the mother of the child exalted the future Buddha, 
and said, " my Lord ! Great Physician ! may thy 
life be long ! " And she went away, with her babe 
clasped to her bosom. 



The Hebrew story, in which a similar judgment is 
ascribed to Solomon, occurs in the Book of Kings, which 
is more than a century older than the time of Gotama. 
We shall consider below what may be the connexion 
between the two. 

The next specimen is a tale about lifeless things en- 
dowed with miraculous powers ; perhaps the oldest tale 
in the world of that kind which has been yet published. 
It is an episode in 



Sakka's Presents. 
DADHI-VAHANA JATAKA. 

(Fausboll, No. 186.) 

Once upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning 
in Benares, four brothers, Brahmans, of that kingdom, 
devoted themselves to an ascetic life ; and having built 
themselves huts at equal distances in the region of the 
Himalaya mountains, took up their residence there. 



SAKKA' S PRESENTS. xvii 

The eldest of them died, and was re-born as the god 
Sakka. 1 When he became aware of this, he used to go 
and render help at intervals every seven or eight days to 
the others. And one day, having greeted the eldest hermit, 
and sat down beside him, he asked him, " Reverend Sir, 
what are you in need of ? " 

The hermit, who suffered from jaundice, answered, " I 
want fire ! " So he gave him a double-edged hatchet. 

But the hermit said, " Who is to take this, and bring 
me firewood ? " 

Then Sakka spake thus to him, " Whenever, reverend 
Sir, you want firewood, you should let go the hatchet 
from your hand, and say, ' Please fetch me firewood : 
make me fire ! ' And it will do so." 

So he gave him the hatchet ; and went to the second 
hermit, and asked, " Reverend Sir, what are you in need 
of?" 

Now the elephants had made a track for themselves close 
to his hut. And he was annoyed by those elephants, and said, 
" I am much troubled by elephants ; drive them away." 

Sakka, handing him a drum, said, "Reverend Sir, 
if you strike on this side of it, your enemies will take 
to flight ; but if you strike on this side, they will become 
friendly, and surround you on all sides with an army in 
fourfold array." 2 

1 Not quite the same as Jupiter. Sakka is a very harmless and gentle 
kind of a god, not a jealous god, nor given to lasciviousness or spite. Neither 
is lie immortal : he dies from time to time ; and, if he has behaved well, is 
reborn under happy conditions. Meanwhile somebody else, usually one of 
the sons of men who has deserved it, succeeds, for a hundred thousand years 
or so, to his name and place and glory. Sakka can call to mind his expe- 
riences in his former birth, a gift in which he surpasses most other beings. 
He was also given to a kind of practical joking, by which he tempted people, 
and has become a mere beneficent fairy. 

2 That is, infantry, cavalry, chariots of war, and elephants of war. Truly 
a useful kind of present to give to a pious hermit ! 



xviii DADHI-VAHANI JATAKA. 

So he gave him the drum ; and went to the third 
hermit, and asked, " Reverend Sir, what are you in need 
of?" 

He was also affected with jaundice, and said, therefore, 
"I want sour milk." 

Sakka gave him a milk-bowl, and said, " If you wish 
for anything, and turn this bowl over, it will become a 
great river, and pour out such a torrent, that it will be 
able to take a kingdom, and give it to you." 

And Sakka went away. But thenceforward the hatchet 
made fire for the eldest hermit ; when the second struck 
one side of his drum, the elephants ran away; and the 
third enjoyed his curds. 

Now at that time a wild boar, straying in a forsaken 
village, saw a gem of magical power. "When he seized 
this in his mouth, he rose by its magic into the air, and 
went to an island in the midst of the ocean. And think- 
ing, "Here now I ought to live," he descended, and took 
up his abode in a convenient spot under an Udumbara-tree. 
And one day, placing the gem before him, he fell asleep 
at the foot of the tree. 

Now a certain man of the land of Kasi had been ex- 
pelled from home by his parents, who said, " This fellow 
is of no use to us." So he went to a seaport, and em- 
barked in a ship as a servant to the sailors. And the 
ship was wrecked ; but by the help of a plank he reached 
that very island. And while he was looking about for 
fruits, he saw the boar asleep ; and going softly up, he 
took hold of the gem. 

Then by its magical power he straightway rose right 
up into the air ! So, taking a seat on the Udumbara-tree, 
he said to himself, " Methinks this boar must have become 



SAKKAS PRESENTS. xix 

a sky- walker through the magic power of this gem. 
That's how he got to be living here ! It's plain enough 
what I ought to do ; I'll first of all kill and eat him, and 
then I can get away ! " 

So he broke a twig off the tree, and dropped it on his 
head. The boar woke up, and not seeing the gem, ran 
about, trembling, this way and that way. The man 
seated on the tree laughed. The boar, looking up, saw 
him, and dashing his head against the tree, died on the 
spot. 

But the man descended, cooked his flesh, ate it, and 
rose into the air. And as he was passing along the 
summit of the Himalaya range, he saw a hermitage ; and 
descending at the hut of the eldest hermit, he stayed 
there two or three days, and waited on the hermit ; and 
thus became aware of the magic power of the hatchet. 

" I must get that," thought he. And he showed the 
hermit the magic power of his gem, and said, "Sir, do 
you take this, and give me your hatchet." The ascetic, 
full of longing to be able to fly through the air, 1 did so. 
But the man, taking the hatchet, went a little way off, 
and letting it go, said, " hatchet ! cut off that hermit's 
head, and bring the gem to me ! " And it went, and cut 
off the hermit's head, and brought him the gem. 

Then he put the hatchet in a secret place, and went to 
the second hermit, and stayed there a few days. And 
having thus become aware of the magic power of the 
drum, he exchanged the gem for the drum ; and cut off 
his head too in the same way as before. 



1 The power of going through the air is usually considered in Indian 
legends to be the result, and a proof, of great holiness and long-continued 
penance. So the hermit thought he would get a fine reputation cheaply. 



xx DADHI- VAHANI JA TAKA. 

Then he went to the third hermit, and saw the magic 
power of the milk-bowl ; and exchanging the gem for it, 
caused his head to be cut off in the same manner. And 
taking the Gem, and the Hatchet, and the Drum, and 
the Milk-bowl, he flew away up into the air. 

Not far from the city of Benares he stopped, and sent 
by the hand of a man a letter to the king of Benares 
to this effect, " Either do battle, or give me up your 
kingdom ! " 

No sooner had he heard that message, than the king 
sallied forth, saying, " Let us catch the scoundrel ! " 

But the man beat one side of his drum, and a fourfold 
army stood around him ! And directly he saw that the 
king's army was drawn out in battle array, he poured out 
his milk-bowl ; and a mighty river arose, and the multi- 
tude, sinking down in it, were not able to escape ! Then 
letting go the hatchet, he said, "Bring me the king's 
head ! " And the hatchet went, and brought the king's 
head, and threw it at his feet ; and no one had time even 
to raise a weapon ! 

Then he entered the city in the midst of his great 
army, and caused himself to be anointed king, under the 
name of Dadhi-vahana (The Lord of Milk), and governed 
the kingdom with righteousness. 1 



The story goes on to relate how the king planted a 
wonderful mango, how the sweetness of its fruit turned 
to sourness through the too-close proximity of bitter 

1 Compare Maha-bharata, xii. 1796. 



SURVIVAL OF OLD BELIEFS. xxi 

herbs, (!) and how the Bodisat, then the king's minister, 
pointed out that evil communications corrupt good 
things. But it is the portion above translated which 
deserves notice as the most ancient example known of 
those tales in which inanimate objects are endowed with 
magical powers ; and in which the Seven League Boots, 
or the Wishing Cup, or the Vanishing Hat, or the Won- 
derful Lamp, render their fortunate possessors happy and 
glorious. There is a very tragical story of a Wishing 
Cup in the Buddhist Collection, 1 where the Wishing 
Cup, however, is turned into ridicule. It is not un- 
pleasant to find that beliefs akin to, and perhaps the 
result of, fetish- worship, had faded away, among Buddhist 
story-tellers, into sources of innocent amusement. 

In this curious tale the Hatchet, the Drum, and the 
Milk-bowl are endowed with qualities much more fit 
for the use they were put to in the latter part of the 
story, than to satisfy the wants of the hermits. It is 
common ground with satirists how little, save sorrow, 
men would gain if they could have anything they chose 
to ask for. But, unlike the others we have quoted, the 
tale in its present shape has a flavour distinctively Budd- 
hist in the irreverent way in which it treats the great 
god Sakka, the Jupiter of the pre- Buddhistic Hindus. It 
takes for granted, too, that the hero ruled in righteous- 

1 Fausbbll, No. 291. 



xxii K A JO FAD A JATAKA. 

ness ; and this is as common in the Jatakas, as the 
' lived happily ever after ' of modern love stories. 

This last idea recurs more strongly in the Birth Story 
called 



A Lesson for Kings. 

RAJOVADA JATAKA. 

(Fausboll, No. 151.) 

Once upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in 
Benares, the future Buddha returned to life in the womb 
of his chief queen ; and after the conception ceremony 
had been performed, he was safely born. And when the 
day came for choosing a name, they called him Prince 
Brahma-datta. He grew up in due course ; and when he 
was sixteen years old, went to Takkasila, 1 and became 
accomplished in all arts. And after his father died he 
ascended the throne, and ruled the kingdom with 
righteousness and equity. He gave judgments without 
partiality, hatred, ignorance, or fear. 2 Since he thus 
reigned with justice, with justice also his ministers ad- 
ministered the law. Lawsuits being thus decided with 
justice, there were none who brought false cases. And 
as these ceased, the noise and tumult of litigation ceased 
in the king's court. Though the judges sat all day in 

1 This is the well-known town in the Panjab called by the Greeks Taxila, 
and famed in Buddhist legend as the great university of ancient India, as 
Xalanda was in later times. 

* Literally " without partiality and the rest," that is, the rest of the agatis, 
the actions forbidden to judges (and to kings as judges). 



A LESSON FOR KINGS. xxiii 

the court, they had to leave without any one coming for 
justice. It came to this, that the Hall of Justice would 
haye to be closed ! 

Then the future Buddha thought, " From my reigning 
with righteousness there are none who come for judg- 
ment ; the bustle has ceased, and the Hall of Justice will 
have to be closed. It behoves me, therefore, now to 
examine into my own faults ; and if I find that anything 
is wrong in me, to put that away, and practise only 
virtue." 

Thenceforth he sought for some one to tell him his 
faults ; but among those around him he found no one 
who would tell him of any fault, but heard only his own 
praise. 

Then he thought, "It is from fear of me that these 
men speak only good things, and not evil things," and 
he sought among those people who lived outside the 
palace. And finding no fault-finder there, he sought 
among those who lived outside the city, in the suburbs, 
at the four gates. 1 And there too finding no one to find 
fault, and hearing only his own praise, he determined 
to search the country places. 

So he made over the kingdom to his ministers, and 
mounted his chariot ; and taking only his charioteer, 
left the city in disguise. And searching the country 
through, up to the very boundary, he found no fault- 
finder, and heard only of his own virtue ; and so he 
turned back from the outermost boundary, and returned 
by the high road towards the city. 

Now at that time the king of Kosala, Mallika by name, 

1 The gates opening towards the four "directions," that is, the four 
cardinal points ot the compass. 



xxiv RAJOVADA JATAKA. 

was also ruling his kingdom with righteousness ; and 
when seeking for some fault in himself, he also found no 
fault-finder in the palace, but only heard of his own 
virtue ! So seeking in country places, he too came to 
that very spot. And these two came face to face in a low 
cart-track with precipitous sides, where there was no 
space for a chariot to get out of the way ! 

Then the charioteer of Mallika the king said to the 
charioteer of the king of Benares, " Take thy chariot out 
of the way ! " 

But he said, " Take thy chariot out of the way, 
charioteer ! In this chariot sitteth the lord over the 
kingdom of Benares, the great king Brahma-datta." 

Yet the other replied, " In this chariot, charioteer, 
sitteth the lord over the kingdom of Kosala, the great 
king Mallika. Take thy carriage out of the way, and 
make room for the chariot of our king ! " 

Then the charioteer of the king of Benares thought, 
" They say then that he too is a king ! What is now to 
be done ? " After some consideration, he said to himself, 
" I know a way. I'll find out how old he is, and then 
I'll let the chariot of the younger be got out of the way, 
and so make room for the elder." 

And when he had arrived at that conclusion, he asked 
that charioteer what the age of the king of Kosala was. 
But on inquiry he found that the ages of both were equal. 
Then he inquired about the extent of his kingdom, and 
about his army, and his wealth, and his renown, and 
about the country he lived in, and his caste and tribe and 
family. And he found that both were lords of a kingdom 
three hundred leagues in extent ; and that in respect of 
army and wealth and renown, and the countries in which 



A LESSON FOR KINGS. xxv 

they lived, and their caste and their tribe and their 
family, they were just on a par ! 

. Then he thought, "I will make way for the most 
righteous." And he asked, " What kind of righteousness 
has this king of yours ? " 

And the other saying, " Such and such is our king's 
righteousness," and so proclaiming his king's wickedness 
as goodness, uttered the First Stanza : 

The strong he .overthrows by strength, 
The mild by mildness, does Mallika ; 
The good he conquers by goodness, 
And the wicked by wickedness too. 

Such is the nature of this king ! 

Move out of the way, charioteer ! 

But the charioteer of the king of Benares asked him, 
" Well, have you told all the virtues of your king ? " 

" Yes," said the other. 

"If these are his virtues, where are then his faults?" 
replied he. 

The other said, "Well, for the nonce, they shall be 
faults, if you like ! But pray, then, what is the kind of 
goodness your king has ? " 

And then the charioteer of the king of Benares called 
unto him to hearken, and uttered the Second Stanza: 

Anger he conquers by calmness, 
And by goodness the wicked ; 
The stingy he conquers by gifts, 
And by truth the speaker of lies. 

Such is the nature of this king ! 

Move out of the way, charioteer ! " 

And when he had thus spoken, both Mallika the king 



xxvi RAJOVADA JATAKA. 

and his charioteer alighted from their chariot. And they 
took out the horses, and removed their chariot, and made 
way for the king of Benares ! 

But the king of Benares exhorted Mallika the king, 
saying, " Thus and thus is it right to do." And returning 
to Benares, he practised charity, and did other good 
deeds, and so when his life was ended he passed away 
to heaven. 

And Mallika the king took his exhortation to heart ; 
and having in vain searched the country through for a 
fault-finder, he too returned to his own city, and prac- 
tised charity and other good deeds; and so at the end 
of his life he went to heaven. 



The mixture in this Jataka of earnestness with dry 
humour is very instructive. The exaggeration in the 
earlier part of the story; the hint that law depends in 
reality on false cases ; the suggestion that to decide cases 
justly would by itself put an end, not only to ' the 
block in the law courts,' but even to all lawsuits; the 
way in which it is brought about that two mighty kings 
should meet, unattended, in a narrow lane ; the clever- 
ness of the first charioteer in getting out of his diffi- 
culties ; the brand-new method of settling the delicate 
question of precedence a method which, logically carried 
out, would destroy the necessity of such questions being 
raised at all; all this is the amusing side of the 



A LESSON FOR KINGS. xxvii 

Jiitaka. It throws, and is meant to throw, an air of 
unreality over the story ; and it is none the less humour 
Because it is left to be inferred, because it is only an 
aroma which might easily escape unnoticed, only the 
humour of na'ive absurdity and of clever repartee. 

But none the less also is the story-teller thoroughly 
in earnest ; he really means that justice is noble, that 
to conquer evil by good is the right thing, and that 
goodness is the true measure of greatness. The object 
is edification also, and not amusement only. The lesson 
itself is quite Buddhistic. The first four lines of the 
Second Moral are indeed included, as verse 223, in the 
Dhammapada or 'Scripture Yerses,' perhaps the most 
sacred and most widely-read book of the Buddhist Bible ; 
and the distinction between the two ideals of virtue is in 
harmony with all Buddhist ethics. It is by no means, 
however, exclusively Buddhistic. It gives expression to 
an idea that would be consistent with most of the later 
religions ; and is found also in the great Hindu Epic, the 
Maha Bharata, which has been called the Bible of the 
Hindus. 1 It is true that further on in the same poem is 
found the opposite sentiment, attributed in our story to 
the king of Mallika; 2 and that the higher teaching is 
in one of the latest portions of the Maha Bharata, and 

1 Maha Bharata, v. 1518. Another passage at iii. 13253 is very similar. 

2 Maha Bharata, xii. 4052. See Dr. Muir's "Metrical Translations from 
Sanskrit Writers" (1879), pp. xxxi, 88, 275, 356. 



xxviii OVERCOMING EVIL BY GOOD. 

probably of Buddhist origin. But when we find that 
the Buddhist principle of overcoming evil by good was 
received, as well as its opposite, into the Hindu poem, 
it is clear that this lofty doctrine was by no means re- 
pugnant to the best among the Brahmans. 1 

It is to be regretted that some writers on Buddhism 
have been led away by their just admiration for the 
noble teaching of Gotama into an unjust depreciation 
of the religious system of which his own was, after all, 
but the highest product and result. There were doubt- 
less among the Brahmans uncompromising advocates 
of the worst privileges of caste, of the most debasing 
belief in the efficacy of rites and ceremonies ; but this 
verse is only one among many others which are in- 
contestable evidence of the wide prevalence also of a 
spirit of justice, and of an earnest seeking after truth. 
It is, in fact, inaccurate to draw any hard-and-fast line 
between the Indian Buddhists and their countrymen 
of other faiths. After the first glow of the Buddhist 
reformation had passed away, there was probably as 
little difference between Buddhist and Hindu as there 
was between the two kings in the story which has just 
been told. 



1 Similar passages will also be found in Lao Tse, Douglas's Confucian- 
ism, etc., p. 197; Pancha Tantra, i. 247 (277) =iv. 72; in Stobaeus, quoted 
by Muir, p. 356 ; and in St. Matthew, v. 44-46 ; whereas the Mallika 
doctrine is inculcated by Confucius (Legge, Chinese Classics, i. 152). 



XXIX 



THE KALILAG AND DAMNAG LITERATURE. 

Among the other points of similarity between Buddhists 
and Hindus, there is one which deserves more especial 
mention here, that of their liking for the kind of 
moral-comic tales which form the bulk of the Buddhist 
Birth Stories. That this partiality was by no means 
confined to the Buddhists is apparent from the fact 
that books of such tales have been amongst the most 
favourite literature of the Hindus. And this is the 
more interesting to us, as it is these Hindu collections 
that have most nearly preserved the form in which 
many of the Indian stories have been carried to the 
West. 

The oldest of the collections now extant is the one 
already referred to, the PANCHA TANTRA, that is, the 
'Five Books/ a kind of Hindu 'Pentateuch' or 'Pen- 
tamerone.' In its earliest form this work is unfor- 
tunately no longer extant ; but in the sixth century 
of our era a book very much like it formed part of a 
work translated into Pahlavi, or Ancient Persian; and 
thence, about 750 A.D., into Syriac, under the title 
of 'KALILAG AND DAMNAG,' and into Arabic under the 
title 'KALILAH AND DIMNAH. U 

1 The names are corruptions of the Indian names of the two jackals, 
Karatak and Darnanak, who take a principal part in the first of the fables. 



xxx THE KALILAG AND 

These tales, though originally Buddhist, became great 
favourites among the Arabs ; and as the Arabs were 
gradually brought into contact with Europeans, and 
penetrated into the South of Europe, they brought the 
stories with them ; and we soon afterwards find them 
translated into Western tongues. It would be impos- 
sible within the limits of this preface to set out in full 
detail the intricate literary history involved in this 
statement; and while I must refer the student to the 
Tables appended to this Introduction for fuller infor- 
mation, I can only give here a short summary of the 
principal facts. 

It is curious to notice that it was the Jews to whom 
we owe the earliest versions. Whilst their mercantile 
pursuits took them much amongst the followers of the 
Prophet, and the comparative nearness of their religious 
beliefs led to a freer intercourse than was usually pos- 
sible between Christians and Moslems, they were natu- 
rally attracted by a kind of literature such as this 
Oriental in morality, amusing in style, and perfectly 
free from Christian legend and from Christian dogma. 
It was also the kind of literature which travellers would 
most easily become acquainted with, and we need not 
therefore be surprised to hear that a Jew, named Symeon 
Seth, about 1080 A.D., made the first translation into a 
European language, viz. into modern Greek. Another 



DAMNAG LITERATURE. xxx i 

Jew, about 1250, made a translation of a slightly 
different recension of the ' Kalilah and Dimnah ' into 
Hebrew ; and a third, John of Capua, turned this 
Hebrew version into Latin between 1263 and 1278. 
At about the same time as the Hebrew version, another 
was made direct from the Arabic into Spanish, and 
a fifth into Latin ; and from these five versions trans- 
lations were afterwards made into German, Italian, 
French, and English. 

The title of the second Latin version just mentioned 
is very striking it is ".ZEsop the Old." To the trans- 
lator, Baldo, it evidently seemed quite in order to ascribe 
these new stories to the traditional teller of similar stories 
in ancient times ; just as witty sayings of more modern 
times have been collected into books ascribed to the once 
venerable Joe Miller. Baldo was neither sufficiently 
enlightened to consider a good story the worse for being 
an old one, nor sufficiently scrupulous to hesitate at 
giving his new book the advantage it would gain from 
its connexion with a well-known name. 

Is it true, then, that the so-called JEsop's Fables 
so popular still, in spite of many rivals, among our 
Western children are merely adaptations from tales 
invented long ago to please and to instruct the child- 
like people of the East ? I think I can give an answer, 
though not a complete answer, to the question. 



xxxii ORIGIN OF sESOP'S FABLES. 

JEsop himself is several times mentioned in classical 
literature, and always as the teller of stories or fables. 
Thus Plato says that Socrates in his imprisonment occu- 
pied himself by turning the stories (literally myths) of 
2Esop into verse : l Aristophanes four times refers to 
his tales: 2 and Aristotle quotes in one form a fable of 
his, which Lucian quotes in another. 3 In accordance 
with these references, classical historians fix the date 
of .ZEsop in the sixth century B.C.; 4 but some modern 
critics, relying on the vagueness and inconsistency of 
the traditions, have denied his existence altogether. 
This is, perhaps, pushing scepticism too far; but it may 
be admitted that he left no written works, and it is quite 
certain that if he did, they have been irretrievably lost. 

Notwithstanding this, a learned monk of Constan- 
tinople, named PLANUDES, and the author also of 
numerous other works, did not hesitate, in the first half 
of the fourteenth century, to write a work which he 
called a collection of .^Esop's Fables. This was first 
printed at Milan at the end of the fifteenth century ; 



1 Phaedo, p. 61. Comp. Bentley, Dissertation on the Fables of _<Esop, 
p. 136. 

2 Vespre, 566, 1259, 1401, and foil. ; and Aves, 651 and foil. 

3 Arist. de part, anim., iii. 2 ; Lucian A T igr., 32. 

4 Herodotus (ii. 134) makes him contemporary with King Amasis of Egypt, 
the beginning of whose reign is placed in 569 B.C. ; Plutarch (Sept. Sap. 
Conv., 152) makes him contemporary with Solon, who is reputed to have 
been born in 638 B.C. ; and Diogenes Laertius (i. 72) says that he flourished 
about the fifty-second Olympiad, i.e. 572-569 B.C. Compare Clinton, Fast. 
Hell. i. 237 (under the year B.C. 572) and i. 239 (under B.C. 534). 



ORIGIN OF AESOP'S FABLES. xxxiii 

and two other supplementary collections have subse- 
quently appeared. 1 From these, and especially from 
the work of Planudes, all our so-called JEsop's Fables 
are derived. 

Whence then did Planudes and his fellow-labourers 
draw their tales? This cannot be completely answered 
till the source of each one of them shall have been clearly 
found, and this has not yet been completely done. But 
Oriental and classical scholars have already traced a 
goodly number of them ; and the general results of their 
investigations may be shortly stated. 

BABRIUS, a Greek poet, who probably lived in the 
first century before Christ, wrote in verse a number of 
fables, of which a few fragments were known in the 
Middle Ages. 2 The complete work was fortunately 
discovered by Mynas, in the year 1824, at Mount Athos ; 
and both Bentley and Tyrwhitt from the fragments, and 
Sir George Cornewall Lewis in his well-known edition 
of the whole work, have shown that several of Planudes' 
Fables are also to be found in Babrius. 3 



1 One at Heidelberg in 1610, and the other at Paris in 1810. There is a 
complete edition of all these fables, 231 in number, by T. Gl. Schneider, 
Breslau, 1812. 

2 See the editions by De Furia, Florence, 1809 ; Schneider, in an ap- 
pendix to his edition ot JEsop's Fables, Breslau, 1812 ; Berger, Miincheu, 
1816; Enoch, Halle, 1835; and Lewis, Philolog. Museum, 1832, i. 280- 
304. 

3 Bentley, loc. cit. ; Tyrwhitt, De Babrio, etc., Lond., 1776. The editions 
of the newly- found MS. are by Lachmann, 1845; Orelli and Baiter, 1845; 
G. C. Lewis, 1846 ; and Schneidewin, 1853. 



xxxiv ORIGIN OF sESOP'S FABLES. 

It is possible, also, that the .ZEsopean fables of the 
Latin poet PH^EDRUS, who in the title of his work calls 
himself a f reedman of Augustus, were known to Planudes. 
But the work of Phaedrus, which is based on that of 
Babrius, existed only in very rare MSS. till the end 
of the sixteenth century, 1 and may therefore have easily 
escaped the notice of Planudes. 

On the other hand, we have seen that versions of 
Buddhist Birth Stories, and other Indian tales, had 
appeared in Europe before the time of Planudes in Greek, 
Latin, Hebrew, and Spanish ; and many of his stories 
have been clearly traced back to this source. 2 Further, as 
I shall presently show, some of the fables of Babrius 
and Phaedrus, found in Planudes, were possibly de- 
rived by those authors from Buddhist sources. And 
lastly, other versions of the Jatakas, besides those which 
have been mentioned as coming through the Arabs, had 
reached Europe long before the time of Planudes ; and 
some more of his stories have been traced back to 
Buddhist sources through these channels also. 

1 It was first edited by Pithou, in 1596 ; also by Orelli, Zurich, 1831. 
Comp. Oesterky, ' Phaedrus und die .ZEsop. Fabel im Mittelalter. ' 

2 By Silvestre de Sacy, in his edition of Kalilah and Dimnah, Paris, 1816 ; 
Loisekur Deslong champs, in his ' Essai sur les Fables Indiennes, et sur leur 
Introd. en Europe,' Paris, 1838 ; Professor Benfey, in his edition of the 
Pafica Tantra, Leipzig, 1859 ; Professor Max Miilkr, ' On the Migration of 
Fables,' Contemporary Review, July, 1870; Professor Weber, ' Ueber den 
Zusammenhang indischer Fabeln mit Griechischen,' Indische Studien, iii. 
337 and foil.; Adolf Wagemr, 'Essai sur les rapports entre les apologues 
de I'lnde et de la Grece,' 1853; Otto Keller, 'Ueber die Geschichte der 
Griechischen Fabeln,' 1862. 



ORIGIN OF AESOP'S FABLES. XXX v 

"What is at present known, then, with respect to the 
so-called -ZEsop's fables, amounts to this that none of 
them are really ^Esopean at all ; that the collection was 
first formed in the Middle Ages ; that a large number 
of them have been already traced back, in various ways, 
to our Buddhist Jataka book ; and that almost the whole 
of them are probably derived, in one way or another, 
from Indian sources. 

It is perhaps worthy of mention, as a fitting close to 
the history of the so-called ^Esop's Fables, that those 
of his stories which Planudes borrowed indirectly from 
India have at length been restored to their original 
home, and bid fair to be popular even in this much- 
altered form. For not only has an Englishman trans- 
lated a few of them into several of the many languages 
spoken in the great continent of India, 1 but Narayan 
Balkrishna Godpole, B.A., one of the Masters of the 
Government High School at Ahmadnagar, has lately 
published a second edition of his translation into Sanskrit 
of the common English version of the successful spurious 
compilation of the old monk of Constantinople ! 



1 /. Gilchrist, ' The Oriental Fabulist, or Polyglot Translations of jEsop's 
and other Ancient Fables from the English Language into Hindustani, 
Persian, Arabic, Bhakka, Bongla, Sanscrit, etc., in the Roman Character,' 
Calcutta, 1803. 



XXXVI 



THE BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT LITERATURE. 

A complete answer to the question with which the last 
digression started can only be given when each one of 
the two hundred and thirty-one fables of Planudes and 
his successors shall have been traced back to its original 
author. But whatever that complete answer may be 
the discoveries just pointed out are at least most strange 
and most instructive. And yet, if I mistake not, the 
history of the Jataka Book contains hidden amongst its 
details a fact more unexpected and more striking still. 

In the eighth century the Khalif of Bagdad was that 
Almansur at whose court was written the Arabic book 
Kalilah and Dimnah, afterwards translated by the learned 
Jews I have mentioned into Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. 
A Christian, high in office at his court, afterwards became 
a monk, and is well known, under the name of St. John 
of Damascus, as the author in Greek of many theological 
works in defence of the orthodox faith. Among these 
is a religious romance called 'Barlaam and Joasaph,' 
giving the history of an Indian prince who was converted 
by Barlaam and became a hermit. This history, the 
reader will be surprised to learn, is taken from the life 
of the Buddha ; and Joasaph is merely the Buddha 
under another name, the word Joasaph, or Josaphat, being 



BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT. xxxvii 

simply a corruption of the word Bodisat, that title of the 
future Buddha so constantly repeated in the Buddhist 
Birth Stories. 1 Now a life of the Buddha forms the intro- 
duction to our Jataka Book, and St. John's romance also 
contains a number of fahles and stories, most of which 
have been traced back to the same source. 2 

This book, the first religious romance published in 
a Western language, became very popular indeed, and, 
like the Arabic Kalilah and Dimnah, was translated into 
many other European languages. It exists in Latin, 
French, Italian, Spanish, German, English, Swedish, 
and Dutch. This will show how widely it was read, 
and how much its moral tone pleased the taste of the 
Middle Ages. It was also translated as early as 1204 
into Icelandic, and has even been published in the 
Spanish dialect used in the Philippine Islands ! 

Now it was a very ancient custom among Christians 
to recite at the most sacred part of their most sacred 
service (in the so-called Canon of the Mass, immediately 



1 Joasaph is in Arabic written also Yudasatf ; and this, through a confu- 
sion between the Arabic letters Y and , is for Bodisat. See, for the history 
of these changes, Reinaud, ' Memoire sur 1'Inde,' 1849, p. 91 ; quoted with 
approbation by Weber, ' Indische Streifen,' iii. 57. 

a The Buddhist origin was first pointed out by Laboulaye in the Debate, 
July, 1859 ; and more fully by Liebrecht, in the ' Jahrbuch fur romanische 
und englische Literatur,' 1860. See also Littre, Journal des Savans, 1865, 
who fully discusses, and decides in favour of the romance being really the 
work of St. John of Damascus. I hope, in a future volume, to publish a 
complete analysis of St. John's work ; pointing out the resemblances between 
it and the Buddhist lives of Gotama, and giving parallel passages wherever 
the Greek adopts, not only the Buddhist ideas, but also Buddhist expressions. 



xxxviii MEANING OF CANONIZATION. 

before the consecration of the Host) the names of deceased 
saints and martyrs. Religious men of local celebrity 
were inserted for this purpose in local lists, called 
Diptychs, and names universally honoured throughout 
Christendom appeared in all such catalogues. The con- 
fessors and martyrs so honoured are now said to be 
canonized, that is, they have become enrolled among the 
number of Christian saints mentioned in the ' Canon/ 
whom it is the duty of every Catholic to revere, whose 
intercession may be invoked, who may be chosen as 
patron saints, and in whose honour images and altars 
and chapels may be set up. 1 

For a long time it was permitted to the local eccle- 
siastics to continue the custom of inserting such names 
in their 'Diptychs,' but about 1170 a decretal of Pope 
Alexander III. confined the power of canonization, as 
far as the Roman Catholics were concerned, 2 to the 
Pope himself. From the different Diptychs various 
martyrologies, or lists of persons so to be commemorated 
in the ' Canon,' were composed to supply the place of 
the merely local lists or Diptychs. For as time went 
on, it began to be considered more and more improper 



1 Pope Benedict XIV. in ' De servorum Dei beatificatione et beatorum 
canonisatione,' lib. i. cap. 45; Regnier, ' De ecclesia Christi,' in Migne's 
Theol. Curs. Compl. iv. 710. 

z Decret. Greg., Lib. iii. Tit. xlri., confirmed and explained by decrees of 
Urban VIII. (13th March, 1625, and 5th July, 1634) and of Alexander VII. 
(1659). 



AUTHORIZED MARTYROLOGY. xxxix 

to insert new names in so sacred a part of the Church 
prayers ; and the old names being well known, the 
Diptychs fell into disuse. The names in the Martyr- 
ologies were at last no longer inserted in the Canon, 
but are repeated in the service called the ' Prime ' ; 
though the term 'canonized' was still used of the 
holy men mentioned in them. And when the increasing 
number of such Martyrologies threatened to lead to 
confusion, and to throw doubt on the exclusive power 
of the Popes to canonize, Pope Sixtus the Fifth 
(1585-1590) authorized a particular Martyrologium, 
drawn up by Cardinal Baronius, to be used throughout 
the Western Church. In that work are included not 
only the saints first canonized at Rome, but all those 
who, having been already canonized elsewhere, were 
then acknowledged by the Pope and the College of 
Rites to be saints of the Catholic Church of Christ. 
Among such, under the date of the 27th of November, 
are included " The holy Saints Barlaam and Josaphat, 
of India, on the borders of Persia, whose wonderful 
acts Saint John of Damascus has described." 1 

Where and when they were first canonized, I have 
been unable, in spite of much investigation, to ascer- 
tain. Petrus de Natalibus, who was Bishop of Equilium, 



1 p. 177 of the edition of 1873, bearing the official approval of Pope 
Pius IX., or p. 803 of the Cologne edition of 1610. 



xl THE BUDDHA AS ST. JOSAPHAT 

the modern Jesolo, near Venice, from 1370 to 1400, wrote 
a Martyrology called ' Catalogus Sanctorum ' ; and in 
it, among the ' saints,' he inserts both Barlaam and 
Josaphat, giving also a short account of them derived 
from the old Latin translation of St. John of Damascus. 1 
It is from this work that Baronius, the compiler of the 
authorized Martyrology now in use, took over the names 
of these two saints, Barlaam and Josaphat. But, so far 
as I have been able to ascertain, they do not occur in 
any martyrologies or lists of saints of the Western 
Church older than that of Petrus de Natalibus. 

In the corresponding manual of worship still used in 
the Greek Church, however, we find, under August 26, 
the name ' of the holy losaph, son of Abener, king 
of India.' 2 Barlaam is not mentioned, and is not there- 
fore recognized as a saint in the Greek Church. No 
history is added to the simple statement I have quoted ; 
and I do not know on what authority it rests. But 
there is no doubt that it is in the East, and probably 
among the records of the ancient church of Syria, that 
a final solution of this question should be sought. 3 

Some of the more learned of the numerous writers 

1 Cat. Sanct., Leyden ed. 1542, p. cliii. 

2 p. 160 of the part for the month of August of the authorized Mrjvaiov of 
the Greek Church, published at Constantinople, 1843: "ToC dffiov 'lted(ra<}>, 
vlov 'Aftet>}]p TOV Pa<n\f<i>s rfjs 'IvSlas." 

3 For the information in the last three pages I am chiefly indebted to my 
father, the Rev. T. "W. Davids, without whose generous aid I should not have 
attempted to touch this obscure and difficult question. 



SS A CATHOLIC SAINT. xli 

who translated or composed new works on the basis of 
the story of Josaphat, have pointed out in their notes 
that he had been canonized; 1 and the hero of the 
romance is usually called St. Josaphat in the titles of 
these works, as will be seen from the Table of the 
Josaphat literature below. But Professor Liebrecht, 
when identifying Josaphat with the Buddha, took no 
notice of this; and it was Professor Max Muller, who 
has done so much to infuse the glow of life into the 
dry bones of Oriental scholarship, who first pointed out 
the strange fact almost incredible, were it not for the 
completeness of the proof that Gotama the Buddha, 
under the name of St. Josaphat, is now officially recog- 
nized and honoured and worshipped throughout the 
whole of Catholic Christendom as a Christian saint! 

I have now followed the Western history of the 
Buddhist Book of Birth Stories along two channels 
only. Space would fail me, and the reader's patience 
perhaps too, if I attempted to do more. But I may 
mention that the inquiry is not by any means ex- 
hausted. A learned Italian has proved that a good 
many of the stories of the hero known throughout 
Europe as Sinbad the Sailor are derived from the same 
inexhaustible treasury of stories witty and wise ; 2 and a 

1 See, for instance, Billius, and the Italian Editor of 1734. 

2 Comparetti, ' Eicerche intorne al Libro di Sindibad,' Milano, 1869. 
Compare Landsberger, 'Die Fabeln des Sophos,' Posen, 1859. 



Xlii MIGRATION OF BUDDHIST TALES. 

similar remark applies also to other well-known Tales 
included in the Arabian Nights. 1 La Fontaine, whose 
charming versions of the Fables are so deservedly ad- 
mired, openly acknowledges his indebtedness to the 
French versions of Kalilah and Dimnah ; and Professor 
Benfey and others have traced the same stories, or 
ideas drawn from them, to Poggio, Boccaccio, Gower, 
Chaucer, Spenser, and many other later writers. Thus, 
for instance, the three caskets and the pound of flesh 
in ' The Merchant of Venice/ and the precious jewel 
which in ' As You Like It ' the venomous toad wears 
in his head, 2 are derived from the Buddhist tales. In 
a similar way it has been shown that tales current 
among the Hungarians and the numerous peoples of 
Slavonic race have been derived from Buddhist sources, 
through translations made by or for the Huns, who 
penetrated in the time of Genghis Khan into the East 
of Europe. 3 And finally yet other Indian tales, not 
included in the Kalilag and Damnag literature, have 
been brought into the opposite corner of Europe, by 
the Arabs of Spain. 4 



1 See Benfey, Pantscha Tantra, vol. i., Introduction, passim. 

2 Act ii. scene 1. Professor Benfey, in his Pantscha Tantra, i. 213-220, 
has traced this idea far and wide. Dr. Dennys, in his 'Folklore of China,' 
gives the Chinese Buddhist version of it. 

3 See Benfey's Introduction to Pafica Tantra, 36, 39, 71, 92, 166, 186. 
Mr. Ealston's forthcoming translation of Tibetan stories will throw further 
light on this, at present, rather obscure subject. 

* See, for example, the Fable translated below, pp. 275-278. 



GREEK AND BUDDHIST FABLES. 

There is only one other point on which a few words 
should be said. I have purposely chosen as specimens 
one Buddhist Birth Story similar to the Judgment of 
Solomon ; two which are found also in Babrius ; and 
one which is found also in Pheedrus. How are these 
similarities, on which the later history of Indian Fables 
throws no light, to be explained ? 

As regards the cases of Babrius and Phsedrus, it can 
only be said that the Greeks who travelled with Alex- 
ander to India may have taken the tales there, but 
they may equally well have brought them back. We 
only know that at the end of the fourth, and still more 
in the third century before Christ, there was constant 
travelling to and fro between the Greek dominions in 
the East and the adjoining parts of India, which were 
then Buddhist, and that the Birth Stories were already 
popular among the Buddhists in Afghanistan, where 
the Greeks remained for a long time. Indeed, the very 
region which became the seat of the Graeco-Bactrian 
kings takes, in all the Northern versions of the Birth 
Stories, the place occupied by the country of Kasi in 
the Pali text, so that the scene of the tales is laid 
in that district. And among the innumerable Buddhist 
remains still existing there, a large number are con- 
nected with the Birth Stories. 1 It is also in this very 

1 The legend of Sumedha's self-abnegation (see below, pp. 11-13) is laid 
near Jeliilabad ; and Mr. "William Simpson has discovered on the spot two 
bas-reliefs representing the principal incident in the legend. 



xliv GREEK AND BUDDHIST FABLES. 

district, and under the immediate successor of Alexander, 
that the original of the ' Kalilah and Dimnah ' was said 
by its Arabian translators to have been written by Bidpai. 
It is possible that a smaller number of similar stories 
were also current among the Greeks ; and that they not 
only heard the Buddhist ones, but told their own. But so 
far as the Greek and the Buddhist stories can at present 
be compared, it seems to me that the internal evidence 
is in favour of the Buddhist versions being the originals 
from which the Greek versions were adapted. Whether 
more than this can be at present said is very doubtful : 
when the Jatakas are all published, and the similarities 
between them and classical stories shall have been fully 
investigated, the contents of the stories may enable 
criticism to reach a more definite conclusion. 

The case of Solomon's judgment is somewhat different. 
If there were only one fable in Babrius or Phaedrus 
identical with a Buddhist Birth Story, we should suppose 
merely that the same idea had occurred to two different 
minds ; and there would thus be no necessity to postulate 
any historical connexion. Now the similarity of the 
two judgments stands, as far as I know, in complete 
isolation ; and the story is not so curious but that two 
writers may have hit upon the same idea. At the same 
time, it is just possible that when the Jews were in 
Babylon they may have told, or heard, the story. 



STORY OF THE WISE JUDGE. x l v 

Had we met with this story in a book unquestionably 
later than the Exile, we might suppose that they heard 
the story there ; that some one repeating it had ascribed 
the judgment to King Solomon, whose great wisdom was 
a common tradition among them; and that it had thus 
been included in their history of that king. But we 
find it in the Book of Kings, which is usually assigned 
to the time of Jeremiah, who died during the Exile ; 
and it should be remembered that the chronicle in ques- 
tion was based for the most part on traditions current 
much earlier among the Jewish people, and probably 
on earlier documents. 

If, on the other hand, they told it there, we may 
expect to find some evidence of the fact in the details 
of the story as preserved in the Buddhist story-books 
current in the North of India, and more especially in 
the Buddhist countries bordering on Persia. Now Dr. 
Dennys, in his ' Folklore of China' has given us a 
Chinese Buddhist version of a similar judgment, which 
is most probably derived from a Northern Buddhist 
Sanskrit original ; and though this version is very late, 
and differs so much in its details from those of both 
the Pali and Hebrew tales that it affords no basis itself 
for argument, it yet holds out the hope that we may 
discover further evidence of a decisive character. This 
hope is confirmed by the occurrence of a similar tale in 



xlvi STORY OF THE WISE JUDGE. 

the Gesta Romanorum, a mediaeval work which quotes 
Barlaam and Josaphat, and is otherwise largely indebted 
in an indirect way to Buddhist sources. 1 It is true 
that the basis of the judgment in that story is not the 
love of a mother to her son, but the love of a son to 
his father. But that very difference is encouraging. 
The orthodox compilers of the ' Gests of the Romans ' 2 
dared not have so twisted the sacred record. They 
could not therefore have taken it from our Bible. Like 
all their other tales, however, this one was borrowed 
from somewhere; and its history, when discovered, may 
be expected to throw some light on this inquiry. 

I should perhaps point out another way in which 
this tale may possibly be supposed to have wandered 
from the Jews to the Buddhists, or from India to the 
Jews. The land of Ophir was probably in India. The 
Hebrew names of the apes and peacocks said to have 
been brought thence by Solomon's coasting- vessels are 
merely corruptions of Indian names ; and Ophir must 
therefore have been either an Indian port (and if so, 
almost certainly at the mouth of the Indus, afterwards 
a Buddhist country), or an entrepot, further west, 

1 No. xlv. p. 80 of Swan and Hooper's popular edition, 1877 ; No. xlii. 
p. 167 of the critical edition published for the Early English Text Society iu 
1879 by S. J. H. Hirrtage, who has added a valuable historical note at 
p. 477. 

2 This adaptation of the Latin title is worthy of notice. It of course 
means ' Deeds ' ; but as most of the stories are more or less humorous, the 
word Gest, now spelt Jest, acquired its present meaning. 



STORY OF THE WISE JUDGE. x l v ii 

for Indian trade. But the very gist of the account 
of Solomon's expedition by sea is its unprecedented 
arid hazardous character; it would have been impossible 
even for him without the aid of Phrenician sailors ; 
and it was not renewed by the Hebrews till after 
the time when the account of the judgment was 
recorded in the Book of Kings. Any intercourse 
between his servants and the people of Ophir must, 
from the difference of language, have been of the most 
meagre extent ; and we may safely conclude that it 
was not the means of the migration of our tale. It 
is much more likely, if the Jews heard or told the Indian 
story at all, and before the time of the captivity, 
that the way of communication was overland. There 
is every reason to believe that there was a great and 
continual commercial intercourse between East and 
"West from very early times by way of Palmyra 
and Mesopotamia. Though the intercourse by sea was 
not continued after Solomon's time, gold of Ophir, 1 
ivory, jade, and Eastern gems still found their way 
to the West; and it would be an interesting task 
for an Assyrian or Hebrew scholar to trace the evidence 
of this ancient overland route in other ways. 

1 Psalm xiv. 9 ; Isaiah xiii. 12 ; Job xxii. 24, xxviii. 16. 



xlviii 



SUMMARY. 

To sum up what can at present be said on the con- 
nexion between the Indian tales, preserved to us in the 
Book of Buddhist Birth Stories, and their counterparts 
in the West : 

1. In a few isolated passages of Greek and other 
writers, earlier than the invasion of India by Alexander 
the Great, there are references to a legendary _<Esop, 
and perhaps also allusions to stories like some of the 
Buddhist ones. 

2. After Alexander's time a number of tales also found 
in the Buddhist collection became current in Greece, 
and are preserved in the poetical versions of Babrius 
and Phaedrus. They are probably of Buddhist origin. 

3. From the time of Babrius to the time of the first 
Crusade no migration of Indian tales to Europe can be 
proved to have taken place. About the latter time a 
translation into Arabic of a Persian work containing 
tales found in the Buddhist book was translated by 
Jews into Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. Translations of 
these versions afterwards appeared in all the principal 
languages of Europe. 

4. In the eleventh or twelfth century a translation 
was made into Latin of the legend of Barlaam and 



SUMMARY OF PART I. x li x 

Josaphat, a Greek romance written in the eighth century 
by St. John of Damascus on the basis of the Buddhist 
Jataka book. Translations, poems, and plays founded 
on this work were rapidly produced throughout Western 
Europe. 

5. Other Buddhist stories not included in either of 
the works mentioned in the two last paragraphs were 
introduced into Europe both during the Crusades and 
also during the dominion of the Arabs in Spain. 

6. Versions of other Buddhist stories were introduced 
into Eastern Europe by the Huns under Genghis Khan. 

7. The fables and stories introduced through these 
various channels became very popular during the Middle 
Ages, and were used as the subjects of numerous sermons, 
story-books, romances, poems, and edifying dramas. Thus 
extensively adopted and circulated, they had a consider- 
able influence on the revival of literature, which, hand 
in hand with the revival of learning, did so much to 
render possible and to bring about the Great Reforma- 
tion. The character of the hero of them the Buddha, 
in his last or in one or other of his supposed previous 
births appealed so strongly to the sympathies, and 
was so attractive to the minds of mediaeval Christians, 
that he became, and has ever since remained, an object 
of Christian worship. And a collection of these and 
similar stories wrongly, but very naturally, ascribed to 



I SUMMARY OF PART I. 

a famous story-teller of the ancient Greeks has become 
the common property, the household literature, of all 
the nations of Europe; and, under the name of -ZEsop's 
Fables, has handed down, as a first moral lesson-book 
and as a continual feast for our children in the West, 
tales first invented to please and to instruct our far-off 
cousins in the distant East. 



PAET II. 



ON THE HISTORY OF THE BIRTH STORIES IN 
INDIA. 

IN the previous part of this Introduction I have 
attempted to point out the resemblances between certain 
Western tales and the Buddhist Birth Stories, to explain 
the reason of those resemblances, and to trace the 
history of the Birth Story literature in Europe. Much 
remains yet to be done to complete this interesting and 
instructive history; but the general results can already 
be stated with a considerable degree of certainty, and 
the literature in which further research will have to be 
made is accessible in print in the public libraries of 
Europe. 

For the history in India of the Jataka Book itself, 
and of the stories it contains, so little has been done, 
that one may say it has still to be written ; and the 
authorities for further research are only to be found in 



lii BIRTH STORIES IN OTHER PARTS 

manuscripts very rare in Europe, and written in lan- 
guages for the most part but little known. Much of 
what follows is necessarily therefore very incomplete 
and provisional. 

In some portions of the Brahmanical literature, later 
than the Vedas, and probably older than Buddhism, 
there are found myths and legends of a character some- 
what similar to a few of the Buddhist ones. But, so far 
as I know, no one of these has been traced either in 
Europe or in the Buddhist Collection. 

On the other hand, there is every reason to hope that 
in the older portions of the Buddhist Scriptures a 
considerable number of the tales also included in the 
Jataka Book will be found in identical or similar forms ; 
for even in the few fragments of the Pitakas as yet 
studied, several Birth Stories have already been dis- 
covered. 1 These occur in isolated passages, and, except 
the story of King Maha Sudassana, have not as yet 
become Jatakas, that is, no character in the story is 



1 Thus, for instance, the MANI KANTHA JATAKA (Fausboll, No. 253) is 
taken from a story which is in both the Pali and the Chinese versions of the 
Yinaya Pitaka (Oldenberg, p. xlvi) ; the TITTIKA JATAKA (Fausboll, No. 37, 
translated below) occurs almost word for word in the Culla Vagga (vi. 6, 3-5) ; 
the KHANDHAVATTA JATAKA (Fausboll, No. 203) is a slightly enlarged 
version of Culla Vagga, v. 6 ; the SUKHAVIHAHI JATAKA (Fausboll, No. 10, 
translated below) is founded on a story in the Culla Yagga (vii. 1, 4-6) ; the 
MAHA-SUDASSANA JATAKA (Fausboll, No. 95) is derived from the Sutta of 
the same name in the Digha Nikaya (translated by me in ' Sacred Books of 
the East,' vol. ix.) ; the MAKHA DEVA JATAKA (Fausboll, No. 9, translated 
below) from the Sutta of the same name in the Majjhima Nikaya (No. 83) ; 
and the SAKUNAGGHI JATAKA (Fausboll, No. 168), from a parable in the 
Satipatthana Yagga of the Sanyutta Nikaya. 



OF THE PALI PITAKAS. liii 

identified with the Buddha in one or other of his sup- 
posed previous births. But one book included in the 
Pali Pitakas consists entirely of real Jataka stories, all 
of which are found in our Collection. 

The title of this work is CARIYA-PITAKA ; and 
it is constructed to show when, and in what, births, 
Gotama had acquired the Ten Great Perfections (Gene- 
rosity, Goodness, Renunciation, Wisdom, Firmness, 
Patience, Truth, Resolution, Kindness, and Equanimity), 
without which he could not have become a Buddha. 
In striking analogy with the modern view, that true 
growth in moral and intellectual power is the result of 
the labours, not of one only, but of many successive 
generations ; so the qualifications necessary for the 
making of a Buddha, like the characters of all the 
lesser mortals, cannot be acquired during, and do not 
depend upon the actions of, one life only, but are the 
last result of many deeds performed through a long 
series of consecutive lives. 1 

To each of the first two of these Ten Perfections a 
whole chapter of this work is devoted, giving in verse 
ten examples of the previous births in which the Bodisat 
or future Buddha had practised Generosity and Good- 
ness respectively. The third chapter gives only fifteen 



1 See on this belief below, pp. 54-58, where the verses 259-269 are 
quotations from the Cariya Pitaka. 



liv BIRTH STORIES IN OTHER PARTS 

examples of the lives in which he acquired the other 
eight of the Perfections. It looks very much as if 
the original plan of the unknown author had been to 
give ten Birth Stories for each of the Ten Perfections. 
And, curiously enough, the Northern Buddhists have 
a tradition that the celebrated teacher Asvagosha began 
to write a work giving ten Births for each of the Ten 
Perfections, but died when he had versified only thirty- 
four. 1 Now there is a Sanskrit work called JATAKA 
MALA, as yet unpublished, but of which there are 
several MSS. in Paris and in London, consisting of 
thirty-five Birth Stories in mixed prose and verse, in 
illustration of the Ten Perfections. 2 It would be pre- 
mature to attempt to draw any conclusions from these 
coincidences, but the curious reader will find in a Table 
below a comparative view of the titles of the Jatakas 
comprised in the Cariya Pitaka and in the Jataka 
Mala\ 3 

There is yet another work in the Pali Pitakas which 
constantly refers to the Jataka theory. The BUDDHA- 
VAnsA, which is a history of all the Buddhas, gives an 
account also of the life of the Bodisat in the character he 



1 Taranatha's ' Geschichte des Buddhismus ' (a Tibetan work of the 
eighteenth century, translated into German by Schiefner), p. 92. 

z FambblVs 'Five Jatakas,' pp. 58-68, where the full text of one Jataka is 
given, and Lton Peer, ' Etude sur les Jatakas,' p. 57. 

3 See Table, below. 



OF THE PALI PITAKAS. lv 

filled during the lifetime of each of twenty-four of the 
previous Buddhas. It is on that work that a great part 
of the Pali Introduction to our Jataka Book is based, 
and most of the verses in the first fifty pages of the 
present translation are quotations from the Buddha- varjsa. 
From this source we thus have authority for twenty- 
four Birth Stories, corresponding to the first twenty-four 
of the twenty-seven previous Buddhas, 1 besides the 
thirty-four in illustration of the Perfections, and the 
other isolated ones I have mentioned. 

Beyond this it is impossible yet to state what pro- 
portion of the stories in the Jataka Book can thus be 
traced back to the earlier Pali Buddhist literature ; and 
it would be out of place to enter here upon any lengthy 
discussion of the difficult question as to the date of those 
earlier records. The provisional conclusions as to the 
age of the Sutta and Vinaya reached by Dr. Oldenberg 
in the very able introduction prefixed to his edition 
of the text of the Maha Yagga, and summarized at 
p. xxxviii of that work, will be sufficient for our present 
purposes. It may be taken as so highly probable as to 
be almost certain, that all those Birth Stories, which 
are not only found in the so-called Jataka Book itself, 
but are also referred to in these other parts of the 



1 See the list of these Buddhas below, p. 52, where it will be seen that for 
the last three Buddhas we have no Birth Story. 



Ivi THE COUNCIL OF VESALL 

Pali Pitakas, are at least older than the Council of 
Yesali. 1 

The Council of Vesali was held about a hundred years 
after Gotama's death, to settle certain disputes as to 
points of discipline and practice which had arisen among 
the members of the Order. The exact date of Gotama's 
death is uncertain; 2 and in the tradition regarding the 
length of the interval between that event and the Council, 
the ' hundred years ' is of course a round number. But 
we can allow for all possibilities, and still keep within 
the bounds of certainty, if we fix the date of the Council 
of Vesali at within thirty years of 350 B.C. 

The members of the Buddhist Order of Mendicants 
were divided at that Council as important for the 
history of Buddhism as the Council of Nice is for the 
history of Christianity into two parties. One side 
advocated the relaxation of the rules of the Order in 
ten particular matters, the others adopted the stricter 
view. In the accounts of the matter, which we at present 
only possess from the successors of the stricter party (or, 



1 This will hold good though the Buddhavansa and the Cariya Pitaka 
should turn out to be later than most of the other hooks contained in the 
Three Pali Pitakas. That the stories they contain have already become 
Jutakas, whereas in most of the other cases above quoted the stories are still 
only parables, would seem to lead to this conclusion ; and the fact that they 
have preserved some very ancient forms (such as locatives in i) may merely 
be due to the fact that they are older, not in matter and ideas, but only in 
form. Compare what is said below as to the verses in the Birth Stories. 

2 The question is discussed at length in my 'Ancient Coins and Measures 
of Ceylon' in ' Numismata Orientalia,' vol. i. 



THE GREAT COUNCIL. Ivii 

as they call themselves, the orthodox party), it is ac- 
knowledged that the other, the laxer side, were in the 
majority ; and that when the older and more influential 
members of the Order decided in favour of the orthodox 
view, the others held a council of their own, called, from 
the numbers of those who attended it, the Great Council. 

Now the oldest Ceylon Chronicle, the Dlpavansa, which 
contains the only account as yet published of what oc- 
curred at the Great Council, says as follows : x 

" The monks of the Great Council turned the religion 

upside down ; 
They broke up the original Scriptures, and made a 

new recension ; 

A discourse put in one place they put in another ; 
They distorted the sense and the teaching of the Five 

Nikayas. 
Those monks knowing not what had been spoken at 

length, and what concisely, 
What was the obvious, and what was the higher 

meaning 
Attached new meaning to new words, as if spoken by 

the Buddha, 
And destroyed much of the spirit by holding to the 

shadow of the letter. 
In part they cast aside the Sutta and the Vinaya so 

deep, 
And made an imitation Sutta and Vinaya, changing 

this to that. 

1 Dlpavagsa, V. 32 and foil. 



Iviii ILLUSTRATIONS IN SCULPTURE 

The Pariwara abstract, and the Six Books of Abhi- 

dhamma ; 
The Patisambhida, the Niddesa, and a portion of the 

Jataka 
So much they put aside, and made others in their 

place!" .... 

The animus of this description is sufficiently evident ; 
and the Dipavarjsa, which cannot have been written 
earlier than the fourth century after the commencement 
of our era, is but poor evidence of the events of seven 
centuries before. But it is the best we have ; it is ac- 
knowledged to have been based on earlier sources, and 
it is at least reliable evidence that, according to Ceylon 
tradition, a book called the Jataka existed at the time 
of the Councils of Yesali. 

As the Northern Buddhists are the successors of those 
who held the Great Council, we may hope before long 
to have the account of it from the other side, either 
from the Sanskrit or from the Chinese. 1 Meanwhile 
it is important to notice that the fact of a Book of Birth 
Stories having existed at a very early date is confirmed, 
not only by such stories being found in other parts of 
the Pali Pitakas, but also by ancient monuments. 

Among the most interesting and important discoveries 

1 There are several works enumerated by Mr. Beal in his Catalogue of 
Chinese Buddhistic Works in the India Office Library (see especially pp. 93-97, 
and pp. 107-109), from which we might expect to derive this information. 



OF THE BIRTH STORIES. Hx 

which we owe to recent archaeological researches in 
India must undoubtedly be reckoned those of the Bud- 
dhist carvings on the railings round the dome- shaped 
relic shrines of Sanchi, AmaravatI, and Bharhut. There 
have been there found, very boldly and clearly sculp- 
tured- in deep bas-relief, figures which were at first 
thought to represent merely scenes in Indian life. Even 
so their value as records of ancient civilization would 
have been of incalculable value ; but they have acquired 
further importance since it has been proved that most 
of them are illustrations of the sacred Birth Stories in 
the Buddhist Jataka book, are scenes, that is, from the 
life of Gotama in his last or previous births. This 
would be incontestable in many cases from the carvings 
themselves, but it is rendered doubly sure by the titles 
of Jatakas having been found inscribed over a number 
of those of the bas-reliefs which have been last dis- 
covered the carvings, namely, on the railing at 
Bharhut. 

It is not necessary to turn aside here to examine into 
the details of these discoveries. It is sufficient for our 
present inquiry into the age of the Jataka stories that 
these ancient bas-reliefs afford indisputable evidence 
that the Birth Stories were already, at the end of the 
third century B.C., considered so sacred that they were 
chosen as the subjects to be represented round the most 



Ix ON THE PALI NAMES 

sacred Buddhist buildings, and that they were already 
popularly known under the technical name of ' Jatakas.' 
A detailed statement of all the Jatakas hitherto dis- 
covered on these Buddhist railings, and other places, 
will be found in one of the Tables appended to this 
Introduction ; and it will be noticed that several of 
those tales translated below in this volume had thus 
been chosen, more than two thousand years ago, to fill 
places of honour round the relic shrines of the Great 
Teacher. 

One remarkable fact apparent from that Table will 
be that the Birth Stories are sometimes called in the 
inscriptions over the bas-reliefs by names different from 
those given to them in the Jataka Book in the Pali 
Pitakas. This would seem, at first sight, to show that, 
although the very stories as we have them must have 
been known at the time when the bas-reliefs were carved, 
yet that the present collection, in which different names 
are clearly given at the end of each story, did not then 
exist. But, on the other hand, we not only find in the 
Jataka Book itself very great uncertainty as to the 
names, the same stories being called in different parts 
of the Book by different titles, 1 but one of these very 



1 Thus, No. 41 is called both LOSAKA JATAKA and MITTA-VINDAKA 
JATAKA (Feer, 'Etude sur les Jutakas,' p. 121) ; No. 439 is called CATUD- 
VARA JATAKA and also MITTA-VINDAKA JATAKA (Ibid. p. 120) ; No. 57 is 
called VANARINDA JATAKA and also KUMBH!LA JATAKA (Fausboll, vol. i. 



OF THE BIRTH STORIES. Ixi 

bas-reliefs has actually inscribed over it two distinct 
names in full ! l 

The reason for this is very' plain. When a fable 
about a lion and a jackal was told (as in No. 157) to 
show the advantage of a good character, and it was 
necessary to choose a short title for it, it was called 
'The Lion Jataka,' or 'The Jackal Jataka,' or even 
' The Good Character Jataka ' ; and when a fable was 
told about a tortoise, to show the evil results which 
follow on talkativeness (as in No. 215), the fable might 
as well be called ' The Chatterbox Jataka ' as ' The 
Tortoise Jataka/ and the fable is referred to accordingly 
under both those names. It must always have been 
difficult, if not impossible, to fix upon a short title which 
should at once characterize the lesson to be taught, and 
the personages through whose acts it was taught ; and 
different names would thus arise, and become inter- 
changeable. It would be wrong therefore to attach 
too much importance to the difference of the names on 
the bas-reliefs and in the Jataka Book. And in trans- 



p. 278, and vol. ii. p. 206) ; No. 96 is called TELAPATTA JATAKA and also 
TAKKASILA JATAKA (Ibid. vol. i. p. 393, and vol. i. pp. 469, 470) ; No. 102, 
there called PANNIKA JATAKA, is the same story as No. 217, there called 
SEGGU JATAKA ; No. 30, there called MUNIKA JATAKA, is the same story as 
No. 286, there called SALUKA JATAKA ; No. 215, the KACCHAPA JATAKA, 
is called BAHU-BHANI JATAKA in the Dhammapada (p. 419) ; and No. 157 
is called GTJNA JATAKA, SIHA JATAKA, and SIGALA JATAKA. 

1 Cunningham, 'The Stupa of Bharhut,' pi. xlvii. The carving illustrates 
a fable of a cat and a cock, and is labelled both Bidala Jataka and Kukkuta 
Jataka (Cat Jataka and Cock Jataka) . 



Ixii THE JATAKA ONE OF THE ANGANI. 

lating the titles we need not be afraid to allow ourselves 
a latitude similar to that which was indulged in by the 
early Buddhists themselves. 

There is yet further evidence confirmatory of the 
Dlpavarjsa tradition. The Buddhist Scriptures are some- 
times spoken of as consisting of nine different divisions, 
or sorts of texts (Arjgani), of which the seventh is 
'Jatakas,' or 'The Jataka Collection' (Jatakarj). This 
division of the Sacred Books is mentioned, not only in 
the Dlpavarjsa itself, and in the Sumarjgala YilasinI, but 
also in the Agguttara Nikaya (one of the later works 
included in the Pali Pitakas), and in the Saddharma 
Pundarlka (a late, but standard Sanskrit work of the 
Northern Buddhists). 1 It is common, therefore, to both 
of the two sections of the Buddhist Church ; and it 
follows that it was probably in use before the great 
schism took place between them, possibly before the 
Council of Yesali itself. In any case it is conclusive 
as to the existence of a collection of Jatakas at a very 
early date. 



The text of the Jataka Book, as now received among 
the Southern Buddhists, consists, as will be seen from the 



1 See the authorities quoted in my manual, ' Buddhism,' pp. 214, 215 ; 
and Dr. Morris, in the Academy for May, 1880. 



JATAKA BOOK AND BUDDHAGHOSA. 

translation, not only of the stories, but of an elaborate 
commentary, containing a detailed Explanation of the 
verse or verses which occur in each of the stories ; an 
Introduction to each of them, giving the occasion on 
which it is said to have been told ; a Conclusion, explain- 
ing the connexion between the personages in the Intro- 
ductory Story and the characters in the Birth Story ; 
and finally, a long general Introduction to the whole 
work. It is, in fact, an edition by a later hand of the 
earlier stories ; and though I have called it concisely 
the Jataka Book, its full title is 'The Commentary on 
the Jatakas.' 

"We do not know either the name of the author of 
this work, or the date when it was composed. The 
meagre account given at the commencement of the work 
itself (below, pp. 1, 2) contains all our present informa- 
tion on these points. Mr. Childers, who is the translator 
of this passage, has elsewhere ascribed the work to 
Buddhaghosa ; l but I venture to think that this is, 
to say the least, very uncertain. 

"We have, in the thirty- seventh chapter of the Maha- 
varjsa, 2 a perhaps almost contemporaneous account of 
Buddhaghosa's literary work; and it is there distinctly 
stated, that after writing in India the AtthasalinI (a com- 
mentary on the Dhammasarjginl, the first of the Six 

1 In his Dictionary, Preface, p. is, note. 2 Tumour, pp. 250-253. 



Ixiv WHO COMPILED THE JATAKA BOOK. 

Books of the Abhidhamma Pitaka), lie went to Ceylon 
(about 430 A.D.) with the express intention of translating 
the Sinhalese commentaries into Pali. There he studied 
under the Thera Sarjghapali, and having proved his 
efficiency by his great work ' The Path of Purity ' 
(Yisuddhi-Magga, a compendium of all Buddhism), he 
was allowed by the monks in Ceylon to carry out his 
wish, and translate the commentaries. The Chronicle 
then goes on to say that he did render ' the whole 
Sinhalese Commentary' into Pali. But it by no means 
follows, as has been too generally supposed, that he 
was the author of all the Pali Commentaries we now 
possess. He translated, it may be granted, the Commen- 
taries on the Yinaya Pitaka and on the four great divisions 
(Nikayas) of the Sutta Pitaka ; but these works, together 
with those mentioned above, would amply justify the 
very general expression of the chronicler. The ' Sinha- 
lese Commentary ' being now lost, it is impossible to 
say what books were and what were not included under 
that expression as used in the Mahavansa ; and to assign 
any Pali commentary, other than those just mentioned, 
to Buddhaghosa, some further evidence more clear than 
the ambiguous words of the Ceylon Chronicle should 
be required. 

What little evidence we have as regards the particular 
work now in question seems to me to tend very strongly 



PROBABLY NOT BUDDHAGHOSA. Ixv 

in the other direction. Buddha ghosa could scarcely have 
commenced his labours on the Jataka Commentary, 
leaving the works I have mentioned so much more 
important from his point of view undone. Now I 
would ask the reader to imagine himself in Buddhaghosa's 
position, and then to read carefully the opening words 
of our Jataka Commentary as translated below, and to 
judge for himself whether they could possibly be such 
words as Buddhaghosa would probably, under the cir- 
cumstances, have written. It is a matter of feeling ; but 
I confess I cannot think it possible that he was the 
author of them. Three Elders of the Buddhist Order 
are there mentioned with respect, but neither the name 
of Revata, Buddhaghosa's teacher in India, nor the name 
of Saijghapali, his teacher in Ceylon, is even referred 
to ; and there is not the slightest allusion either to 
Buddhaghosa's conversion, his journey from India, the 
high hopes he had entertained, or the work he had 
already accomplished ! This silence seems to me almost 
as convincing as such negative evidence can possibly be. 

If not however by Buddhaghosa, the work must have 
been composed after his time; but probably not long 
after. It is quite clear from the account in the Maha- 
varjsa, that before he came to Ceylon the Sinhalese com- 
mentaries had not been turned into Pali ; and on the 
other hand, the example he had set so well will almost 



Ixvi JATAKA TALES OUTSIDE 

certainly have been quickly followed. "We know one 
instance at least, that of the Mahavarjsa itself, which 
would confirm this supposition ; and had the present 
work been much later than his time, it would not have 
been ascribed to Buddhaghosa at all. 

It is worthy of notice, perhaps, in this connexion, 
that the Pali work is not a translation of the Sinhalese 
Commentary. The author three times refers to a previous 
Jataka Commentary, which possibly formed part of the 
Sinhalese work, as a separate book ; l and in one case 
mentions what it says only to overrule it. 2 Our Pali 
work may have been based upon it, but cannot be said to 
be a mere version of it. And the present Commentary 
agrees almost word for word, from p. 58 to p. 124 of 
my translation, with the MADHURA-ATTHA-VILASINI, the 
Commentary on the ' Buddha varjsa ' mentioned above, 
which is not usually ascribed to Buddhaghosa. 3 

The Jataka Book is not the only Pali Commentary 
which has made use of the ancient Birth Stories. They 
occur in numerous passages of the different exegetical 
works composed in Ceylon, and the only commentary 
of which anything is known in print, that on the 



1 Fausbbll, vol. i. p. 62 and p. 488 ; vol. ii. p. 224. 

2 See the translation below, p. 82. 

3 I judge from Tumour's analysis of that work in the Journal of the 
Bengal Asiatic Society, 1839, where some long extracts have been translated, 
and the contents of other passages given in abstract. 



OUR JATAKA BOOK. Ixvii 

Dhamma-padarj or ' Collection of Scripture Verses/ con- 
tains a considerable number of them. Mr. Fausboll 
has published copious extracts from this Commentary, 
which may be by Buddhaghosa, as an appendix to his 
edition of the text ; and the work by Captain Rogers, 
entitled ' Buddhaghosa's Parables' a translation from 
a Burmese book called ' Dhammapada-vatthu ' (that is 
' Stories connected with the Dhamma-padarj ') consists 
almost entirely of Jataka tales. 

In Siam there is even a rival collection of Birth 
Stories, which is called PANNASA- JATAKAI) (' The Fifty 
Jatakas'), and of which an account has been given us 
by M. Leon Feer ; 1 and the same scholar has pointed 
out that isolated stories, not contained in our collection, 
are also to be found in the Pali literature of that 
country. 2 The first hundred and fifty tales in our col- 
lection are divided into three Panndsas, or fifties; 3 
but the Siamese collection cannot be either of these, as 
M. Feer has ascertained that it contains no tales begin- 
ning in the same way as any of those in either of these 
three 'Fifties/ 



1 ' Etude sur les Jatakas,' pp. 62-65. 2 Ibid. pp. 66-71. 

3 This is clear from vol. i. p. 410 of Mr. Fausbb'll's text, where, at the 
end of the 100th tale, we find the words Majjhima-pannasako nitthito, that 
is, ' End of the Middle Fifty.' At the end of the 50th Vale (p. 261) there is 
a corresponding entry, Pathamo pannnso, ' First Fifty ' ; and though there 
is no such entry at the end of the 150th tale, the expression ' Middle Fifty' 
shows that there must have been, at one time, such a division as is above 
stated. 



Ixviii PROFESSOR BENFEY ON 

In India itself the Birth Stories survived the fall, 
as some of them had probably preceded the rise, of 
Buddhism. Not a few of them were preserved by being 
included in the Maha Bharata, the great Hindu epic 
which became the storehouse of Indian mythology, phi- 
losophy, and folk-lore. 1 Unfortunately, the date of the 
final arrangement of the Maha Bharata is extremely 
uncertain, and there is no further evidence of the con- 
tinued existence of the Jataka tales till we come to the 
time of the work already frequently referred to the 
Pancha Tantra. 

It is to the history of this book that Professor Benfey 
has devoted that elaborate and learned Introduction 
which is the most important contribution to the study 
of this class of literature as yet published ; and I cannot 
do better than give in his own words his final con- 
clusions as to the origin of this popular story-book : 2 

" Although we are unable at present to give any 
certain information either as to the author or as to the 
date of the work, we receive, as it seems to me, no 
unimportant compensation in the fact, that it turned 
out, 3 with a certainty beyond doubt, to have been ori- 
ginally a Buddhist book. This followed especially from 
the chapter discussed in 225. But it was already 
indicated by the considerable number of the fables and 

1 See, for instance, above, p. xxvii ; and below, p. 185. 

2 ' Pantscha Tantra,' von Theodor Benfey, Leipzig, 1859, p. xi. 

3 That is, in the course of Prof. Benfey's researches. 



THE PANCHA TANTRA. Ixix 

tales contained in the work, which could also be traced 
in Buddhist writings. Their number, and also the 
relation between the form in which they are told in our 
work, and that in which they appear in the Buddhist 
writings, incline us nay, drive us to the conclusion 
that the latter were the source from which our work, 

within the circle of Buddhist literature, proceeded 

"The proof that our work is of Buddhist origin is 
of importance in two ways : firstly on which we will 
not here further insist for the history of the work 
itself ; and secondly, for the determination of what 
Buddhism is. We can find in it one more proof of that 
literary activity of Buddhism, to which, in my articles 
on ' India,' which appeared in 1840, 1 I had already felt 
myself compelled to assign the most important place 
in the enlightenment and general intellectual develop- 
ment of India. This view has since received, from year 
to year, fresh confirmations, which I hope to bring 
together in another place ; and whereby I hope to prove 
that the very bloom of the intellectual life of India 
(whether it found expression in Brahmanical or Buddhist 
works) proceeded substantially from Buddhism, and is 
contemporaneous with the epoch in which Buddhism 
flourished ; that is to say, from the third century before 
Christ to the sixth or seventh century after Christ. 
"With that principle, said to have been proclaimed by 
Buddhism in its earliest years, 'that only that teaching 
of the Buddha's is true which contraveneth not sound 
reason,' 2 the autonomy of man's Intellect was, we may 
fairly say, effectively acknowledged; the whole relation 
between the realms of the knowable and of the unknow- 
able was subjected to its control; and notwithstanding 
that the actual reasoning powers, to which the ultimate 
appeal was thus given, were in fact then not altogether 

1 In ' Ersch und Griiber's Encyklopaedie,' especially at pp. 255 and 277. 
a Wassiliew, ' Dei Buddhismus,' etc., p. 68. 



Ixx THE PANCHA TANTRA IS BUDDHIST. 

sound, yet the way was pointed out by which Reason 
could, under more favourable circumstances, begin to 
liberate itself from its failings. We are already learning 
to value, in the philosophical endeavours of Buddhism, 
the labours, sometimes indeed quaint, but aiming at 
thoroughness and worthy of the highest respect, of its 
severe earnestness in inquiry. And that, side by side 
with this, the merry jests of light, and even frivolous 
poetry and conversation, preserved the cheerfulness of 
life, is clear from the prevailing tone of our work, and 
still more so from the probable Buddhist origin of those 
other Indian story-books which have hitherto become 
known to us." 

Professor Benfey then proceeds to show that the 
Pancha Tantra consisted originally, not of five, but 
of certainly eleven, perhaps of twelve, and just possibly 
of thirteen books ; and that its original design was to 
teach princes right government and conduct. 1 The whole 
collection had then a different title descriptive of this 
design ; and it was only after a part became detached 
from the rest that that part was called, for distinction's 
sake, the Pancha Tantra, or Five Books. "When this 
occurred it is impossible to say. But it was certainly 
the older and larger collection, not the present Pancha 
Tantra, which travelled into Persia, and became the 
source of the whole of the extensive ' Kalilag and 
Damnag' literature. 2 

1 Compare the title of the Birth Story ahove, p. xiii, ' A Lesson for Kings.' 

2 See above, p. xxix. 



THE WORK OF BIDPAI. Ixxi 

The Arabian authors of the work translated (through 
the ancient Persian) from this older collection assign it to 
a certain Bidpai ; who is said to have composed it in order 
to instruct Dabschelim, the successor of Alexander in his 
Indian possessions, in worldly wisdom. 1 There may well 
be some truth in this tradition. And when we consider 
that the ' Barlaam and Josaphat ' literature took its 
origin at the same time, and in the same place, as the 
' Kalilag and Damnag ' literature ; that both of them 
are based upon Buddhist originals taken to Bagdad in 
the sixth century of our era; and that it is precisely 
such a book as the Book of Birth Stories from which 
they could have derived all that they borrowed; it is 
difficult to avoid connecting these facts together by the 
supposition that the work ascribed to Bidpai may, in fact, 
have been a selection of those Jataka stories bearing 
more especially on the conduct of life, and preceded, 
like our own collection, by a sketch of the life of the 
Buddha in his last birth. Such a supposition would 
afford a reasonable explanation of some curious facts 
which have been quite inexplicable on the existing 
theory. If the Arabic ' Kalilah and Dimnah ' was an 
exact translation, in our modern sense of the word trans- 
lation, of an exact translation of a Buddhist work, how 

1 Knatchbull, p. 29. 



Ixxii OTHER AND LATER 

comes it that the various copies of the 'Kalilah and 
Dimnah' differ so greatly, not only among themselves, 
but from the lately discovered Syriac ' Kalilag and 
Damnag,' which was also, according to the current 
hypothesis, a translation of the same original? how 
comes it that in these translations from a Buddhist 
book there are no references to the Buddha, and no 
expressions on the face of them Buddhistic ? If, on 
the other hand, the later writers had merely derived 
their subject-matter from a Buddhist work or works, 
and had composed what were in effect fresh works on 
the basis of such an original as has been suggested, we 
can understand how the different writers might have 
used different portions of the material before them, and 
might have discarded any expressions too directly in 
contradiction with their own religious beliefs. 

The first three of those five chapters of the work as- 
cribed to Bidpai which make up the Pancha Tantra, are 
also found in a form slightly different, but, on the whole, 
essentially the same, in two other Indian Story-books, 
the KATHA-SARIT-SAGARA (Ocean of the Rivers of 
Stories), composed in Sanskrit by a Northern Buddhist 
named Somadeva in the twelfth century, and in the 
well-known HITOPADESA, which is a much later work. 
If Somadeva had had the Pancha Tantra in its present 
form before him, he would probably have included the 



INDIAN STORY BOOKS. l xx iii 

whole five books in his encyclopaedic collection ; and the 
absence from the Katha-Sarit-Sagara of the last two 
books would tend to show that when he wrote his great 
work the Pancha Tantra had not been composed, or at 
least had not reached the North of India. 

Somadeva derived his knowledge of the three books 
he does give from the VRIHAT-KATHA, a work ascribed 
to Gunadhya, written in the PaisachI dialect, and pro- 
bably at least as early as the sixth century. 1 This work, 
on which Somadeva's whole poem is based, is lost. But 
Dr. Biihler has lately discovered another Sanskrit poem, 
based on that earlier work, written in Kashmir by 
Kshemendra at the end of the eleventh century, and 
called, like its original, Yrihat-Katha ; and as Somadeva 
wrote quite independently of this earlier poem, we may 
hope that a comparison of the two Sanskrit works will 
afford reliable evidence of the contents of the Old 
Yrihat-Katha. 2 

I should also mention here that another well-known 
work, the YETALA-PANCA-YINSATI (the Twenty-five 
Tales of a Demon), is contained in both the Sanskrit 
poems, and was therefore probably also in Gunadhya's 
collection ; but as no Jataka stories have been as yet 
traced in it, I have simply included it for purposes of 



1 Dr. Fitz-Edward HalVs Vasavadatta, pp. 22-24. 

2 Dr. Buhler in the Indian Antiquary, i. 302, v. 29, vi. 269. 



Ixxiv THE INTRODUCTORY STORIES. 

reference in Table I., together with the most important 
of those of the later Indian story-books of which any- 
thing certain is at present known. 



There remains only to add a few words on the mode 
in which the stories, whose history in Europe and in 
India I have above attempted to trace, are presented 
to us in the Jataka Book. 

Each story is introduced by another explaining where 
and why it was told by the Buddha; the Birth Story 
itself being called the Atlta-vatthu or Story of the Past, 
and the Introductory Story the Paccuppanna-vatthu or 
Story of the Present. There is another book in the 
Pali Pitakas called APADANAI), which consists of tales 
about the lives of the early Buddhists ; and many of 
the Introductory Stories in the Jataka Book (such, for 
instance, as the tale about Little Roadling, No. 4, or 
the tale about Kumara Kassapa, No. 12) differ very little 
from these Apadanas. Other of the Introductory Stories 
(such, for instance, as No. 17 below) seem to be mere 
repetitions of the principal idea of the story they intro- 
duce, and are probably derived from it. That the 
Introductory Stories are entirely devoid of credit is 
clear from the fact that different Birth Stories are in- 
troduced as having been told at the same time and place, 



TRANSMIGRATION OF CHARACTER. Ixxv 

and in answer to the same question. Thus no less than 
ten stories are each said to have been told to a certain 
love- sick monk as a warning to him against his folly ; 1 
the closely-allied story given below as the Introduction 
to Birth Story No. 30 appears also as the Introduction 
to at least four others; 2 and there are many other in- 
stances of a similar kind. 3 

After the two stories have been told, there comes a 
Conclusion, in which the Buddha identifies the person- 
ages in the Birth Story with those in the Introductory 
Story ; but it should be noticed that in one or two cases 
characters mentioned in the Atlta-vatthu are supposed 
not to have been reborn on earth at the time of the 
Paccuppanna-vatthu. 4 And the reader must of course 
avoid the mistake of importing Christian ideas into this 
Conclusion by supposing that the identity of the persons 
in the two stories is owing to the passage of a 'soul' 
from the one to the other. Buddhism does not teach 
the Transmigration of Souls. Its doctrine (which is 
somewhat intricate, and for a fuller statement of which 
I must refer to my Manual of Buddhism 5 ) would be 
better summarized as the Transmigration of Character; 

1 Nos. 61, 62, 63, 147, 159, 193, 196, 198, 199, 263. 

2 Nos. 106, 145, 191, 286. 

3 Nos. 58, 73, 142, 194, 220, and 277, have the same Introductory Story. 
And so Nos. 60, 104, 116, 161. 

And Nos. 127, 128, 138, 173, 175. 

4 See the Pali note at the end of Jiltaka No. 91. 
8 pp. 99-106. 



Ixxvi THE ABHISAMBUDDHA-GATHA, 

for it is entirely independent of the early and widely- 
prevalent notion of the existence within each human 
body of a distinct soul, or ghost, or spirit. The Bodisat, 
for instance, is not supposed to have a Soul, which, 
on the death of one body, is transferred to another ; 
but to be the inheritor of the Character acquired by the 
previous Bodisats. The insight and goodness, the moral 
and intellectual perfection which constitute Buddhahood, 
could not, according to the Buddhist theory, be acquired 
in one lifetime : they were the accumulated result of 
the continual effort of many generations of successive 
Bodisats. The only thing which continues to exist 
when a man dies is his Karma, the result of his words 
and thoughts and deeds (literally his ' doing ') ; and 
the curious theory that this result is concentrated in 
some new individual is due to the older theory of 
soul. 

In the case of one Jataka (Fausboll, No. 276), the 
Conclusion is wholly in verse ; and in several cases the 
Conclusion contains a verse or verses added by way 
of moral. Such verses, when they occur, are called 
Abhisambuddha-gatha, or Yerses spoken by the Buddha, 
not when he was still only a Bodisat, but when he 
had become a Buddha. They are so called to distinguish 
them from the similar verses inserted in the Birth Story, 
and spoken there by the Bodisat. Each story has its 



OR VERSES SPOKEN BY THE BUDDHA. l xxv ii 

verse or verses, either in the Atlta-vatthu or in the 
Conclusion, and sometimes in both. The number of 
cases in which all the verses are Abhisambuddha-gatlia is 
relatively small (being only one in ten of the Jatakas 
published 1 ) ; and the number of cases in which they 
occur together with verses in the Atlta-vatthu is very 
small indeed (being only five out of the three hundred 
Jatakas published 2 ) ; in the remaining two hundred and 
sixty-five the verse or verses occur in the course of the 
Birth Story, and are most generally spoken by the 
Bodisat himself. 

There are several reasons for supposing that these 
verses are older than the prose which now forms their 
setting. The Ceylon tradition goes so far as to say that 
the original Jataka Book, now no longer extant, con- 
sisted of the verses alone ; that the Birth Stories are 
Commentary upon them ; and the Introductory Stories, 
the Conclusions and the ' Pada-gata-sannaya,' or word- 
for-word explanation of the verses, are Commentary 
on this Commentary. 3 And archaic forms and forced 



1 Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 28, 29, 37, 55, 56, 68, 85, 87, 88, 97, 100, 114, 136 
(total, eighteen in the Eka-Nipata) ; 156 ( = 55, 56), 196, 202, 237 ( = 68), 
241 (total, five in the Duka-Nipata) ; 255, 256, 258, 264, 284, 291, 300 
(total, seven in the Tika-Niputa, and thirty altogether). 

2 Nos. 152, 168, 179, 233, 286. 

3 This belief underlies the curious note forming the last words of the Maha- 
supina Jataka, i. 345 : " Those who held the Council after the death of the 
Blessed One placed the lines beginning usabha rukkha in the Commentary, 
and then, making the other lines beginning labuni into one verse, they put 
(the Jataka) into the Eka-Nipata (the chapter including all those Jatakas 
which have only one verse)." 



Ixxviii STORIES OLDER THAN THE VERSES. 

constructions in the verses (in striking contrast with 
the regularity and simplicity of the prose parts of the 
book), and the corrupt state in which some of the verses 
. are found, seem to point to the conclusion that the verses 
are older. 

But I venture to think that, though the present form 
of the verses may be older than the present form of the 
Birth Stories, the latter, or most of the latter, were in 
existence first ; that the verses, at least in many cases, 
were added to the stories after they had become current; 
and that the Birth Stories without verses in them at all 
those enumerated in the list in note 1 on the last 
page, where the verses are found only in the Conclusion 
are, in fact, among the oldest, if not the oldest, in the 
whole collection. For any one who takes the trouble to 
go through that list seriatim will find that it contains a 
considerable number of those stories which, from their 
being found also in the Pali Pitakas or in the oldest 
European collections, can already be proved to belong 
to a very early date. The only hypothesis which will 
reconcile these facts seems to me to be that the Birth 
Stories, though probably originally older than the verses 
they contain, were handed down in Ceylon till the time 
of the compilation of our present Jataka Book, in the 
Sinhalese language ; whilst the verses on the other hand 
were not translated, but were preserved as they were 
received, in Pali. 



ARRANGEMENT OF THE JATAKA BOOK. bcxix 

There is another group of stories which seems to be 
older than most of the others ; those, namely, in which 
the Bodisat appears as a sort of chorus, a moralizer only, 
and not an actor in the play, whose part may have been 
an addition made when the story in which it occurs was 
adopted by the Buddhists. Such is the fable above 
translated of the Ass in the Lion's Skin, and most of 
the stories where the Bodisat is a rukkha-demtd the 
fairy or genius of a tree. 1 But the materials are insuffi- 
cient at present to put this forward as otherwise than 
a mere conjecture. 

The arrangement of the stories in our present collec- 
tion is a most unpractical one. They are classified, not 
according to their contents, but according to the number 
of verses they contain. Thus, the First division (Nipata) 
includes those one hundred and fifty of the stories which 
have only one verse ; the Second, one hundred stories, 
each having two verses ; the Third and Fourth, each of 
them fifty stories, containing respectively three and four 
verses each; and so on, the number of stories in each 
division decreasing rapidly after the number of verses 
exceeds four ; and the whole of the five hundred and 
fifty Jatakas being contained in twenty-two Nipatas. 
Even this division, depending on so unimportant a factor 

1 See, for instance, below, pp. 212, 228, 230, 317; above, p. xii; and 
Jutaka, No. 113. 



Ixxx REPETITION OF STORIES. 

as the number of the verses, is not logically carried out ; 
and the round numbers of the stories in the first four 
divisions are made up by including in them stories which, 
according to the principle adopted, should not properly 
be placed within them. Thus several Jatakas are only 
mentioned in the first two Nipatas to say that they 
will be found in the later ones; 1 and several Jatakas 
given with one verse only in the First Nipata, are given 
again with more verses in those that follow ; 2 and occa- 
sionally a story is even repeated, with but little variation, 
in the same Nipata. 3 

On the other hand, several Jatakas, which count only 
as one story in the present enumeration, really contain 
several different tales or fables. Thus, for instance, 
the Kulavaka Jataka (On Mercy to Animals) 4 consists 
of seven stories woven, not very closely, into one. The 
most striking instance of this is perhaps the TJmmagga 
Jataka, not yet published in the Pali, but of which the 
Sinhalese translation by the learned Batuwan Tudawa 

i Nos. 110, 111, 112, 170, 192 in the Ummagga Jataka, and No. 264 in 
the Suruci Jataka. 

8 No. 30=No. 286. No. 68= No. 237. 

34= 216. 86= 290. 

46= 268. 102= 217. 

57= 224. 145= 198. 

3 So No. 82 = No. 104. 
99= 101. 
,, 134= 135. 
195= 225. 
,, 294= ,, 295. 

Compare the two stories Nos. 23 and 24 translated below. 
* Translated below, pp. 278-290. 



REAL NUMBER OF THE STORIES. Ixxxi 

occupies two hundred and fifty pages octavo, and consists 
of a very large number (I have not counted them, and 
there is no index, but I should think they amount to 
more than one hundred and fifty) of most entertaining 
anecdotes. Although therefore the Birth Stories are 
spoken of as ' The five hundred and fifty Jatakas,' this 
is merely a round number reached by an entirely arti- 
ficial arrangement, and gives no clue to the actual number 
of stories. It is probable that our present collection 
contains altogether (including the Introductory Stories 
where they are not mere repetitions) between two and 
three thousand independent tales, fables, anecdotes, and 
riddles. 

Nor is the number 550 any more exact (though the 
discrepancy in this case is not so great) if it be supposed 
to record, not the number of stories, but the number of 
distinct births of the Bodisat. In the Kulavaka Jiitaka, 
just referred to (the tale On Mercy to Animals), there 
are two consecutive births of the future Buddha ; and on 
the other hand, none of the six Jatakas mentioned in 
note 1, p. Ixxx, represents a distinct birth at all the 
Bodisat is in them the same person as he is in the later 
Jatakas in which those six are contained. 



From, the facts as they stand it seems at present to 



Ixxxii SUMMARY OF THE 

be the most probable explanation of the rise of our 
Jataka Book to suppose that it was due to the religious 
faith of the Indian Buddhists of the third or fourth 
century B.C., who not only repeated a number of fables, 
parables, and stories ascribed to the Buddha, but gave 
them a peculiar sacredness and a special religious signi- 
ficance by identifying the best character in each with 
the Buddha himself in some previous birth. From the 
time when this step was taken, what had been merely 
parables or fables became ' Jatakas,' a word invented to 
distinguish, and used only of, those stories which have 
been thus sanctified. The earliest use of that word at 
present known is in the inscriptions on the Buddhist 
Tope at Bharhut ; and from the way in which it is 
there used it is clear that the word must have then been 
already in use for some considerable time. But when 
stories thus made sacred were popularly accepted among 
people so accustomed to literary activity as the early 
Buddhists, the natural consequence would be that the 
Jatakas should have been brought together into a col- 
lection of some kind ; and the probability of this having 
been done at a very early date is confirmed, firstly, by 
the tradition of the difference of opinion concerning a 
Jataka Book at the Councils of Yesali ; and secondly 
by the mention % of a Jataka Book in the ninefold divi- 
sion of the Scriptures found in the Arjguttara Nikaya 



HISTORY OF THE JATAKA BOOK. Ixxxiii 

and in the Saddharma Pundarlka. To the compiler of 
this, or of some early collection, are probably to be as- 
cribed the Yerses, which in some cases at least are later 
than the Stories. 

With regard to some of the Jatakas, among which 
may certainly be included those found in the Pilli Pitakas, 
there may well have been a tradition, more or less re- 
liable, as to the time and the occasion at which they were 
supposed to have been uttered by the Buddha. These 
traditions will have given rise to the earliest Introductory 
Stories, in imitation o,f which the rest were afterwards 
invented ; and these will then have been handed down 
as commentary on the Birth Stories, till they were finally 
made part of our present collection by its compiler 
in Ceylon. That (either through their later origin, 
or their having been much more modified in transmis- 
sion) they represent a more modern point of view than 
the Birth Stories themselves, will be patent to every 
reader. There is a freshness and simplicity about the 
' Stories of the Past ' that is sadly wanting in the ' Stories 
of the Present ' ; so much so, that the latter (and this 
is also true of the whole long Introduction containing 
the life of the Buddha) may be compared more accurately 
with mediaeval Legends of the Saints than with such 
simple stories as ^Esop's Fables, which still bear a like- 
ness to their forefathers, the 'Stories of the Past.' 



Ixxxiv HISTORY OF THE JATAKA BOOK. 

The Jatakas so constituted were carried to Ceylon in 
the Pali language, when Buddhism was first introduced 
into that island (a date that is not quite certain, but 
may be taken provisionally as about 200 B.C.) ; and the 
whole was there translated into and preserved in the 
Sinhalese language (except the verses, which were left 
untranslated) until the compilation in the fifth century 
A.D., and by an unknown author, of the Pali Jataka 
Book, the translation of which into English is commenced 
in this volume. 

When we consider the number of elaborate similes 
by which the arguments in the Pali Suttas are 
enforced, there can be no reasonable doubt that the 
Buddha was really accustomed to teach much by the 
aid of parables, and it is not improbable that the 
compiler was quite correct in attributing to him that 
subtle sense of good-natured humour which led to his 
inventing, as occasion arose, some fable or some tale 
of a previous birth, to explain away existing failures in 
conduct among the monks, or to draw a moral from 
contemporaneous events. It is even already possible 
to point to some of the Jatakas as being probably the 
oldest in the collection; but it must be left to future 
research to carry out in ampler detail the investigation 
into the comparative date of each of the stories, both 
those which are called 'Stories of the Past' and those 
which are called ' Stories of the Present.' 



SPECIAL TEACHING OF THE JATAKAS. Ixxxv 

Besides the points which the teaching of the Jatakas 
has in common with that of European moralists and 
satirists, it inculcates two lessons peculiar to itself 
firstly, the powerful influence of inherited character ; 
and secondly, the essential likeness between man and 
other animals. The former of these two ideas underlies 
both the central Buddhist doctrine of Karma and the 
theory of the Buddhas, views certainly common among 
all the early Buddhists, and therefore probably held by 
Gotama himself. And the latter of the two underlies 
and explains the sympathy with animals so conspicuous 
in these tales, and the frequency with which they lay 
stress upon the duty of kindness, and even of courtesy, 
to the brute creation. It is curious to find in these 
records of a strange and ancient faith such blind feeling 
after, such vague foreshadowing of beliefs only now 
beginning to be put forward here in the West ; but it 
is scarcely necessary to point out that the paramount 
value to us now of the Jataka stories is historical. 

In this respect their value does not consist only in 
the evidence they afford of the intercommunion between 
East and West, but also, and perhaps chiefly, in the 
assistance which they will render to the study of folk- 
lore ; that is, of the beliefs and habits of men in the 
earlier stages of their development. The researches of 
Tylor and Waitz and Peschel and Lubbock and Spencer 



Ixxxvi VALUE OF THE JATAKAS FOR 

have shown us that it is by this means that it is most 
easily possible rightly to understand and estimate many 
of the habits and beliefs still current among ourselves. 
But the chief obstacle to a consensus of opinion in such 
studies is the insufficiency and inaccuracy of the autho- 
rities on which the facts depend. While the ancient 
literature of peoples more advanced usually ignores or 
passes lightly over the very details most important from 
this point of view, the accounts of modern travellers 
among the so-called savage tribes are often at best very 
secondary evidence. It constantly happens that such 
a traveller can only tell us the impression conveyed to 
his mind of that which his informant holds to be the 
belief or custom of the tribe. Such native information 
may be inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading ; and it 
reaches us only after nitration through a European 
mind more or less able to comprehend it rightly. 

But in the Jatakas we have a nearly complete picture, 
and quite uncorrupted and unadulterated by European 
intercourse, of the social life and customs and popular 
beliefs of the common people of Aryan tribes closely 
related to ourselves, just as they were passing through 
the first stages of civilization. 

The popularity of the Jatakas as amusing stories may 
pass away. How can it stand against the rival claims 
of the fairy tales of science, and the entrancing, many- 



THE HISTORY OF EARLY TIMES. Ixxxvii 

sided story of man's gradual rise and progress ? But 
though these less fabulous and more attractive stories 
shall increasingly engage the attention of ourselves and 
of our children, we may still turn with appreciation 
to the ancient Book of the Buddhist Jataka Tales as 
a priceless record of the childhood of our race. 



I avail myself of this opportunity of acknowledging 
my indebtedness to several friends whose assistance has 
been too continuous to be specified on any particular 
page. Professor Childers, whose premature death was 
so great a blow to Pali studies, and whose name I 
never think of without a feeling of reverent and grateful 
regret, had undertaken the translation of the Jatakas, 
and the first thirty-three pages are from his pen. They 
are the last memento of his earnest work: they stand 
exactly as he left them. Professor Estlin Carpenter, 
who takes a deep interest in this and cognate subjects, 
has been kind enough to read through all the proofs, 
and I owe to his varied scholarship many useful hints. 
And my especial thanks, and the thanks of any readers 
this work may meet with, are above all due to Professor 
Fausboll, without whose editio princeps of the Piili text, 
the result of self-denying labours spread over many years, 
this translation would not have been undertaken. 

T. W. KEYS DAVIDS. 



TABLES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE HISTORY 
AND MIGRATIONS OF THE BUDDHIST 
BIRTH STORIES. 



TABLE I. 
INDIAN WORKS. 

1. The JATAKA ATTHAVANNANA. A collection, probably first made in 
the third or fourth century B. c. , of stories previously existing, and ascribed 
to the Buddha, and put into its present form in Ceylon, in the fifth century 
A.D. The Pali text is being edited by Professor Fausboll, of Copenhagen ; 
vol. i. 1877, vol. ii. 1878, vol. iii. in the press. English translation in the 
present work. 

la. Sinhalese translation of No. 1, called PAN SIYA PANAS JATAKA POTA. 
"Written in Ceylon in or about 1320 A.D. 

\b. GUTTILA KAWYAYA. A poetical version in Elu, or old Sinhalese, of 
one of the stories in la, by Badawcettcewa Unnanse, about 1415. Edited in 
Colombo, 1870, with introduction and commentary, by Batuwan Tudawa. 

Ic. KUSA JATAKAYA. A poetical version in Elu, or old Sinhalese, of one 
of the stories in la, by Alagiawanna Mohottule, 1610. Edited in Colombo, 
with commentary, 1868. 

Id. An Eastern Love Story. Translation in verse of Ic, by Thomas Steele, 
C.C.S., London, 1871. 

le. ASADISA JATAKAYA. An Elu poem, by Rajadhiraja Sinha, king of 
Ceylon in 1780. 

2. The CARIYA PITAKA. A book of the Buddhist Scriptures of the fourth 
century B.C., containing thirty-five of the oldest above stories. See Table IV. 

3. The JATAKA MALA. A Sanskrit work of unknown date, also contain- 
ing thirty-five of the oldest stories in No. 1. See Table IV. 

4. The PANNASA-JATAKAIJ, or ' 50 Jatakas.' A Pali work written in 
Siam, of unknown date and contents, but apparently distinct from No. 1. 
See above, p. Ixvii. 



XC INDIAN WORKS. 

5. PANCHA TANTRA. ? Mediaeval. See above, pp. Ixviii-lxxii. 

Text edited by Kosegarten, Bonn, 1848. 

Kielhorn and Biihler, Bombay, 1868. 

6. Translations: German, by Benfey, Leipzig, 1859. 

7. French ,, Dubois, Paris, 1826. 

8. ,, Lancerau, Paris, 1871. 

9. Greek ,, Galanos and Typaldos, Athens, 1851. 

10. HITOPADESA. Mediaeval. Compiled principally from No. 2, with 
additions from another unknown work. 

Text edited by Carey and Colebrooke, Serampur, 1804. 
Hamilton, London, 1810. 
Bernstein, Breslau, 1823. 
Schkgel and Lassen, Bonn, 1829-1831. 
Nyalankar, Calcutta, 1830 and 1844. 
Johnson, Hertford, 1847 and 1864, with English 

version. 

Yates, Calcutta, 1841. 

E. Arnold, Bombay, 1859 ,, 

Max Hiiller, London, 1864-1868 

11. Translations: English, by Wilkins, Bath, 1787; reprinted by 

Nyalankar in his edition of the text. 

12. Sir W. Jones, Calcutta, 1816. 
12. ,, ,, H. Arnold, London, 1861. 

13. German Max Miiller, Leipzig, 1844. 
130. ,, ,, Dursch, Tubingen, 1853. 

14. ,, ,, L. Fritze, Breslau, 1874. 

15. French ,, LangUs, Paris, 1790. 

16. ,, ,, Lancerau, Paris, 1855. 

17. Greek ,, Galanos and Typaldos, Athens, 1851. 

18. VETALA PANCA VinsATi. Twenty-five stories told by a Vetala, or 
demon. Sanskrit text in No. 32, vol. ii. pp. 288-293. 

18a. Greek version of No. 18 added to No. 17. 

19. VETHALA KATHEI. Tamil version of No. 18. Edited by Robertson in 
'A Compilation of Papers in the Tamil Language,' Madras, 1839. 

20. No. 19, translated into English by Babington, in ' Miscellaneous 
Translations from Oriental Languages,' London, 1831. 

21. No. 18, translated into Brajbakha, by Surat, 1740. 

22. BYTAL PACHISI. Translated from No. 21 into English by Raja Kali 
Krishna Bahadur, Calcutta, 1834. See No. 41a. 

22. BAITAL PACHISI. Hindustani version of No. 21, Calcutta, 1805. 
Edited by Barker, Hertford, 1855. 



INDIAN WORKS. xci 

225. English versions of 220, by J. T. Plaits, Hollings, and Barker. 

220. VIKRAM AND THE VAMPIRE, or Tales of Hindu Devilry. Adopted 
from 226 by Richard F. Burton, London, 1870. 

22rf. German version of 22a, by H. Oesterley, in the ' Bibliothek Orien- 
talischer Marchen und Erzahlungen,' 1873, with valuable introduction and 
notes. 

23. SSIDDI KUR. Mongolian version of No. 18. 

24. German versions of No. 23, by Benjamin Bergmann in Nomadische 
Streifereien im Lande der Kalmileken, i. 247 and foil., 1804 ; and by Juelg, 
1866 and 1868. 

25. German version of No. 18, by Dr. Luber, Gorz, 1875. 

26. SUKA SAPTATI. The seventy stories of a parrot. 

27. Greek version of No. 26, by Demetrios Galanos and G. K. Typaldos, 
Psittakou Mythologiai Nukterinai, included in their version of Nos. 10 and 18. 

28. Persian version of No. 26, now lost; but reproduced by Nachshebi 
under the title Tuti Nameh. 

280. TOTA KAHANI. Hindustani version of 26. Edited by Forbes. 
28*. English version of 280, by the Rev. G. Small. 

29. SINHASANA DVATRINSATI. The thirty-two stories of the throne of 
Yikramaditya ; called also Vikrama Caritra. Edited in Madras, 1861. 

290. SINGHASAN BATTisi. Hindi version of 29. Edited by Syed Abdoolah. 

30. VATRIS SINGHASAN. Bengali version of No. 29, Serampur, 1818. 

31. ARJI BORJI CHAN. Mongolian version of No. 29. 

32. VRIHAT-K.ATHA. By Gunadhya, probably about the sixth century ; 
in the PaisacI Prakrit. See above, p. Ixxiii. 

33. KATHA SARIT SAGARA. The Ocean of the Rivers of Tales. It is 
founded on No. 32. Includes No. 18, and a part of No. 5. The Sanskrit 
text edited by Brockhaus, Leipzig, vol. i. with German translation, 1839 ; 
vol. ii. text only, 1862 and 1866. Original by Sri Somadeva Bhatta, of Kashmir, 
at the beginning of the twelfth century A.D. See above, pp. Ixxii, Ixxiii. 

34. VRIHAT-KATHA. A Sanskrit version of No. 34, by Kshemendra, of 
Kashmir. Written independently of Somadeva's work, No. 32. See 
above, p. Ixxiii. 

35. PANCA DANDA CHATTRA PRABANDHA. Stories about King Vikra- 
miiditya's magic umbrella. Jain Sanskrit. Text and German version by 
Weber, Berlin, 1877. 

36. VASAVADATTA. By Subandhu. Possibly as old as the sixth century. 
Edited by Fitz-Edward Hall, in the Bibliotheca Indica, Calcutta, 1859. This 
and the next are romances, not story-books. 

37. KADAMBARI. By Bana Bhalta, ? seventh century. Edited in Cal- 
cutta, 1850 ; and again, 1872, by TarkavacaspatL 



xcii INDIAN WORKS. 

38. Bengali version of No. 37, by Tar a ShanTcar TarJcaratna. Tenth 
edition, Calcutta, 1868. 

39. DASA-KTJMARA-CARITA. By Dandin, ? sixth century. Edited by Carey, 
1804; Wilson, 1846; and by Siihler, 1873. 

39ar. HINDOO TALES, founded on No. 39. By P. W. Jacob, London, 1873. 
395. UNB TETRADS. By Hippolyte Fauehe, Paris, 1861-1863. Contains 
a translation into French of No. 39. 

40. KATHARNAVA, the Stream of Tales. In four Books ; the first being 
No. 18, the second No. 29, the third and fourth miscellaneous. 

41. PURUSHA-PARIKSHA, the Adventures of King Hammlra. Probably of 
the fourteenth century. By Vidyapati. 

41. English translation of No. 41, by Raja Kali Krishna, Serampur, 
1830. See No. 22. 

42. VIRA-CARITAT), the Adventures of King Salivahana. 



XC111 



TABLE II. 
THE KALILAG AND DAMNAG LITERATURE. 

1. A lost Buddhist work in a language of Northern India, ascribed to 
Bidpai. See above, pp. Lxx-lxxii. 

2. Pelvl version, 531-579 A.D. By Barzuye, the Court physician of 
Khosru Nushirvan. See above, p. xxix. 

3. KALILAG UND DAMNAG. Syrian version of No. 2. Published with 
German translation by Gustav Sickell, and Introduction by Professor Benfey, 
Leipzig, 1876. This and No. 15 preserve the best evidence of the contents 
of No. 2, and of its Buddhist original or originals. 

4. KALILAH WA DIMNAH (Fables of Bidpai). Arabic version of No. 3, 
by Abd-allah, son of Almokaffa. Date about 750 A.D. Text of one recen- 
sion edited by Silvestre de Saey, Paris, 1816. Other recensions noticed at 
length in Ignazio Guidi's ' Studii sul testo Arabo del libro di Calila e Dimna ' 
(Rome, 1873). 

5. KALILA AND DIMNA. English version of No. 4, by Knatchbull, 
Oxford, 1819. 

6. DAS BUCH DBS WEISEN. German version of No. 4, by Wolff, 
Stuttgart, 1839. 

7. STEPHANITES KAI ICHVELATES. Greek version of No. 4, by Simeon 
Seth, about 1080 A.D. Edited by Seb. Gottfried Starke, Berlin, 1697 (re- 
printed in Athens, 1851), and by Aurivillius, Upsala, 1786. 

8. Latin version of No. 7, by Father Possin, at the end of his edition of 
Pachymeres, Rome, 1866. 

9. Persian translation of No. 4, by Abdul Maali Nasr Allah, 1118-1153. 
Exists, in MS. only, in Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. 

10. ANVAR i SUHAILI. Persian translation, through the last, of No. 4, 
by Husain ben AH el Vaiz Vl-Kashifi; end of the fifteenth century. 

11. ANVAR i SUHAILI, OR THE LIGHTS OF CANOPUS. English version of 
No. 10, by Edward Eastwick, Hertford, 1854. 

lla. Another English version of No. 10, by Arthur N. Wollaston (London, 
Allen). 

12. LITRE DBS LUMIERES. French version of No. 10, by David Sahid, 
d' Ispahan, Paris, 1644, 8vo. 

13. DEL GOVERNO DE' REGNI. Italian version of No. 7, Ferrara, 1583 ; 
by Giulio Nuti. Edited by Teza, Bologna, 1872. 



xciv K A LILAC AND DAMNAG. 

14. Hebrew version of No. 4, by Joel (?), before 1250. Exists only in a 
single MS. in Paris, of which the first part is missing. 

15. DIRECTORIUM HUMANE VIT.E. Latin version of No. 14, by John of 
Capua. "Written 1263-1278. Printed about 1480, without date or name of 
place. Next to No. 3 it is the best evidence of the contents of the lost books 
Nos. 1 and 2. 

16. German version of No. 15, also about 1480, but without date or name 
of place. 

17. Version in Ulm dialect of No. 16. Dim, 1483. 

18. Baldo's ' ALTER jEsopus.' A translation direct from Arabic into 
Latin (? thirteenth century.) Edited in du Merits ' Poesies inedites du 
moyen age,' Paris, 1854. 

19. CALILA E DYMNA. Spanish version of No. 4 (? through an unknown 
Latin version). About 1251. Published in ' Biblioteca de Autores Es- 
pafioles,' Madrid, 1860, vol. 51. 

20. CALILA ET DIMNA. Latin version of the last, by Raimond de Beziers, 
1313. 

21. CONDE LUCANOR. By Don Juan Manuel (died 1347), grandson of 
St. Ferdinand of Spain. Spanish source not certain. 

22. SINBAD THE SAILOR, or Book of the Seven "Wise Masters. See 
Comparetti, ' Eicerche intorno al Libro di Sindibad,' Milano, 1869. 

23. CONTES ET NOUVELLES. By Bonaventure de Periers, Lyons, 1587. 

24. EXEMPLARIO CONTRA LOS ENGANOS. 1493. Spanish version of the 
Directorium. 

25. DISCORSE DEGLI ANIMAL!. Italian of last, by Ange Firenzuola, 
1548. 

26. LA FILOSOFIA MORALE. By Doni, 1552. Italian of last but one. 

27. North's English version of last, 1570. 

28. FABLES by La Fontaine. 

First edition in vi. books, the subjects of which are mostly taken 
from classical authors and from Planudes's JEsop, Paris, 1668. 

Second edition in xi. books, the five later taken from Nos. 12 and 
23, Paris, 1678. 

Third edition in xii. books, Paris, 1694. 



xcv 



TABLE III. 
THE BAELAAM AND JOSAPHAT SERIES. 

1. St. John of Damascus' s Greek Text. Seventh century A.D. First 
edited by BOISSONADE, in his 'Anecdota Grseca,' Paris, 1832, vol. iv. Ee- 
printed in Migne's ' Patrologia Cursus Completus, Series Graeca,' torn, xcvi, 
pp. 836-1250, with the Latin translation by BILLY* in parallel columns. 
Boissonade's text is reviewed, and its imperfections pointed out, by SCHUBART 
(who makes use of six Vienna MSS.) in the 'Wiener Jahrbiicher,' vol. Ixiii. 

2. Syriac version of No. 1 exists only in MS. 

3. Arabic version of No. 2 exists only in MS., one MS. being at least as 
old as the eleventh century. 

4. Latin version of No. 1, of unknown date and author, of which MSS. 
of the twelfth century are still extant. There is a black-letter edition 
(? Spiers, 1470) in the British Museum. It was adopted, with abbreviations 
in several places, by VINCENTITJS BELLOVICENSIS, in his ' Speculum His- 
toriale' (lib. xv. cap. 1-63); by JACOBUS A VOKAGINE, in his 'Legenda 
Aurea' (ed. Grdsse, 1846) ; and was reprinted in full in the editions of the 
works of St. John of Damascus, published at Basel in the sixteenth century. 3 
From this Latin version all the later medieval works on this subject are 
either directly or indirectly derived. 

4a. An abbreviated version in Latin of the fourteenth century in the 
British Museum. Arundel MS. 330, fol. 51-57. See Koch, No. 9, p. xiv. 
German : 

5. Barlaam und Josaphat. A poem of the thirteenth century, pub- 
lished from a MS. in the Solms-Laubach Library by L. DIEFENBACH, under 
the title ' Mittheilungen iiber eine noch ungedruckte m.h.d. bearbeitung des 
B. and J.' Giessen, 1836. 

6. Another poem, partly published from an imperfect MS. at Zurich, by 
FRANZ PFEIFFER, in Haupt's 'Zeitsch. f. d. Alterthum,' i. 127-135. 

7. Barlaam und Josaphat. By ETIDOLP TON EMS. Written about 1230. 
Latest and best edition by FRANZ PFEIFFER, in ' Dichtungen des deutschen 



i Billy (1535-1577) was Abbot of St. Michael's, in Brittany. Another edition of his 
Latin version, by Rofweyd, is also reprinted in Migne, ' Series Latina,' torn. Ixxiii ; and 
several separate editions have appeared besides (Antwerp, 1602; Cologne, 1624, etc.). 

* The British Museum copy of the first, undated, edition has the date 1539 written, in 
ink, on the title-page. Rosweyd, in Note 4 to his edition of IMllius (Migne, vol. Ixxiii. 
p. 606), mentions an edition bearing the date 1548. In the British Museum there is a 
third, dated 1575 (on the last page). 



xcvi BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT. 

Mittelalters,' vol. iii., Leipzig, 1843. This popular treatment of the subject 
exists in numerous MSS. 

7. Die Hystori Josaphat und Barlaam. Date and author not named. 
Black-letter. "Woodcuts. Title on last page. Fifty-six short chapters. 
Quaint and forcible old German. A small folio in the British Museum. 

8. Historia von dem Leben der zweien H. Beichtiger Barlaam Eremiten, 
und Josaphat des Konig's in Indien Sohn, etc. Translated from the Latin 
by the Counts of HELFFENSTEIN and HOHENZOLLERN, Miinchen, 1684. In 
40 long chapters, pp. 602, 12mo. 

Dutch: 

9. Set Leven en Bedryf van Barlaam den Heremit, en Josaphat Koning 
van Indien. Noo in Nederduits vertaalt door F. v. H., Antwerp, 1593, 12mo. 

A new edition of this version appeared in 1672. This is a long and tedious 
prose version of the holy legend. 
French: 

8. Poem by GUI DE CAMBRAY (1200-1250). Edited by HERMANN ZOTEN- 
BERG and PAUL METER in the ' Bibliothek des Literarischen Vereins,' in 
Stuttgart, vol. Ixxv., 1864. They mention also (pp. 318-325) : 

9. La Vie de Seint Josaphaz. Poem by CHARDRY. Edited by JOHN KOCH, 
Heilbronn, 1879, who confirms the editors of No. 8 as to the following old 
French versions, 10-15 ; and further adduces No. 11. 

10. A third poem by an unknown author. 

11. A prose work by an unknown author all three being of the 13th cent. 
lla. Another in MS. Egerton, 745, British Museum. 

12. A poem in French of the fifteenth century, based on the abstract in 
Latin of No. 4, by JACOB DE YORAGINE. 

13. A Provencal tale in prose, containing only the story of Josafat and 
the tales told by Barlaam, without the moralizations. 

14. A miracle play of about 1400. 

15. Another miracle play of about 1460. 
Italian : 

16. Vita di san Giosafat convertito da Barlaam. By GEO. ANTONIO 
B.EMONDINI. Published about 1600, at Venezia and Bassano, 16mo. There 
is a second edition of this, also without date ; and a third, published in 
Modena in 1768, with illustrations. 

17. Storia de 1 SS. Barlaam e Giosafatte. By BOTTARI, Rome, 1734, 
8vo., of which a second edition appeared in 1816. 

18. La santissima vita di Santo Josafat, figluolo del He Avenero, Re delV 
India, da, che ei nacque per infino ch'ei mart. A prose romance, edited by 
TELESFORO BINI from a MS. belonging to the Commendatore Francesco de 
Eossi, in pp. 124-152 of a collection ' Rime e Prose,' Lucca, 1852, 8vo. 



BARLAAM AND JOSAPHA T. xcvii 

19. A prose Vita da Santo Josafat. In MS. Add. 10902 of the British 
Museum, which Paul Mayer (see No. 8) says begins exactly as No. 18, hut 
ends differently. (See Koch, No. 9 above, p. xiii.) 

20. A Rappresentatione di Barlaam e Josafat is mentioned by Frederigo 
Palermo in his ' I manuscritti Palatini de Firenze,' 1860, vol. ii. p. 401. 

Skandinavian : 

A full account of all the Skandinavian versions is given in Barlaatrfs ok 
Josaphafs Saga, by C. R. UNGER, Christiania, 1851, 8vo. 

Spanish : 

Honesta, etc., historia de la rara vida de los famosos y singulares sanctos 
Barlaam, etc. By BALTASAT DE SANTA CRUZ. Published in the Spanish 
dialect used in the Philippine Islands at Manila, 1692. A literal translation 
of Bilius (No. 1). 

English : 

In HORSTMANN'S ' Altenglische Legenden,' Paderborn, 1875, an Old 
English version of the legend is published from the Bodleian MS. No. 779. 
There is another recension of the same poem in the Harleian MS. No. 4196. 
Both are of the fourteenth century ; and of the second there is another copy 
in the Vernon MS. See further, Warton's ' History of English Poetry,' 
i. 271-279, and ii. 30, 58, 308. 

Horstmann has also published a Middle English version in the ' Program 
of the Sagan Gymnasium,' 1877. 

The History of the Five Wise Philosophers ; or, the Wonderful Relation of 
the Life of Jehoshaphat the Hermit, Son of Avenerian, King of Barma in 
India, etc. By N. H. (that is, NICHOLAS HERICK), Gent., London, 1711, 
pp. 128, 12mo. This is a prose romance, and an abridged translation of the 
Italian version of 1600 (No. 16), and contains only one fable (at p. 46) of 
the Nightingale and the Fowler. 

The work referred to on p. xlvi, under the title Gesta Romanorum, a 
collection of tales with lengthy moralizations (probably sermons), was made 
in England about 1300. It soon passed to the Continent, and was repeatedly 
re -written in numerous MSS., with additions and alterations. Three printed 
editions appeared between 1472 and 1475 ; and one of these, containing 181 
stories, is the source of the work now known under this title. Tale No. 168 
quotes Barlaam. The best edition of the Latin version is by H. OESTERLEY, 
Berlin, 1872. The last English translation is HOOPER'S, Bohn's Anti- 
quarian Library, London, 1877. The Early English versions have been 
edited by SIR F. MADDEN ; and again, in vol. xxxiii. of the Extra Series of 
the Early English Text Society, by S. J. H. HERRTAGE. 

The Seven Sages (edited by THOMAS WRIGHT for the Percy Society, 1845) 
also contains some Buddhist tales. 

VOL. i. h 



XCV111 



TABLE IV. 

COMPARISON OF THE CARIYA PITAKA AND THE JATAKA 

MALA. 



1. Akitte-cariyarj. 

2. Sarjkha-c . 

3. Danafijaya-c . 

4. Maha-sudassana-c. 

5. Maha-govinda-c . 

6. Nimi-raja-c . 

7. Canda-kum5ra-c . 

8. Sivi-raja-e (2). 

9. Vessantara-c (9). 

10. Sasa-pandita-c (6). 

11. STlava-naga-c (J. 72). 

12. Bhuridatta-c. 

13. Campeyya-niiga-c . 

14. Cula-bodhi-c. 

15. Mahirjsa-raja-c (27). 

16. Ruru-raja-c . 

17. Matarjga-c . 

18. Dhammadhamma-devaputta-c . 

19. Jayadisa-c. 

20. Sankhapala-c . 

21. Yudanjaya-c . 

22. Somanassa-c. 

23. Ayoghara-c (33). 

24. Bhisa-c . 

25. Soma-pandita-c (32). 

26. Temiya-c' .' 

27. Kapi-raja-c (25, 28). 

28. Saccahvaya-pandita-c . 

29. Vattaka-potaka-c (16). 

30. Maccha-raja-c (15). 

31. Kanha-dipayana-c . 

32. Sutasoma-c" (25, '32). 

33. Suvanna-sama-c. 

34. Ekaraja-c. 

35. Maha-lomahagsa-c (J. 94). 



VyaghT-jatakag. 

Sivi-j (8). 

Kulmasapindi - j . 

Sreslitlii-j a '(21). 

Avisajyasreshthi-j . 

Sasa-j n (10). 

Agastya-j . 

Maitribala-j . 

Visvantara-j (9). 

Yajfla-j . 

Sakra-j. 

Brahraana-j . 

Ummadayanti-j . 

Suparaga-j 3 . 

Matsya-j (30). 

Vartaka-potaka-j (29). 

Kacchapa-j. 

Kumbha-j . 

Putra-j. 

Visa-j. 

Sreshthi-f (4i . 

Buddhabodhi-j . 

Harjsa-j. 

Mahabodhi-j . 

Mahakapi-f (27, 28). 

Sarabha-j . 

Ruru-j (16). 

Mahakapi-j (25, 27). 

Kshanti-j . 

Brahma-j". 

Hasti-j. 

Sutasoma-j (25, 32). 

Ayogriha-f (23). 

Mahisha-j . 



Satapatra-j . 

For the above lists see Feer, 'Etude sur les Jatakas,' p. 58; Gogerly, 
Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1853 ; and 
Fausboll, 'Five Jatakas,' p. 59; and also above, pp. liii, liv. It will be 
seen that there are seven tales with identical, and one or two more with 
similar titles, in the two collections. Editions of these two works are very 
much required. The Cambridge University Library possesses a MS. of the 
former, with the various readings of several other MSS. noted, for me, by 
Dewa Aranolis. 



XCIX 



TABLE V. 

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF JATAKA STORIES IN THE 
MAHAVASTU. 

Arranged from Cowell and Eggeling's ' Catalogue of Buddhist Sanskrit MSS. 
in the Possession of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hodgson Collection).' 



Amaraye karmarakadhitaye jatakan. 

Arindama-j . 

Asthisenasya-j. 

Bhadravargikanar) - j. 

Campaka-nagaraja-j . 

Godha-j . 

Hastini-j". 

Kdka-j. 

Uruvilva-kasyapadi-kasyapanan-j . 

Ajnata-Kaundinya-j . 

KinnarT-j . 1 

Kricchapa-j. 

Kusa-j. 

Mafijeri-j . 

Markata-j. 

MrigarajSo surupasya-j . 

NalinTye rajakumarlye-j . 

Punyavanta-j. 

Purnasya Maitrayani-putrasya j. 



Rakshito-nama-rishi-j . 

Rishabasya-j . 

Sakuntaka-j. (Two with this title.) 

Sarakshepanarj-j . 

Saratai)-] . 

Sarthavahasya-j . 

Siri-j . 

Siri-prabhasya mriga-rajasya j. 

Syama-j . 1 (Car. Pit. 33.) 

Syamaka-j . 

Trinakunlyag nama j. 

Upali ganga palanan-j. 

Yanaradhipa-j. 

Vara-j. 

Vijitavasya Vaideha-rajfio-j . 

Yasoda-j. 

Yosodharaye harapradana-j. 

j> vyaghribhQtaya-j . 



i These two Jatakas also form the contents of a separate MS. in the Royal Asiatic 
Society's Library (Catalogue, p 14). 



TABLE VI. 
PLACES AT WHICH THE TALES WERE TOLD. 

M. Leon Feer has taken the trouble to count the number of times each of 
the following places is mentioned at the commencement of the Commentary. 

4101 



v eta vaua muiiaoLCiv 


1U Ul6 


Savatthi . 


. . . . . 6/ 


Velmana . 


' 49 1 


Eajagaha . 


5^ 55 


Latthivanuyyana 


lj 


Vesuli 


4 


Kosambi . 


5 




3 




3 


Kusa 


2 


Magadha . 


2 


Dakkhinagiri 


1 


Migadaya . 


1 


Mithila . 


.... 1 


By the Ganges . 


1 



494 

To which we may add from pp. 124-128 below 
Kapilavatthu 4 



498 



Cl 



TABLE VII. 
THE BODISATS. 

At his request the Rev. Spence Handy's ' pandit ' made an analysis of the 
number of times in which the Bodisat appears in the Buddhist Birth Stories 
in each of the following characters : 



An ascetic . 

A king 

A tree god . 

A teacher . 

A courtier . 

A brahman 

A king's son 

A nobleman 

A learned man . 

Sakka 

A monkey . 

A merchant 

A man of property 

A deer 

A lion 

A wild duck 

A snipe 

An elephant 

A cock 

A slave 

An eagle . 

A horse 

Ahull 

Brahma 

A peacock . 

A serpent . 

A potter 

An outcast 



83 

85 

43 

26 

24 

24 

24 

23 

22 

20 

18 

13 

12 

11 

10 

8 

6 

6 

5 

5 

5 

4 

4 

4 

4 

4 

3 

3 



An iguana . 

A fish 

An elephant driver 

A rat 

A jackal 

A crow 

A woodpecker 

A thief 

A pig 

A dog 

A curer of snake bites 

A gambler 

A mason 

A smith 

A devil dancer 

A student . 

A silversmith 

A carpenter 

A water-fowl 

A frog 

A hare 

A kite 

A jungle cock 

A fairy 



530 



Cll 



TABLE VIII. 

JATAKAS ILLUSTRATED IN BAS-RELIEF ON THE ANCIENT 
MONUMENTS. 

Arranged from General Cunningham's ' Stupa of Bharhut.' 



No. Plate Title inscribed on the stone. 

1. xxv. Miga Jataka. 

2. ,, Naga 2 ,, 

3. ,, Yava-majhakiya Jataka. 

4. ,, Muga-pakhaya ,, 

5. xxvi. Latuwa ,, 

6. ,, Cha-dantiya ,, 

7. ,, Isi-sirjgiya _ ,, 

8. ,, (?) Yafttiumawe-ayavesi ,, 
ft. xxvii. ? 4 

10. ,, Harjsa , ,, 

11. ,, Kinara ,, 

12. P* 

13. P* 

14. xliii. Isi-migo ,, 

15. xlvi. Uda ,, 

16. ,, Secha ,, 

17. xlvii. Sujato gahuto ,, 
, Q / Bidala , , 

" \ Kukuta 

19. xlviii. Magha-deviya ,, 

20. ,, Bhisa-haraniya ,, 

21. xviii. Vitura-panakaya ,, 9 

22 YYviii Janako R aJ a 

22. xxvin. 



Title in the Jataka Book. 

Nigrodha-miga Jataka. ' 

Kakkataka ,, 

? 3 

Muga-pakkha ,, 

Latukika ,, 

Chad-danta 

Isa-sirjga ,, 

Andha-bhuta ,, 

Kururjga-miga 

Nacca ,, 5 

Canda-kinnara , , 6 

Asadisa ,, 

Dasaratha ,, 

?7 
?* 

Dubhiya-makkata. 

Sujata ' ,, 

Kukkuta ,, 

Makha-deva , , 8 

? 7 

Vidhura , , 
Janaka 



1 Translated below, pp. 205, and foil. This is one of those -which General Cunning- 
ham was unable to identify. 

2 General Cunningham says (p. 52): "The former [Naga Jataka, i.e. Elephant 
Jataka] is the correct name, as in the Legend here represented Buddha is the King of 
the Elephants, and therefore the Jataka, or Birth, must of necessity have been named 
after him." As I have above pointed out (p. xli), the title of each Jataka, or Birth 
Story, is chosen, not by any means from the character which the Bodisat fills in it, 
hut indifferently from a variety of other reasons. General Cunningham himself gives 
the story called Isl-singga Jataka (No. 7 in the above list), in which the ascetic after 
whom the Jataka is named is not the Bodisat. 

* Not as yet found in the Jataka Book ; but Dr. Biihler has shown in the ' Indian 
Antiquary,' vol. i. p. 305, that it is the first tale in the ' Vrihat Kathu ' of Kshemendra 
(Table I. No. 34), and in the 'Katha Sarit Sagara' of Somadeva (Table I. No. 33), 
and was therefore probably included in the 'Vrihat Katha' of Gunadhya (Table I. 
No. 32). 

* The part of the stone supposed to have contained the inscription is lost. 

* Translated below, pp. 292, 293. 

6 It is mentioned below, p. 128, and is included in the Mahavastu (Table V.), and 
forms the subject of the carving on one of the rails at Buddha Gaya (Rajcndra Lai 
Mitra, pi. xxxiv. fig. 2). 

7 Not as yet found in the Jataka Book. 

8 Translated below, pp. 186-188. See also above, p. Ixiv. 

9 There are four distinct bas-rclicl's illustrative of this Jataka. 



cm 

There are numerous other scenes without titles, and not yet identified in 
the Jitaka Book, but which are almost certainly illustrative of Jataka Stories ; 
and several scenes with titles illustrative of passages in the Nidana Katha of 
the Jataka Book. So, for instance, PI. xvi. fig. 1 is the worship in heaven of 
the Buddha's Head-dress, whose reception into heaven is described below, 
p. 86 ; and the heavenly mansion, the Palace of Glory, is inscribed Vejayanto 
Pasado, the origin of which name is explained below, p. 287. Plate xxviii. 
has a scene entitled ' Bhagavato Okkanti ' (The Descent of the Blessed 
One), 1 in illustration of Maya Devi's Dream (below, pp. 62, 63) ; and 
Plate Ivii. is a representation of the Presentation of the Jetavana Monastery 
(below, pp. 130-133). The identifications of Nos. 12 and 13 in the above 
list are very doubtful. 

Besides the above, Mr. Fergusson, in his ' Tree and Serpent Worship,' has 
identified bas-reliefs on the Sanchi Tope in illustration of the Sama and 
Asadisa Jatakas (PL xxxvi. p. 181) and of the Vessantara Jataka (PL xxiv. 
p. 125) ; and there are other Jataka scenes on the Sanchi Tope not yet 
identified. 

Mr. Simpson also has been kind enough to show me drawings of bas-reliefs 
he discovered in Afghanistan, two of which I have been able to identify as 
illustrations of the Sumedha Jataka (below, p. 11-13), and another as illus- 
trative of the scene described below on pp. 125, 126. 

i General Cunning-ham's reading of this inscription as Bhagavnto rvkdanta seems to 
me to be incorrect, and his translation of it (' Buddha as the sounding elephant ') to be 
grammatically impossible. 



THE NIDANAKATHA 

OR 

THE THEEE EPOCHS. 



[vv. 1-11.] The Apawnaka and other Births, which in 
times gone by were recounted on various occasions by the 
great illustrious Sage, and in which during a long period 
our Teacher and Leader, desirous of the salvation of 
mankind, fulfilled the vast conditions of Buddhahood, 1 
were all collected together and added to the canon of 
Scripture by those who made the recension of the Scrip- 
tures, and rehearsed by them under the name of THE 
JATAKA. Having bowed at the feet of the Great Sage, 
the lord of the world, by whom in innumerable existences 2 
boundless benefits were conferred upon mankind, and 
having paid reverence to the Law, and ascribed honour 
to the Clergy, the receptacle of all honour ; and having 
removed all dangers by the efficacy of that meritorious act 
of veneration and honour referring to the Three Gems, 
I proceed to recite a Commentary upon this Jataka, 
illustrating as it does the infinite efficacy of the actions 
of great men a commentary based upon the method 
of exposition current among the inmates of the Great 
Monastery. And I do so at the personal request of the 
elder Atthadassin, who lives apart from the world and 

1 Lit. perfected the vast constituents of Buddhahood, the Paramitas are 
meant. 

2 Lit. in thousands of kotis of births ; a koti is ten millions. 

VOL. I. 1 



2 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

ever dwells with his fraternity, and who desires the 
perpetuation of this chronicle of B uddha ; and likewise of 
Buddhamitta the tranquil and wise, sprung from the race 
of Mahimsasaka, skilled in the canons of interpretation; 
and moreover of the monk Buddhadeva of clear intellect. 
May all good men lend me their favourable attention 
while I speak! 1 

Inasmuch as this comment on the Jataka, if it be ex- 
pounded after setting forth the three Epochs, the distant, 
the middle, and proximate, will be clearly understood by 
those who hear it by being understood from the beginning, 
therefore I will expound it after setting forth the three 
Epochs. Accordingly from the very outset it will be well 
to determine the limits of these Epochs. Now the narra- 
tive of the Bodhisatta's existence, from the time that at 
the feet of Dlpankara he formed a resolution to become 
a Buddha to his rebirth in the Tusita heaven after 
leaving the Yessantara existence, is called the Distant 
Epoch. From his leaving the Tusita heaven to his at- 
tainment of omniscience on the throne of Knowledge, 
the narrative is called the Intermediate Epoch. And the 
Proximate Epoch is to be found in the various places in 
which he sojourned (during his ministry on earth). The 
following is 



THE DISTANT EPOCH. 

Tradition tells us that four asankheyyas 2 and a hundred 
thousand cycles ago there was a city called Amaravatl. 
In this city there dwelt a brahmin named Sumedha, of 
good family on both sides, on the father's and the 

1 The above lines in the original are in verse. I have found it impossible 
to follow the arrangement of the stanzas, owing to the extreme involution of 
the style. 

2 An asankheyya is a period of vast duration, lit. an incalculable. 



THE STORY OF SUMEDHA. 3 

mother's side, of pure conception for seven generations 
back, by birth unreproached and respected, a man comely, 
well-favoured and amiable, and endowed with remarkable 
beauty. He followed his brahminical studies without 
engaging in any other pursuit. His parents died while 
he was still young. A minister of state, who acted as 
steward of his property, bringing forth the roll-book of 
his estate, threw open the stores filled with gold and silver, 
gems and pearls, and other valuables, and said, " So much, 
young man, belonged to your mother, so much to your 
father, so much to your grandparents and great-grand- 
parents," and pointing out to him the property inherited 
through seven generations, he bade him guard it carefully. 
The wise Sumedha thought to himself, " After amassing 
all this wealth my parents and ancestors when they went 
to another world took not a farthing with them, can it 
be right that I should make it an object to take my 
wealth with me when I go ? " And informing the king 
of his intention, he caused proclamation to be made 1 
in the city, gave largess to the people, and embraced 
the ascetic life of a hermit. 

To make this matter clear the STORY or SUMEDHA must 
here be related. This story, though given in full in the 
Buddhavamsa, from its being in a metrical form, is not 
very easy to understand. I will therefore relate it with 
sentences at intervals explaining the metrical construction. 

Four asankheyyas and a hundred thousand cycles ago 
there was a city called Amaravati or Amara, resounding 
with the ten city cries, concerning which it is said in 
Buddhavawsa, 

12. Four asankheyyas and a hundred thousand cycles ago 
A city there was called Amara, beautiful and pleasant, 
Eesounding with the ten cries, abounding in food and drink. 2 



1 Lit. " caused the drums to be beat." 

2 Here a gloss in the text enumerates the whole ten cries. 



4 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

Then follows a stanza of Buddhavaw?sa enumerating 
some of these cries, 

13. The trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, (the sound of) 

drums, trumpets, and chariots, 

And viands and drinks were cried, with the invitation, " Eat and 
drink." 

It goes on to say, 

14. A city supplied with every requisite, engaged in every sort of industry, 
Possessing the seven precious things, thronged with dwellers of many 

races ; 
The ahode of devout men, like the prosperous city of the angels. 

15. In the city of AmaravatT dwelt a brahmin named Sumedha, 

"Whose hoard was many tens of millions, blest with much wealth and 
store ; 

16. Studious, knowing the Mantras, versed in the three Vedas, 

Master of the science of divination and of the traditions and observances 
of his caste. 

Now one day the wise Sumedha, having retired to the 
splendid upper apartment of his house, seated himself 
cross-legged, and fell a thinking. " Oh ! wise man, 1 
grievous is rebirth in a new existence, and the dissolution 
of the body in each successive place where we are reborn. 
I am subject to birth, to decay, to disease, to death, it 
is right, being such, that I should strive to attain the 
great deathless Nirvana, which is tranquil, and free from 
birth, and decay, and sickness, and grief and joy ; surely 
there must be a road that leads to Nirvana and releases 
man from existence." Accordingly it is said, 

17. Seated in seclusion, I then thought as follows : 
Grievous is rebirth and the breaking up of the body. 

18. I am subject to birth, to decay, to disease, 

Therefore will I seek Nirvawa, free from decay and death, and secure. 

19. Let me leave this perishable body, this pestilent congregation of 

vapours, 
And depart without desires and without wants. 

20. There is, there must be a road, it cannot but be : 

I will seek this road, that I may obtain release from existence. 

1 The Bodhisatta is frequently called pandita, e.g. sasapandito (Five Jut. 
52), Ramapandito (Dasaratha Jat. 1). 



THE STORY OF SUMEDHA. 5 

Further he reasoned thus, " For as in this world there 
is pleasure as the correlative of pain, so where there is 
existence there must be its opposite the cessation of 
existence ; and as where there is heat there is also cold 
which neutralizes it, so there must be a Nirvana 1 that 
extinguishes (the fires of) lust and the other passions ; 
and as in opposition to a bad and evil condition there 
is a good and blameless one, so where there is evil Birth 
there must also be Nirvana, called the Birthless, because 
it puts an end to all rebirth." Therefore it is said, 

21. As where there is suffering there is also bliss, 

So where there is existence we must look for non-existence. 

22. And as where there is heat there is also cold, 

So where there is the threefold fire of passion extinction must be 
sought. 

23. And as coexistent with evil there is also good, 

Even so where there is birth 2 the cessation of birth should be sought. 

Again he reasoned thus, " Just as a man who has fallen 
into a heap of filth, if he beholds afar off a great pond 
covered with lotuses of five colours, ought to seek that 
pond, saying, ' By what way shall I arrive there ? ' but 
if he does not seek it the fault is not that of the pond ; 
even so where there is the lake of the great deathless 
Nirvawa for the washing of the defilement of sin, if it 
is not sought it is not the fault of the lake. And just 
as a man who is surrounded by robbers, if when there 
is a way of escape he does not fly it is not the fault 
of the way but of the man; even so when there is a 
blessed road leading to Nirvana for the man who is 
encompassed and held fast by sin, its not being sought 
is not the fault of the road but of the person. And as 
a man who is oppressed with sickness, there being a 
physician who can heal his disease, if he does not get 

1 Lit. " Extinction." 

2 Mr. Fausboll points out to me that in tividhaggi and jati we have 
Vedic abbreviations. 



6 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

cured by going to the physician that is no fault of the 
physician; even so if a man who is oppressed by the 
disease of sin seeks not a spiritual guide who is at hand 
and knows the road which puts an end to sin, the fault 
lies with him and not with the sin-destroying teacher." 
Therefore it is said, 

24. As a man fallen among filth, beholding a brimming lake, 
If he seek not that lake, the fault is not in the lake ; 

25. So when there exists a lake of Nirvawa that washes the stains of sin, 
If a man seek not that lake, the fault is not in the lake of Kirvawa. 

26. As a man beset with foes, there being a way of escape, 
If he flee not away, the fault is not with the road ; 

27. So when there is a way of bliss, if a man beset with sin 
Seek not that road, the fault is not in the way of bliss. 

28. And as one who is diseased, there being a physician at hand, 

If he bid him not heal the disease, the fault is not in the healer : 

29. So if a man who is sick and oppressed with the disease of sin 
Seek not the spiritual teacher, the fault is not in the teacher. 

And again he argued, " As a man fond of gay clothing, 
throwing off a corpse bound to his shoulders, goes away 
rejoicing, so must I, throwing off this perishable body, 
and freed from all desires, enter the city of Nirvana. 
And as men and women depositing filth on a dung- 
heap do not gather it in the fold or skirt of their 
garments, but loathing it, throw it away, feeling no 
desire for it ; so shall I also cast off this perishable body 
without regret, and enter the deathless city of Nirvawa. 
And as seamen abandon without regret an unseaworthy 
ship and escape, so will I also, leaving this body, which 
distils corruption from its nine festering apertures, enter 
without regret the city of Nirvaa. And as a man 
carrying various sorts of jewels, and going on the same 
road with a band of robbers, out of fear of losing his 
jewels withdraws from them and gains a safe road ; even 
so this impure body is like a jewel -plunder ing robber, 
if I set my affections thereon the precious spiritual jewel 
of the sublime path of holiness will be lost to me, there- 



THE STORY OF SUMEDHA. j 

fore ought I to enter the city of Nirvima, forsaking 
this robber-like body." Therefore it is said, 

30. As a man might with loathing shake off a corpse bound upon his 

shoulders, 
And depart secure, independent, master of himself ; 

31. Even so let me depart, regretting nothing, wanting nothing, 
Leaving this perishable body, this collection of many foul vapours. 

32. And as men and women deposit filth upon a dungheap, 
And depart regretting nothing, wanting nothing, 

33. So will I depart, leaving this body filled with foul vapours, 
As one leaves a cesspool after depositing ordure there. 

34. And as the owners forsake the rotten bark that is shattered and 

leaking, 
And depart without regret or longing, 

35. So shall I go, leaving this body with its nine apertures ever running, 
As its owners desert the broken ship. 

36. And as a man carrying wares, walking with robbers, 

Seeing danger of losing his wares, parts company with the robbers 
and gets him gone, 

37. Even so is this body like a mighty robber, 
Leaving it I will depart through fear of losing good. 

Having thus in nine similes pondered upon the ad- 
vantages connected with retirement from the world, the 
wise Sumedha gave away at his own house, as aforesaid, 
an immense hoard of treasure to the indigent and way- 
farers and sufferers, and kept open house. And renouncing 
all pleasures, both material and sensual, departing from 
the city of Amara, away from the world in Himavanta 
he made himself a hermitage near the mountain called 
Dhammaka, and built a hut and a perambulation hall free 
from the five defects which are hindrances (to meditation). 
And with a view to obtain the power residing in the 
supernatural faculties, which are characterized by the 
eight causal qualities described in the words beginning 
"With a mind thus tranquillised," l he embraced in that 

1 Evam samahite citte parisuddhe pariyoddte ananyane vigatTipakkilese 
mudubhTite kammaniye thite anejjappatte nanadassanaya cittam abhinlharati 
(Samanfiaphala Sutta, see Lotus, p. 476, line 14). 



8 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

hermitage the ascetic life of a -Rishi, casting off the cloak 
with its nine disadvantages, and wearing the garment of 
bark with its twelve advantages. And when he had 
thus given up the world, forsaking this hut, crowded 
with eight drawbacks, he repaired to the foot of a tree 
with its ten advantages, and rejecting all sorts of grain 
lived constantly upon wild fruits. And Strenuously 
exerting himself both in sitting and in standing and in 
walking, within a week he became the possessor of the 
eight Attainments, and of the five Supernatural Faculties ; 
and so, in accordance with his prayer, he attained the 
might of supernatural knowledge. Therefore it is said, 

38. Having pondered thus I gave many thousand millions of wealth 
To rich and poor, and made my way to Himavanta. 

39. Not far from Himavanta is the mountain called Dhammaka, 

Here I made an excellent hermitage, and built with care a leafy hut. 

40. There I huilt me a cloister, free from five defects, 

Possessed of the eight good qualities, and attained the strength of 
the supernatural Faculties. 

41. Then I threw off the cloak possessed of the nine faults, 

And put on the raiment of bark possessed of the twelve advantages. 

42. I left the hut, crowded with the eight drawbacks, 
And went to the tree-foot possessed of ten advantages. 1 

43. "Wholly did I reject the grain that is sown and planted, 

And partook of the constant fruits of the earth, possessed of many 



44. Then I strenuously strove, in sitting, in standing, and in walking, 
And within seven days attained the might of the Faculties. 2 

Now while the hermit Sumedha, having thus attained 
the strength of supernatural knowledge, was living in 
the bliss of the (eight) Attainments, the Teacher Dlpan- 
kara appeared in the world. At the moment of his 
conception, of his birth, of his attainment of Buddhahood, 
of his preaching his first discourse, the whole universe 

1 Mr. Fausboll writes to me that gune for gunehi must be viewed as an old 
Pali form originating in the Sanskrit gunaih. 

2 Here follow four pages of later commentary or gloss, which I leave 
untranslated. 



SUMEDHA AND DIPANKARA. 9 

of ten thousand worlds trembled, shook and quaked, and 
gave forth a mighty sound, and the thirty-two prognostics 
showed themselves. But the hermit Sumedha, living in 
the bliss of the Attainments, neither heard that sound 
nor beheld those signs. Therefore it is said, 

45. Thus when I had attained the consummation, while I was subjected 

to the Law, 
The Conqueror named Dlpankara, chief of the universe, appeared. 

46. At his conception, at his birth, at his Buddhahood, at his preaching, 

I saw not the four signs, plunged in the blissful trance of meditation. 

At that time Dlpankara Buddha, accompanied by a 
hundred thousand saints, wandering his way from place 
to place, reached the city of Ramma, and took up his 
residence in the great monastery of Sudassana. And the 
dwellers of the city of Ramma heard it said, " Dlpankara, 
lord of ascetics, having attained supreme Buddhaship, 
and set on foot the supremacy of the Law, wandering his 
way from place to place, has come to the town of Ramma, 
and dwells at the great monastery of Sudassana." And 
taking with them ghee and butter and other medicinal 
requisites and clothes and raiment, and bearing perfumes 
and garlands and other offerings in their hands, their 
minds bent towards the Buddha, the Law, and the Clergy, 
inclining towards them, hanging upon them, they ap- 
proached the Teacher and worshipped him, and presenting 
the perfumes and other offerings, sat down on one side. 
And having heard his preaching of the Law, and invited 
him for the next day, they rose from their seats and 
departed. And on the next day, having prepared alms- 
giving for the poor, and having decked out the town, 
they repaired the road by which the Buddha was to 
come, throwing earth in the places that were worn away 
by water and thereby levelling the surface, and scattering 
sand that looked like strips of silver. And they sprinkled 
fragrant roots and flowers, and raised aloft flags and 
banners of many-coloured cloths, and set up banana 



10 . THE NIDANAKATHA. 

arches and rows of brimming jars. Then the hermit 
Sumedha, ascending from his hermitage, and proceeding 
through the air till he was ahove those men, and 
beholding the joyous multitude, exclaimed, "What can 
be the reason ? " and alighting stood on one side and 
questioned the people, " Tell me, why are you adorning 
this road ? " Therefore it is said, 

47. In the region of the horder districts, having invited the Buddha, 
"With joyful hearts they are clearing the road by which he should 

come. 

48. And I at that time leaving my hermitage, 
Eustling my barken tunic, departed through the air. 

49. And seeing an excited multitude joyous and delighted, 
Descending from the air I straightway asked the men, 

50. The people is excited, joyous and happy, 

" For whom is the road being cleared, the path, the way of his coming ? 

And the men replied, " Lord Sumedha, dost thou not 
know? Dlpankara Buddha, having attained supreme 
Knowledge, and set on foot the reign of the glorious 
Law, travelling from place to place, has reached our 
town, and dwells at the great monastery Sudassana ; 
we have invited the Blessed One, and are making ready 
for the blessed Buddha the road by which he is to 
come." And the hermit Sumedha thought, "The very 
sound of the word Buddha is rarely met with in the 
world, much more the actual appearance of a Buddha; 
it behoves me to join these men in clearing the road." 
He said therefore to the men, " If you are clearing this 
road for the Buddha, assign to me a piece of ground, 
I will clear the ground in company with you." They 
consented, saying, " It is well ; " and perceiving the 
hermit Sumedha to be possessed of supernatural power, 
they fixed upon a swampy piece of ground, and assigned 
it to him, saying, " Do thou prepare this spot." Sumedha, 
his heart filled with joy of which the Buddha was the 
cause, thought within himself, "I am able to prepare 



SUMEDHA AND DIPANKARA. II 

this piece of ground by supernatural power, but if so 
prepared it will give me no satisfaction; this day it 
behoves me to perform menial duties ; " and fetching 
earth he threw it upon the spot. 

But ere the ground could be cleared by him, with 
a train of a hundred thousand miracle-working saints 
endowed with the six supernatural faculties, while angels 
offered celestial wreaths and perfumes, while celestial 
hymns rang forth, and men paid their homage with 
earthly perfumes and with flowers and other offerings, 
Dlpankara endowed with the ten Forces, with all a Buddha's 
transcendant majesty, like a lion rousing himself to seek 
his prey on the Vermilion plain, came down into the road 
all decked and made ready for him. Then the hermit 
Sumedha as the Buddha with unblenching eyes ap- 
proached along the road prepared for him, beholding that 
form endowed with the perfection of beauty, adorned with 
the thirty-two characteristics of a great man, and marked 
with the eighty minor beauties, attended by a halo of 
a fathom's depth, and sending forth in streams the six- 
hued Buddha -rays, linked in pairs of different colours, 
and wreathed like the varied lightnings that flash in 
the gem-studded vault of heaven exclaimed, " This day 
it behoves me to make sacrifice of my life for the 
Buddha : let not the Blessed one walk in the mire nay, 
let him advance with his four hundred thousand saints 
trampling on my body as if walking upon a bridge of 
jewelled planks, this deed will long be for my good 
and my happiness." So saying, he loosed his hair, and 
spreading in the inky mire his hermit's skin mantle, roll 
of matted hair and garment of bark, he lay down in the 
mire like a bridge of jewelled planks. Therefore it is said, 

51. Questioned by me they replied, An incomparable Buddha is born into 

the world, 

The Conqueror named Dlpankara, lord of the universe, 
For him the road is cleared, the way, the path of his coming. 



12 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

52. "When I heard the name of Buddha joy sprang up forthwith within me, 
Repeating, a Buddha, a Buddha ! I gave utterance to my joy. 

53. Standing there I pondered, joyful and excited, 

Here I will sow the seed, may the happy moment not pass away. 

54. If you clear a path for the Buddha, assign to me a place, 
I also will clear the road, the way, the path of his coming. 

55. Then they gave me a piece of ground to clear the pathway ; 

Then repeating within me, a Buddha, a Buddha ! I cleared the road. 
66. But ere my portion was cleared, Dipankara the great sage, 

The Conqueror, entered the road with four hundred thousand saints 

like himself, 
Possessed of the six supernatural attributes, pure from all taint of sin. 

57. On every side men rise to receive him, manydrums send forth their music, 
Men and angels overjoyed, shout forth their applause. 

58. Angels look upon men, men upon angels, 

And both with clasped hands upraised approach the great Being. 

59. Angels with celestial music, men with earthly music, 
Both sending forth their strains approach the great Being. 

60. Angels floating in the air sprinkle down in all directions 
Celestial Erythrina flowers, lotuses and coral flowers. 

61. Men standing on the ground throw upwards in all directions 
Champac and Salala flowers, Cadamba and fragrant Mesua, Punnaga, 

and Ketaka. 

62. Then I loosed my hair, and spreading in the mire 
Bark robe and mantle of skin, lay prone upon my face. 

63. Let the Buddha advance with his disciples, treading upon me ; 
Let him not tread in the mire, it will be for my blessing. 

And as he lay in the mire, again beholding the Buddha- 
majesty of Dipankara Buddha with his unblenching gaze, 
he thought as follows : " "Were I willing, I could enter 
the city of Ramma as a novice in the priesthood, after 
having destroyed all human passions ; but why should I 
disguise myself 1 to attain Nirvana after the destruction 

1 The following is what I take to be the meaning of this passage : " If I 
chose I could at once enter the Buddhist priesthood, and by the practice of 
ecstatic meditation (Jhana) free myself from human passion, and become an 
.Arhat or saint. I should then at death at once attain Nirvana and cease to 
exist. But this would be a selfish course to pursue, for thus I should benefit 
myself only. Why should I thus slip unobserved and in the humble garb of 
a monk into Nirvawa ? Nay, let me rather qualify myself to become a Buddha, 
and so save others as well as myself." This is the great ACT OF RENUNCIATION 
by which the Bodhisattva, when Nirvawa was within his grasp, preferred to 
endure ages of heroic trials in the exercise of the Paramitas, that he might be 
enabled to become a Buddha, and so redeem mankind. See D'Alwis's Intro- 
duction to Kachchayana's Grammar, p. vi. 



SUMEDHA AND DIPANKARA, ! 3 

of human passion? Let me rather, like Dipankara, having 
risen to the supreme knowledge of the Truth, enable 
mankind to enter the Ship of the Truth and so carry them 
across the Ocean of Existence, and when this is done 
afterwards attain Nirvana ; this indeed it is right that 
I should do." Then having enumerated the eight con- 
ditions (necessary to the attainment of Buddhahood), and 
having made the resolution to become Buddha, he laid 
himself down. Therefore it is said, 

64. As I lay upon the ground this was the thought of my heart, 

If I wished it I might this day destroy within me all human passions. 

65. But why should I in disguise arrive at the knowledge of the Truth ? 

I will attain omniscience and become a Buddha, and (save) men and 
angels. 

66. Why should I cross the ocean resolute but alone ? 

I will attain omniscience, and enable men and angels to cross. 

67. By this resolution of mine, I a man of resolution 
Will attain omniscience, and save men and angels, 

68. Cutting off the stream of transmigration, annihilating the three forms 

of existence, 

Embarking in the ship of the Truth, I will carry across with me men 
and angels. 1 

And the blessed Dipankara having reached the spot 
stood close by the hermit Sumedha's head. And opening 
his eyes possessed of the five kinds of grace as one opens 
a jewelled window, and beholding the hermit Sumedha 
lying in the mire, thought to himself, " This hermit who 
lies here has formed the resolution to be a Buddha ; will 
his prayer be fulfilled or not?" And casting forward 
his prescient gaze into the future, and considering, he 
perceived that four asankheyyas and a hundred thousand 
cycles from that time he would become a Buddha named 
Gotama. And standing there in the midst of the assembly 
he delivered this prophecy, " Behold ye this austere 
hermit lying in the mire ?" "Yes, Lord," they answered. 

1 What follows from yasma to nipajji belongs to a later commentary. I 
resume the translation with p. 15, line 11. 



14 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

" This man lies here having made the resolution to become 
a Buddha, his prayer will be answered ; at the end of 
four asankheyyas and a hundred thousand cycles hence 
he will become a Buddha named Gotama, and in that 
birth the city Kapilavatthu will be his residence, Queen 
Maya will be his mother, King Suddhodana his father, 
his chief disciple will be the thera Upatissa, his second 
disciple the thera Kolita, the Buddha's servitor will be 
Ananda, his chief female disciple the nun Khema, the 
second the nun TJppalavawwa. When he attains to years 
of ripe knowledge, having retired from the world and 
made the great exertion, having received at the foot of 
a banyan-tree a meal of rice milk, and partaken of it 
by the banks of the Neranjara, having ascended the 
throne of Knowledge, he will, at the foot of an Indian 
fig-tree, attain Supreme Buddhahood. Therefore it is 
said, 

70. Dlpankara, knower of all worlds, receiver of offerings, 
Standing by that which pillowed my head, spoke these words : 

71. See ye this austere hermit with his matted hair, 
Countless ages hence he will he a Buddha in this world. 

72. Lo, the great Being departing from pleasant Kapila, 

Having fought the great fight, performed all manner of austerities, 

73. Having sat at the foot of the Ajapala tree, and there received rice 

pottage, 
Shall approach the Neranjara river. 

74. Having received the rice pottage on the banks of the Neranjara, the 

Conqueror 

Shall come by a fair road prepared for him to the foot of the 
Bodhi-tree. 

75. Then, unrivalled and glorious, reverentially saluting the throne of 

Bodhi, 
At the foot of an Indian fig-tree he shall attain Buddhahood. 

76. The mother that bears him shall be called Maya, 

His father will be Suddhodana, he himself will be Gotama. 

77. His chief disciples will be Upatissa and Kolita, 

Void of human passion, freed from desire, calm-minded and tranquil. 

78. The servitor Ananda will attend upon the Conqueror, 
Khema and Uppalavawwa will be his chief female disciples, 

79. Void of human passion, freed from desire, calm-minded and tranquil . 
The sacred tree of this Buddha is called Assattha. 



SUMEDHA AND DIPANKARA. ! 5 

The hermit Sumedha, exclaiming, " My prayer, it seems, 
will be accomplished," was filled with happiness. The 
multitudes, hearing the words of Dipankara Buddha, 
were joyous and delighted, exclaiming, " The hermit 
Sumedha, it seems, is an embryo Buddha, the tender 
shoot that will grow up into a Buddha." For thus 
they thought, "As a man fording a river, if he is 
unable to cross to the ford opposite him, crosses to a 
ford lower down the stream, even so we, if under the 
dispensation of Dipankara Buddha we fail to attain the 
Paths and their fruition, yet when thou shalt become 
Buddha we shall be enabled in thy presence to make the 
paths and their fruition our own," and so they recorded 
their prayer (for future sanctification). And Dipankara 
Buddha also having praised the Bodhisatta, and made 
an offering to him of eight handfuls of flowers, reveren- 
tially saluted him and departed. And the Arhats also, 
four hundred thousand in number, having made offerings 
to the Bodhisatta of perfumes and garlands, reverentially 
saluted him and departed. And the angels and men 
having made the same offerings, and bowed down to him, 
went their way. 

And the Bodhisatta, when all had retired, rising from 
his seat and exclaiming, " I will investigate the Perfec- 
tions," sat himself down cross-legged on a heap of flowers. 
And as the Bodhisatta sat thus, the angels in all the ten 
thousand worlds assembling shouted applause. " Venerable 
hermit Sumedha," they said, " all the auguries which 
have manifested themselves when former Bodhisattas 
seated themselves cross-legged, saying, 'We will inves- 
tigate the Perfections,' all these this day have appeared : 
assuredly thou shalt become Buddha. This we know, to 
whom these omens appear, he surely will become Buddha ; 
do thou make a strenuous effort and exert thyself." With 
these words they lauded the Bodhisatta with varied 
praises. Therefore it is said, 



1 6 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

80. Hearing these words of the incomparable Sage, 

Angels and men delighted, exclaimed, This is an embryo Buddha. 

81. A great clamour arises, men and angels in ten thousand worlds 
Clap their hands, and laugh, and make obeisance with clasped hands. 

82. " Should we fail," they say, " of this Buddha's dispensation, 
Yet in time to come we shall stand before him. 

83. As men crossing a river, if they fail to reach the opposite ford, 
Gaining the lower ford cross the great river, 

84. Even so we all, if we lose this Buddha, 
In time to come shall stand before him." 

85. The world-knowing Dlpankara, the receiver of offerings, 
Having celebrated my meritorious act, went his way. 1 

86. All the disciples of the Buddha that were present saluted me with 

reverence, 
Men, Nagas, and Gandhabbas bowed down to me and departed. 

87. When the Lord of the world with his following had passed beyond 

my sight, 
Then glad, with gladsome heart, I rose up from my seat. 

88. Joyful I am with a great joy, glad with a great gladness ; 
Flooded with rapture then I seated myself cross-legged. 

89. And even as thus I sat I thought within myself, 

I am subject to ecstatic meditation, I have mastered the supernatural 
Faculties. 

90. In a thousand worlds there are no sages that rival me, 
Unrivalled in miraculous powers I have reached this bliss. 

91. "When thus they beheld me sitting, 2 the dwellers of ten thousand 

worlds 
Eaised a mighty shout, Surely thou shalt be a Buddha ! 

92. The omens 3 beheld in former ages when Bodhisatta sat cross-legged, 
The same are beheld this day. 

93. Cold is dispelled and heat ceases, 

This day these things are seen, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

94. A thousand worlds are stilled and silent, 

So are they seen to-day, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

95. The mighty winds blow not, the rivers cease to flow, 
These things are seen to-day, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

96. All flowers blossom on land and sea, 

This day they all have bloomed, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

97. All creepers and trees are laden with fruit, 

This day they all bear fruit, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

98. Gems sparkle in earth and sky, 

This day all gems do glitter, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 



1 Lit. " raised his right foot (to depart)." 

2 Lit. " at my sitting cross-legged." 

3 Mr. Fausboll writes that yam is a mistake of the copyist for ydydni. 



THE PROGNOSTICS. jy 

99. Music earthly and celestial sounds, 

Both these to-day send forth their strains, verily thou shalt be 

Buddha. 

Flowers of every hue rain down from the sky, 
This day they are seen, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 
The mighty ocean bends itself, ten thousand worlds are shaken, 
This day they both send up their roar, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 
In hell the fires of ten thousand worlds die out, 
This day these fires are quenched, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 
Unclouded is the sun and all the stars are seen, 
These things are seen to-day, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 
Though no water fell in rain, vegetation burst forth from the earth, 
This day vegetation springs from the earth, verily thou shalt be 

Buddha. 

105. The constellations are all aglow, and the lunar mansions in the vault 

of heaven, 

Visakha is in conjunction with the moon, verily thou shalt be 
Buddha. 

106. Those creatures that dwell in holes and caves depart each from 

his lair, 
This day these lairs are forsaken, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

107. There is no discontent among mortals, but they are filled with 

contentment, 
This day all are content, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

108. Then diseases are dispelled and hunger ceases, 

This day these things are seen, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

109. Then Desire wastes away, Hate and Folly perish, 

This day all these are dispelled, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

110. No danger then comes near ; this day this thing is seen, 
By this sign we know it, verily thou shalt become Buddha. 

111. No dust flies abroad ; this day this thing is seen, 

By this sign we know it, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

112. All noisome odours flee away, celestial fragrance breathes around, 
Such fragrance breathes this day, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

113. All the angels are manifested, the Formless only excepted, 
This day they all are seen, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

114. All the hells become visible, 

These all are seen this day, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

115. Then walls, and doors, and rocks are no impediment, 

This day they have melted into air, 1 verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

116. At that moment death and birth do not take place, 

This day these things are seen, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

117. Do thou make a strenuous effort, hold not back, go forward, 
This thing we know, verily thou shalt be Buddha. 

1 Or " have risen into the air" ? 



1 8 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

And the Bodhisatta, having heard. the words of Dlpan- 
kara Buddha, and of the angels in ten thousand worlds, 
filled with immeasurable resolution, thought thus within 
himself, "The Buddhas are beings whose word cannot 
fail; there is no deviation from truth in their speech. 
For as the fall of a clod thrown into the air, as the 
death of a mortal, as the sunrise at dawn, as a lion's 
roaring when he leaves his lair, as the delivery of a 
woman with child, as all these things are sure and 
certain, even so the word of the Buddhas is sure and 
cannot fail, verily I shall become a Buddha." Therefore 
it is said, 

118. Having heard the words of Buddha and of the angels of ten thousand 

worlds, 
Glad, joyous, delighted, I then thought thus within myself : 

119. The Buddhas speak not doubtful words, the Conquerors speak not 

vain words, 

There is no falsehood in the Buddhas, verily I shall become a 
Buddha. 

120. As a clod cast into the air doth surely fall to the ground, 

So the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting. 

121. As the death of all mortals is sure and constant, 

So the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting. 

122. As the rising of the sun is certain when night has faded, 

So the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting. 

123. As the roaring of a lion who has left his den is certain, 

So the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting. 

124. As the delivery of women with child is certain, 

So the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting. 

And having thus made the resolution, " I shall surely 
become Buddha," with a view to investigating the condi- 
tions that constitute a Buddha, exclaiming, " Where are 
the conditions that make the Buddha, are they found 
above or below, in the principal or the minor directions?" 
investigating successively the principles of all things, and 
beholding the first Perfection of Almsgiving, practised 
and followed by former Bodhisattas, he thus admonished 
his own soul : " Wise Sumedha, from this time forth 



THE TEN PARAMITAS. 19 

thou must fulfil the perfection of Almsgiving ; for as a 
water- jar overturned discharges the water so that none 
remains, and cannot recover it, even so if thou, indifferent 
to wealth and fame, and wife and child, and goods great 
and small, give away to all who come and ask everything 
that they require till nought remains, thou shalt seat 
thyself at the foot of the tree of Bodhi and become a 
Buddha." With these words he strenuously resolved to 
attain the first perfection of Almsgiving. Therefore 
it is said, 

125. Come, I will search the Buddha-making conditions, this way and 

that, 

Above and below, in all the ten directions, as far as the principles of 
things extend. 

126. Then, as I made my search, I beheld the first Gift-perfection, 
The high road followed by former sages. 

127. Do thou strenuously taking it upon thyself advance 

To this first perfection of almsgiving, if thou wilt attain Buddhaship. 

128. As a brimming water-jar, overturned by any one, 
Discharges entirely all the water, and retains none within, 

129. Even so, when thou seest any that ask, great, small, and middling, 
Do thou give away all in alms, as the water-jar overthrown. 

But considering further, " There must be beside this 
other conditions that make a Buddha," and beholding the 
second Perfection of Moral Practice, he thought thus, 
" wise Sumedha, from this day forth mayest thou fulfil 
the perfection of Morality ; for as the Yak ox, regardless 
of his life, guards his bushy tail, even so thou shalt 
become Buddha, if from this day forward regardless 
of thy life thou keepest the moral precepts." And he 
strenuously resolved to attain the second perfection of 
Moral Practice. Therefore it is said, 

130. For the conditions of a Buddha cannot be so few, 

Let me investigate the other conditions that bring Buddhaship to 
maturity. 

131. Then investigating I beheld the second Perfection of Morality 
Practised and followed by former sages. 



20 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

132. This second one do thou strenuously undertake, 

And reach the perfection of Moral Practice if thou wilt attain 
Buddhahood. 

133. And as the Yak cow, when her tail has got entangled in anything, 
Then and there awaits death, and will not injure her tail, 1 

1 34. So also do thou, having fulfilled the moral precepts in the four stages, 
Ever guard the Sila as the Yak guards her tail. 

But considering further, "These cannot be the only 
Buddha-making conditions," and beholding the third 
Perfection of Self-abnegation, he thought thus, " wise 
Sumedha, mayest thou henceforth fulfil the perfection 
of Abnegation ; for as a man long the denizen of a prison 
feels no love for it, but is discontented, and wishes to 
live there no more, even so do thou, likening all births 
to a prison-house, discontented with all births, and anxious 
to get rid of them, set thy face toward abnegation, 
thus shalt thou become Buddha." And he strenuously 
made the resolution to attain the third perfection of 
Self-abnegation. Therefore it is said, 

135. For the conditions that make a Buddha cannot he so few, 

I will investigate others, the conditions that bring Buddhaship to 
maturity. 

136. Investigating then I heheld the third Perfection of Abnegation 
Practised and followed by former sages. 

137. This third one do thou strenuously undertake, 

And reach the perfection of abnegation, if thou wilt attain Buddhahood. 

138. As a man long a denizen of the house of bonds, oppressed with 

suffering, 
Feels no pleasure therein, but rather longs for release, 

139. Even so do thou look upon all births as prison-houses, 

Set thy face toward self-abnegation, to obtain release from Existence. 

But considering further, "These cannot be the only 
Buddha-making conditions," and beholding the fourth 
Perfection of Wisdom, he thought thus, " wise Sumedha, 

1 Viz., I suppose, by dragging it forcibly away. This metaphor, which to 
us appears wanting in dignity, is a favourite one with the Hindus. The tail 
of the Yak or Tibetan ox (Bos Grunniens) is a beautiful object, and one of 
the insignia of Hindu royalty. 



THE TEN PARAMITAS. 21 

do thou from this day forth fulfil the perfection of 
Wisdom, avoiding no subject of knowledge, great, small, 
or middling, 1 do thou approach all wise men and ask 
them questions ; for as the mendicant friar on his begging 
rounds, avoiding none of the families, great and small, 
that he frequents, 2 and wandering for alms from place 
to place, speedily gets food to support him, even so 
shalt thou, approaching all wise men, and asking them 
questions, become a Buddha." And he strenuously re- 
solved to attain the fourth perfection of Wisdom. There- 
fore it is said, 

140. For the conditions that make a Buddha cannot be so few, 

I will investigate the other conditions that bring Buddhaship to 
maturity. 

141. Investigating then I beheld the fourth Perfection of "Wisdom 
Practised and followed by former sages. 

142. This fourth do thou strenuously undertake, 

And reach the perfection of wisdom, if thou wilt attain Buddhahood. 

143. And as a monk on his begging rounds avoids no families, 
Either small, or great, or middling, and so obtains subsistence, 

144. Even so thou, constantly questioning wise men, 

And reaching the perfection of wisdom, shalt attain supreme 
Buddhaship. 

But considering further, "These cannot be the only 
Buddha-making conditions," and seeing the fifth Perfec- 
tion of Exertion, he thought thus, " O wise Sumedha, do 
thou from this day forth fulfil the perfection of Exertion. 
As the lion, the king of beasts, in every action 3 strenuously 
exerts himself, so if thou in all existences and in all thy 
acts art strenuous in exertion, and not a laggard, thou 
shalt become a Buddha." And he made a firm resolve 
to attain the fifth perfection of Exertion. Therefore it 
is said, 



1 Lit. " not avoiding anything among things great, small, and middling." 

2 After kind understand kulam, as will be seen from v. 143. 

3 Lit. in all postures, walking, standing, etc. 



22 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

145. For the conditions of a Buddha cannot be so few, 

I will investigate the other conditions which bring Buddhaship to 
maturity. 

146. Investigating then I beheld the fifth Perfection of Exertion 
Practised and followed by former sages. 

147. This fifth do thou strenuously undertake, 

And reach the perfection of exertion, if thou wilt attain Buddhahood. 

148. As the lion, king of beasts, in lying, standing and walking, 
Is no laggard, but ever of resolute heart, 

149. Even so do thou also in every existence strenuously exert thyself, 
And reaching the perfection of exertion, thou shalt attain the supreme 

Buddhaship. 

But considering further, "These cannot be the only 
Buddha-making conditions," and beholding the sixth 
Perfection of Patience, he thought to himself, " wise 
Sumedha, do thou from this time forth fulfil the perfec- 
tion of Longsuffering ; be thou patient in praise and in 
reproach. And as when men throw things pure or foul 
upon the earth, the earth does not feel either desire or 
repulsion towards them, but suffers them, endures them 
and acquiesces in them, even so thou also, if thou art 
patient in praise and reproach, shalt become Buddha." 
And he strenuously resolved to attain the sixth perfection 
of Longsuffering. Therefore it is said, 

150. For the conditions of a Buddha cannot be so few, 

I will seek other conditions also which bring about Buddhaship. 

151. And seeking then I beheld the sixth Perfection of Longsuflering 
Practised and followed by former Buddhas. 

152. Having strenuously taken upon thee this sixth perfection, 

Then with unwavering mind thou shalt attain supreme Buddhaship. 

153. And as the earth endures all that is thrown upon it, 

"Whether things pure or impure, and feels neither anger nor pity, 

154. Even so enduring the praises and reproaches of all men, 

Going on to perfect longsuffering, thou shalt attain supreme Buddha- 
ship. 

But further considering, " These cannot be the only 
conditions that make a Buddha," and beholding the 
seventh Perfection of Truth, he thought thus within 



THE TEN PARAM1TAS. 23 

himself, " wise Sumedha, from this time forth do thou 
fulfil the perfection of Truth ; though the thunderbolt 
descend upon thy head, do thou never under the influence 
of desire and other passions utter a conscious lie, for the 
sake of wealth or any other advantage. And as the 
planet Venus at all seasons pursues her own course, nor 
ever goes on another course forsaking her own, even so, 
if thou forsake not truth and utter no lie, thou shalt 
become Buddha." And he strenuously turned his mind 
to the seventh perfection of Truth. Therefore it is said, 

155. For these are not all the conditions of a Buddha, 

I will seek other conditions which bring about Buddhaship. 

156. Seeking then I beheld the seventh Perfection of Truth 
Practised and followed by former Buddhas. 

157. Having strenuously taken upon thyself this seventh perfection, 
Then free from duplicity of speech thou shalt attain supreme 

Buddhaship. 

1-58. And as the planet Venus, balanced in all her times and seasons, 
In the world of men and devas, departs not from her path, 

159. Even so do thou not depart from the course of truth, 1 

Advancing to the perfection of truth, thou shalt attain supreme 
Buddhaship. 

But further considering, " These cannot be the only 
conditions that make a Buddha," and beholding the eighth 
Perfection of Resolution, he thought thus within himself, 
" O wise Sumedha, do thou from this time forth fulfil the 
perfection of Resolution; whatsoever thou resolvest be 
thou unshaken in that resolution. For as a mountain, 
the wind beating upon it in all directions, trembles not, 
moves not, but stands in its place, even so thou, if 
unswerving in thy resolution, shalt become Buddha." 
And he strenuously resolved to attain the eighth per- 
fection of Resolution. Therefore it is said, 

160. For these are not all the conditions of a Buddha, 

I will seek out other conditions that bring about Buddhaship. 

1 Lit. depart from thy course in the matter of truthful things. 



24 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

161. Seeking then I beheld the eighth Perfection of Eesolution 
Practised and followed by former Buddhas. 

162. Do thou resolutely take upon thyself this eighth perfection, 
Then thou being immovable shalt attain supreme Buddhaship. 

163. And as the rocky mountain, immovable, firmly based, 

Is unshaken by many winds, and stands in its own place, 

164. Even so do thou also remain ever immovable in resolution, 
Advancing to the perfection of resolution, thou shalt attain supreme 

Buddhaship. 

But further considering, "These cannot be the only 
conditions that make a Buddha," and beholding the ninth 
Perfection of Good- will, he thought thus within himself, 
" O wise Sumedha, do thou from this time forth fulfil the 
perfection of Good-will, mayest thou be of one mind 
towards friends and foes. And as water fills with its 
refreshing coolness good men and bad alike, 1 even so, 
if thou art of one mind in friendly feeling towards all 
mortals, thou shalt become Buddha." And he strenuously 
resolved to attain the ninth perfection of Good-will. 
Therefore it is said, 

165. For these are not all the conditions of a Buddha, 

I will seek out other conditions that bring about Buddhaship. 

166. Seeking I beheld the ninth Perfection of Good-will 
Practised and followed by former Buddhas. 

167. Do thou, taking resolutely upon thyself this ninth perfection, 
Become unrivalled in kindness, if thou wilt become Buddha. 

168. And as water fills with its coolness 

Good men and bad alike, and carries off all impurity, 

169. Even so do thou look with friendship alike on the evil and the good, 
Advancing to the perfection of kindness, thou shalt attain supreme 

Buddhaship. 

But further considering, " These cannot be the only 
conditions that make a Buddha," and beholding the tenth 
Perfection of Equanimity, he thought thus within himself, 
" wise Sumedha, from this time do thou fulfil the 

1 Lit. having made its coldness exactly alike for bad people and good 
people, pervades them. 



THE TEN PARAM1TAS. 25 

perfection of Equanimity, be thou of equal mind in 
prosperity and adversity. And as the earth is indifferent 
when things pure or impure are cast upon it, even so, 
if thou art indifferent in prosperity and adversity, thou 
shalt become Buddha." And he strenuously resolved to 
attain the tenth perfection of Equanimity. Therefore 
it is said, 

170. For these cannot be all the conditions of a Buddha, 

I will seek other conditions that bring about Buddhaship. 

171. Seeking then I beheld the tenth Perfection of Equanimity 
Practised and followed by former Buddhas. 

172. If thou take resolutely upon thyself this tenth perfection, 
Becoming well-balanced and firm, thou shalt attain supreme Buddha- 
ship. 

173. And as the earth is indifferent to pure and impure things cast 

upon her, 
To both alike, and is free from anger and favour, 

174. Even so do thou ever be evenly-balanced in joy and grief, 
Advancing to the perfection of equanimity, thou shalt attain supreme 

Buddhaship. 

Then he thought, "These are the only conditions in 
this world that, bringing Buddhaship to perfection and 
constituting a Buddha, have to be fulfilled by Bodhisattas; 
beside the ten Perfections there are no others. And 
these ten Perfections are neither in the heaven above 
nor in the earth below, nor are they to be found in the 
east or the other quarters, but reside in my heart of 
flesh." Having thus realized that the Perfections were 
established in his heart, having strenuously resolved to 
keep them all, grasping them again and again, he 
mastered them forwards and backwards ; l taking them 
at the end he went backward to the beginning, taking 
them at the beginning he placed them at the end, 2 taking 
them at the middle he carried them to the two ends, 
taking them at both ends he carried them to the middle. 

1 i.e. alternately from the first to the tenth and from the tenth to the first. 

2 i.e. put the first last. 



26 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

Repeating, " The Perfections are the sacrifice of limbs, 
the Lesser Perfections are the sacrifice of property, the 
Unlimited Perfections are the sacrifice of life," he mastered 
them as the Perfections, the Lesser Perfections and the 
Unlimited Perfections, like one who converts two 
kindred oils into one, 1 or like one who, using Mount Meru 
for his churning-rod, churns the great Cakkavala ocean. 
And as he grasped again and again the ten Perfections, 
by the power of his piety this earth, four nahutas and 
eight hundred thousand leagues in breadth, like a bundle 
of reeds trodden by an elephant, or a sugar-mill in 
motion, uttering a mighty roar, trembled, shook and 
quaked, and spun round like a potter's wheel or the 
wheel of an oil-mill. Therefore it is said, 

175. These are all the conditions in the world that bring Buddhaship to 

perfection : 
Beyond these are no others, therein do thou stand fast. 

176. "While he grasped these conditions natural and intrinsic, 2 

By the power of his piety the earth of ten thousand worlds quaked. 

177. The earth sways and thunders like a sugar-mill at work, 
Like the wheel of an oil-mill so shakes the earth. 

And while the earth was trembling the people of 
Ramma, unable to endure it, like great Sal-trees over- 
thrown by the wind that blows at the end of a cycle, 
fell swooning here and there, while waterpots and other 
vessels, revolving like a jar on a potter's wheel, struck 
against each other and were dashed and ground to pieces. 
The multitudes in fear and trembling approaching the 
Teacher said, " Tell us, Blessed one, is this turmoil caused 
by dragons, or is it caused by either demons, or ogres, or 
by celestial beings ? for this we know not, but truly 
this whole multitude is grievously afflicted. Pray does 

1 Vijesinha. 

2 Vijesinha writes to me, " Natural and intrinsic virtues. The Sinhalese 
gloss says : paramarthavu rasasahitavu lakshana-teti nohot svabhavalakshana 
ha sarvadharmasadharanalakshana-ceti. In the latter case it would mean, 
having the quality of conformity with all laws." 



THE GREAT RESOLVE. 27 

this portend evil to the world or good ? tell us the cause 
of it." The Teacher hearing their words said, " Fear not 
nor be troubled, there is no danger to you from this. 
The wise Sumedha, concerning whom I predicted this 
day, * Hereafter he will be a Buddha named Gotama/ 
is now mastering the Perfections, and while he masters 
them and turns them about, by the power of his piety 
the whole ten thousand worlds with one accord quake 
and thunder." Therefore it is said, 

178. All the multitude that was there in attendance on the Buddha, 
Trembling, fell swooning there upon the ground. 

179. Many thousands of waterpots and many hundred jars 

"Were crushed and pounded there and dashed against each other. 

180. Excited, trembling, terrified, confused, their sense disordered, 
The multitudes assembling, approached the Buddha. 

181. Say, will it be good or evil to the world ? 

The whole world is afflicted, ward off this (danger), thou Omniscient 
One. 

182. Then the Great Sage Dipankara enjoined upon them, 
Be confident, be not afraid at this earthquaking : 

183. He concerning whom I predicted this day, He will be a Buddha 

in this world, 

The same is investigating the time-honoured Conditions followed by 
the Buddhas. 

184. Therefore while he is investigating fully these Conditions, the 

groundwork of a Buddha, 

The earth of ten thousand worlds is shaken in the world of men and 
of angels. 

And the people hearing the Buddha's words, joyful and 
delighted, taking with them garlands, perfumes and 
unguents, left the city of Ramma, and went to the 
Bodhisatta. And having offered their flowers and other 
presents, and bowed to him and respectfully saluted him, 
they returned to the city of Ramma. And the Bodhisatta, 
having made a strenuous exertion and resolve, rose from 
the seat on which he sat. Therefore it is said, 

185. Having heard the Buddha's word, their minds were straightway 

calmed, 
All of them approaching me again paid me their homage. 



28 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

186. Having taken upon me the Perfections of a Buddha, having made 

firm my resolve, 
Having bowed to Dlpankara, I rose from my seat. 

And as the Bodhisatta rose from his seat, the angels in 
all the ten thousand worlds having assembled and offered 
him garlands and perfumes, uttered these and other 
words of praise and blessing, "Venerable hermit Sumedha, 
this day thou hast made a mighty resolve at the feet of 
Dlpankara Buddha, mayest thou fulfil it without let 
or hindrance : fear not nor be dismayed, may not 
the slightest sickness visit thy frame, quickly exercise 
the Perfections and attain supreme Buddhaship. As the 
flowering and fruit-bearing trees bring forth flowers and 
fruit in their season, so do thou also, not letting the right 
season pass by, quickly reach the supreme knowledge 
of a Buddha." And thus having spoken, they returned 
each one to his celestial home. Then the Bodhisatta, 
having received the homage of the angels, made a 
strenuous exertion and resolve, saying, " Having fulfilled 
the ten Perfections, at the end of four asankheyyas and 
a hundred thousand cycles I shall become a Buddha." 
And rising into the air he returned to Himavanta. There- 
fore it is said, 

187. As he rose from his seat both angels and men 
Sprinkle him with celestial and earthly flowers. 

188. Both angels and men pronounce their blessing, 

A great prayer thou hast made, mayest thou obtain it according to 
thy wish. 

189. May all dangers be averted, may every sickness vanish, 

Mayest thou have no hindrance, quickly reach the supreme knowledge 
of a Buddha. 

190. As when the season is come the flowering trees do blossom, 

Even so do thou, mighty One, blossom with the wisdom of a 
Buddha. 

191. As all the Buddhas have fulfilled the ten Perfections, 
Even so do thou, mighty One, fulfil the ten Perfections. 

192. As all the Buddhas are enlightened on the throne of knowledge, 
Even so do thou, mighty One, receive enlightenment in the wisdom 

of a Buddha. 



DEA TH OF DIPANKARA BUDDHA. 2 g 

193. As all the Buddhas have established the supremacy of the Law, 
Even so do thou, mighty One, establish the supremacy of the Law. 

194. As the moon on the mid-day of the month shines in her purity, 
Even so do thou, with thy mind at the full, shine in ten thousand 

worlds. 

195. As the sun released by Rahu glows fervently in his heat, 

Even so, having redeemed mankind, do thou shine in all thy majesty. 

1 96. As all the rivers find their way to the great ocean, 

Even so may the worlds of men and angels take refuge in thee. 

197. The Bodhisatta extolled with these praises, taking on himself the ten 

Conditions, 
Commencing to fulfil these Conditions, entered the forest. 

End of the Story of Sumedha. 

And the people of the city of Ramrna,- having returned 
to the city, kept open house to the priesthood with the 
Buddha at their head. The Teacher having preached 
the Law to them, and established them in the three 
Refuges and the other branches of the Faith, departing 
from the city of Ramma, living thereafter his allotted 
span of life, having fulfilled all the duties of a Buddha, 
in due course attained Nirvana in that element of an- 
nihilation in which no trace of existence remains. On 
this subject all that need be said can be learnt from the 
narrative in the Buddhavawzsa, for it is said in that work, 

198. Then they, having entertained the Chief of the world with his clergy, 
Took refuge in the Teacher Dlpankara. 

199. Some the Buddha established in the Refuges, 
Some in the five Precepts, others in the ten. 

200. To some he gives the privilege of priesthood, the four glorious 

Fruitions, 
On some he bestows those peerless qualities the analytical Knowledges. 

201. To some the Lord of men grants the eight sublime Acquisitions, 

On some he bestows the three Wisdoms and the six supernatural 
Faculties. 

202. In this order l the Great Sage exhorts the multitude. 

Therewith the commandment of the world's Protector was spread 
wide abroad. 

1 Vij. says, "In that order, viz. in the Saranagamana first, then in the 
Pancasila, then in the Dasasila, and so on." 



jo THE NIDANAKATHA. 

203. He of the mighty jaw, of the broad shoulder, DTpankara by name, 
Procured the salvation of many men, warded off from them future 

punishment. 

204. Beholding persons ripe for salvation, reaching them in an instant, 
Even at a distance of four hundred thousand leagues, the Great Sage 

awakened them (to the knowledge of the truth). 

205. At the first conversion the Buddha converted a thousand millions. 
At the second the Protector converted a hundred thousand. 

206. When the Buddha preached the truth in the angel world, 
There took place a third conversion of nine hundred millions. 

207. The Teacher DTpankara had three assemblies, 
The first was a meeting of a million millions. 

208. Again when the Conqueror went into seclusion at Narada Ku<a, 
A thousand million spotless Arhats met together. 

209. When the Mighty One dwelt on the lofty rock Sudassana, 

Then the Sage surrounded himself with nine hundred thousand 
millions. 

210. At that time I was an ascetic wearing matted hair, a man of austere 

penances, 

Moving through the air, accomplished in the five supernatural 
Faculties. 

211. The (simultaneous) conversion of tens of thousands, of twenties of 

thousands, took place, 
Of ones and twos the conversions were beyond computation. 1 

212. Then did the pure religion of DTpankara Buddha become widely 

spread, 
Known to many men prosperous and nourishing. 

213. Four hundred thousand saints, possessed of the six Faculties, endowed 

with miraculous powers, 
Ever attend upon DTpankara, knower of the three worlds. 

214. Blameworthy are all they who at that time leave the human existence, 
Not having obtained final sanctity, still imperfect in knowledge. 

215. The word of Buddha shines in the world of men and angels, made to 

blossom by saints such as these, 
Freed from human passion, void of all taint (of sin). 

216. The city of DTpankara Buddha was called RammavatT, 
The khattiya Sumedha was his father, Sumedha his mother. 

217. Sumangala and Tissa were his chief disciples, 
And Sagata was the servitor of DTpankara Buddha. 

218. Nanda and Sunanda were his chief female disciples. 
The Bodhi-tree of this Buddha is called the Pipphali. 2 

219. Eighty cubits in height the Great Sage DTpankara 

Shone conspicuous as a Deodar pine, or as a noble Sal-tree in full 
bloom. 

1 Lit. " arithmetically innumerable." 

2 The Banyan-tree. 



BUDDHA. 31 

220. A hundred thousand years was the age of this Great Sage, 

And so long as he was living on earth he brought many men to 
salvation. 

221. Having made the Truth to flourish, having saved great multitudes 

of men, 
Having flamed like a mass of fire, he died together with his disciples. 

222. And all this power, this glory, these jewel-wheels on his feet, 
All is wholly gone, are not all existing things vanity ! 

223. After Dlpankara was the Leader named Ko<?afi3a, 

Of infinite power, of boundless renown, immeasurable, unrivalled. 

Next to the Dlpankara Buddha, after the lapse of one 
asankheyya, the Teacher Kowrfanna appeared. He also 
had three assemblies of saints, at the first assembly there 
were a million millions, at the second ten thousand 
millions, at the third nine hundred millions. At that 
time the Bodhisatta, having been born as a universal 
monarch named Vijitavin, kept open house to the priest- 
hood with the Buddha at their head, in number a million 
of millions. The Teacher having predicted of the Bodhi- 
satta, "He will become a Buddha," preached the Law. 
He having heard the Teacher's preaching gave up his 
kingdom and became a Buddhist monk. Having mastered 
the three Treasuries, 1 having obtained the six supernatural 
Faculties, and having practised without failure the ecstatic 
meditation, he was reborn in the Brahma heavens. The 
city of KoMtfafifia Buddha was Rammavatl, the khattiya 
Sunanda was his father, his mother was queen Sujata, 
Bhadda and Subhadda were his two chief disciples, Anu- 
ruddha was his servitor, Tissa and Upatissa his chief 
female disciples, his Bodhi-tree was the Salakalyara, his 
body was eighty- eight cubits high, and the duration of 
his life was a hundred thousand years. 

After him, at the end of one asankheyya, in one 
and the same cycle four Buddhas were born, Mangala, 
Sumana, Revata and Sobhita. Mangala Buddha had 
three assemblies of saints, of these at the first there were 

1 The three divisions of the Buddhist Scriptures. 



32 THE N1DANAKATHA. 

a million million priests, at the second ten thousand 
millions, at the third nine hundred millions. It is related 
that a step-brother of his, prince Ananda, accompanied 
by an assembly of nine hundred millions, went to the 
Teacher to hear him preach the Law. The Teacher gave 
a discourse dealing successively with his various doctrines, 
and Ananda and his whole retinue attained Arhatship 
together with the analytical Knowledges. The Teacher 
looking back upon the meritorious works done by these 
men of family in former existences, and perceiving that 
they had merit to acquire the robe and bowl by miraculous 
means, stretching forth his right hand exclaimed, " Come, 
priests." 1 Then straightway all of them having become 
equipped with miraculously obtained robes and bowls, 
and perfect in decorum, 2 as if they were elders of sixty 
years standing, paid homage to the Teacher and attended 
upon him. This was his third assembly of saints. And 
whereas with other Buddhas a light shone from their 
bodies to the distance of eighty cubits on every side, it 
was not so with this Buddha, but the light from his body 
permanently filled ten thousand worlds, and trees, earth, 
mountains, seas and all other things, not excepting even 
pots and pans and such-like articles, became as it were 
overspread with a film of gold. The duration of his life 
was ninety thousand years, and during the whole of this 
period the sun, moon and other heavenly bodies could not 
shine by their own light, and there was no distinction 
between night and day. By day all living beings went 
about in the light of the Buddha as if in the light of 
the sun, and men ascertained the limits of night and 
day only by the flowers that blossomed in the evening 
and by the birds and other animals that uttered their 
cries in the morning. If I am asked, " What, do not 
other Buddhas also possess this power ? " I reply, Cer- 

1 The formula by which a Buddha admits a layman to the priesthood. 
- Vijesinha. 



MANGA LA BUD DPI A. 



33 



tainly they do, for they might at will fill with their 
lustre ten thousand worlds or more. But in accordance 
with a prayer made by him in a former existence, the 
lustre of Mangala Buddha permanently filled ten thousand 
worlds, just as the lustre of the others permanently 
extended to the distance of a fathom. 1 The story is that 
when he was performing the duties of a Bodhisatta, 2 
being in an existence corresponding to the Vessantara 
existence, 3 he dwelt with his wife and children on a 
mountain like the Vanka mountain (of the Vessantara 
Jataka). One day a demon named Kharada^/dka, 4 hearing 
of the Bodhisatta' s inclination to giving, approached him 
in the guise of a brahmin, and asked the Bodhisatta for 
his two children. The Bodhisatta, exclaiming, "I give 
my children to the brahmin," cheerfully and joyfully 
gave up both the children, thereby causing the ocean-girt 
earth to quake. 5 The demon, standing by the bench at 
the end of the cloistered walk, while the Bodhisatta 
looked on, devoured the children like a bunch of roots. 
Not a particle of sorrow 6 arose in the Bodhisatta as he 
looked on the demon, and saw his mouth as soon as he 
opened it disgorging streams of blood like flames of fire, 
nay, a great joy and satisfaction welled within him as he 
thought, " My gift was well given." And he put up the 
prayer, "By the merit of this deed may rays of light 
one day issue from me in this very way." In consequence 
of this prayer of his it was that the rays emitted from 
his body when he became Buddha filled so vast a space. 
There was also another deed done by him in a former 
existence. It is related that, when a Bodhisatta, having 
visited the relic shrine of a Buddha, he exclaimed, "I 

1 Lit. " like the fathom-light of the others, so the personal lustre of 
Mangala Buddha remained constantly pervading ten thousand Worlds." 
3 i.e. the Paramitas. 

3 i.e. his last birth hefore attaining Buddhahood. 

4 This name means " sharp-fanged." 
6 In approval of his act of faith. 

6 Lit. '' no grief as big as the tip of a hair." 

VOL. I. 3 



34 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

ought to sacrifice my life for this Buddha," and having 
wrapped round the whole of his body in the same way 
that torches are wrapped, and having filled with clarified 
butter a golden vessel with jewelled wick -holders, worth 
a hundred thousand pieces, he lit therein a thousand 
wicks, and having set fire to the whole of his body begin- 
ning with his head, he spent the whole night in cir- 
cumambulating the shrine. And as he thus strove till 
dawn not the root of a hair of his head was even heated, 
'twas as one enters the calyx of a lotus, for the Truth 
guards him who guards himself. Therefore has the 
Blessed One said, 

224. Religion verily protects him who walks according 

thereto, 

Religion rightly followed brings happiness. 
This blessing is then in rightly following the Law, 
The righteous man goes not to a state of punish- 
ment. 

And through the merit of this work also the bodily lustre 
of this Buddha constantly extended through ten thousand 
worlds. At this time our Bodhisatta, 1 having been born 
as the brahmin Suruci, approached the Teacher with 
the view of inviting him to his house, and having heard 
his sweet discourse, said, " Lord, take your meal with me 
to-morrow." " Brahmin, how many monks do you wish 
for ? " " Nay but how many monks have you in your 
escort ? " At that time was the Teacher's first assembty, 
and accordingly he replied, " A million millions." " Lord, 
bring them all with you and come and take your meal 
at my hcpise." The Teacher consented. The Brahmin 
having invited them for the next day, on his way home 
thought to himself, " I am perfectly well able to supply 

1 Viz. Gotama Bodhisatta. 



MANGALA BUDDHA. 



35 



all these monks with broth and rice and clothes and such- 
like necessaries, but how can there be room for them to 
sit down?" This thought of his caused the marble 
throne of the archangel Indra, three hundred and thirty- 
six thousand leagues away, to become warm. 1 Indra ex- 
claiming, " Who wishes to bring me down from my 
abode?" and looking down with the divine eye beheld 
the Bodhisatta, and said, "The brahmin Suruci having 
invited the clergy with the Buddha at their head is 
perplexed for room to seat them, it behoves me also to 
go thither and obtain a share of his merit." And having 
miraculously assumed the form of a carpenter, axe in 
hand he appeared before the Bodhisatta and said, " Has 
any one got a job to be done for hire ? " The Bodhisatta 
seeing him said, " What sort of work can you do ? " 
" There's no art that I do not know ; any house or hall 
that anybody orders me to build, I'll build it for him." 
" Very well, I've got a job to be done." " What is it, 
sir?" "I've invited a million million priests for to- 
morrow, will you build a hall to seat them all ? " " I'll 
build one with pleasure if you've the means of paying 
me." " I have, my good man." " Very well, I'll build 
it." And he went and began looking out for a site. 
There was a spot some fifty leagues in extent 2 as level as 
a kasina circle. 3 Indra fixed his eyes upon it, while he 
thought to himself, " Let a hall made of the seven 
precious stones rise up over such and such an extent of 
ground." Immediately the edifice bursting through the 
ground rose up. The golden pillars of this hall had silver 
capitals, 4 the silver pillars had golden capitals, the gem 
pillars had coral capitals, the coral pillars had gem 
capitals, while those pillars which were made of all the 

1 When a good man is in difficulty, Indra is apprised of it by his marble 
throne becoming warm. 

2 Lit. twelve or thirteen yojanas ; a yojana is four leagues. 

3 Used in the ecstatic meditation. 

4 The Pali word for the capital of a column is ghafaka, " little pot." 



36 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

seven precious stones had capitals of the same. Next he 
said, " Let the hall have hanging wreaths of little bells 
at intervals," and looked again. The instant he looked a 
fringe of bells hung down, whose musical tinkling, as 
they were stirred by a gentle breeze, was like a symphony 
of the five sorts of instruments, or as when the heavenly 
choirs are going on. He thought, " Let there be hanging 
garlands of perfumes and flowers," and there the garlands 
hung. He thought, " Let seats and benches for a million 
million monks rise up through the earth," and straight- 
way they appeared. He thought, "Let water vessels 
rise up at each corner of the building," and the water 
vessels arose. Having by his miraculous power effected 
all this, he went to the brahmin and said, " Come, sir, 
look at your hall, and pay me my wages." The Bodhisatta 
went and looked at the hall, and as he looked his whole 
frame was thrilled in every part with fivefold joy. And 
as he gazed on the hall he thought thus within himself, 
" This hall was not wrought by mortal hands, but surely 
through my good intention, my good action, the palace of 
Indra became hot, and hence this hall must have been 
built by the archangel Indra ; it is not right that in such 
a hall as this I should give alms for a single day, I will 
give alms for a whole week." For the gift of external 
goods, however great, cannot give satisfaction to the 
Bodhisattas, but the Bodhisattas feel joy at their self- 
renunciation when they sever the crowned head, put out the 
henna- anointed eyes, cut out the heart and give it away. 
For when our Bodhisatta in the Sivijataka gave alms in 
the middle of his capital, at the four gates of the city, at 
a daily expenditure of five bushels of gold coins, this 
liberality failed to arouse within him a feeling of satis- 
faction at his renunciation. But on the other hand, when 
the archangel Indra came to him in the disguise of a 
brahmin, and asked for his eyes, then indeed, as he took 
them out and gave them away, laughter rose within him, 



MANGALA BUDDHA. 



37 



nor did his heart swerve a hair's breadth from its purpose. 
And hence we see that as regards almsgiving the Bodhi- 
sattas can have no satiety. Therefore this Bodhisatta 
also thinking, " I ought to give alms for seven days to a 
million million priests," seated them in that hall, and 
for a week gave them the alms called gavapana. 1 Men 
alone were not able to wait upon them, but the angels 
themselves, taking turns with men, waited upon them. 
A space of fifty leagues or more sufficed not to contain 
the monks, yet they seated themselves each by his own 
supernatural power. On the last day, having caused the 
bowls of all the monks to be washed, and filled them with 
butter clarified and unclarified, honey and molasses, for 
medicinal use, he gave them back to them, together with 
the three robes. The robes and cloaks received by novices 
and ordained priests were worth a hundred thousand. 
The Teacher, when he returned thanks, considering, 
" This man has given such great alms, who can he be ? " 
and perceiving that at the end of two asankheyyas and 
four thousand cycles he would become a Buddha named 
Gotama, addressing the Bodhisatta, made this prediction : 
"After the lapse of such and such a period thou shalt 
become a Buddha named Gotama." The Bodhisatta, 
hearing the prediction, thought, " It seems that I am to 
become a Buddha, what good can a householder's life do 
me? I will give up the world," and, treating all this 
prosperity like so much drivel, he received ordination at 
the hands of the Teacher. And having embraced the 
ascetic life and learnt the word of Buddha, and having 
attained the supernatural Faculties and the Attainments, 
at the end of his life he was reborn in the Brahma 
heavens. The city of Mangala Buddha was called Uttara, 
his father was the khattiya Uttara; his mother was 
Uttara, Sudeva and Dhammasena were his two chief 

1 According to the gloss printed in the text it is a compound of milk, rice, 
honey, sugar and clarified butter. 



3 8 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

disciples, Palita was his servitor, Slvall and Asoka his 
two chief female disciples. The Naga was his Bodhi-tree, 
his body was eighty-eight cubits high. When his death 
took place, after he had lived ninety thousand years, at 
the same instant ten thousand worlds were involved in 
darkness, and in all worlds there was a great cry and 
lamentation of men. 

225. After Kondanna, the Leader named Mangala, 
Dispelling darkness in the world, held aloft the 

torch of truth. 

And after the Buddha had died, shrouding in darkness 
ten thousand worlds, the Teacher named Sumana appeared. 
He also had three great assemblies of saints, at the first 
assembly the priests were a million millions, at the second, 
on the Golden Mountain, ninety million of millions, at 
the third eighty million of millions. At this time the 
Bodhisatta was the Naga king Atula, mighty and powerful. 
And he, hearing that a Buddha had appeared, left the 
Naga world, accompanied by his assembled kinsmen, and, 
making offerings with celestial music to the Buddha, 
whose retinue was a million million of monks, and having 
given great gifts, bestowing upon each two garments of 
fine cloth, he was established in the Three Refuges. And 
this Teacher also foretold of him, " One day he will be a 
Buddha." The city of this Buddha was named Khema, 
Sudatta was his father, Sirima his mother, Sarawa and 
Bhavitatta his chief disciples, Udena his servitor, Sowa 
and Upasona his chief female disciples. The Naga was 
his Bodhi-tree, his body was ninety cubits high, and his 
age ninety thousand years. 

226. After Mangala came the Leader named Sumana, 
In all things unequalled, the best of all beings. 

After him the Teacher Eevata appeared. He also had 



REV ATA BUDDHA. 



39 



three assemblies of saints. At the first assembly the priests 
were innumerable, at the second there were a million 
millions, so also at the third. At that time the Bodhi- 
satta having been born as the brahmin Atideva, having 
heard the Teacher's preaching, was established in the 
Three Refuges. And raising his clasped hands to his 
head, having praised the Teacher's abandonment of human 
passion, presented him with a monk's upper robe. And he 
also made the prediction, " Thou wilt become a Buddha." 
Now the city of this Buddha was called Sudhaimavatl, 
his father was the khattiya Vipula, his mother Yipula, 
Yaruna and Brahmadeva his chief disciples, Sambhava 
his servitor, Bhadda and Subhadda his chief female 
disciples, and the Naga-tree his Bo-tree. His body was 
eighty cubits high, and his age sixty thousand years. 

227. After Sumana came the Leader named Revata, 

The Conqueror unequalled, incomparable, un- 
matched, supreme. 

After him appeared the Teacher Sobhita. He also had 
three assemblies of saints ; at the first assembly a thou- 
sand million monks were present, at the second nine 
hundred millions, at the third eight hundred millions. 
At that time the Bodisat having been born as the brahman 
Ajita, and having heard the Teacher's preaching, was 
established in the Three Refuges, and gave a great 
donation to the Order of monks, with the Buddha at their 
head. To this man also he prophesied, saying, "Thou 
shalt become a Buddha." Sudhamma was the name of 
the city of this Blessed One, Sudhamma the king was 
his father, Sudhamma his mother, Asama and Sunetta 
his chief disciples, Anoma his servitor, Nakula and 
Sujata his chief female disciples, and the Naga-tree his 
Bo-tree ; his body was fifty-eight cubits high, and his 
age ninety thousand years. 



40 THE N1DANAKATHA. 

228. After Revata came the Leader named Sobhita, 
Subdued and mild, unequalled and unrivalled. 

After him, when an asarjkheyya had elapsed, three 
Buddhas were born in one kalpa Anomadassin, Paduma, 
and Narada. Anomadassin had three assemblies of saints; 
at the first eight hundred thousand monks were present, 
at the second seven, at the third six. At that time the 
Bodisat was a Yakkha chief, mighty and powerful, the 
lord of many millions of millions of yakkhas. He, hearing 
that a Buddha had appeared, came and gave a great 
donation to the Order of monks, with the Buddha at their 
head. And the Teacher prophesied to him too, saying, 
" Hereafter thou shalt be a Buddha." The city of Ano- 
madassin the Blessed One was called CandavatI, Yasava 
the king was his father, Yasodhara his mother, Nisabha 
and Anoma his chief disciples, Yaruna his servitor, 
Sundarl and Sumana his chief female disciples, the Arjuna- 
tree his Bo-tree ; his body was fifty-eight cubits high, 
his age a hundred thousand years. 

229. After Sobhita came the perfect Buddha the best 

of men 

Anomadassin, of infinite fame, glorious, difficult 
to surpass. 

After him appeared the Teacher named Paduma. He 
too had three assemblies of saints ; at the first assembly 
a million million monks were present, at the second three 
hundred thousand, at the third two hundred thousand of 
the monks who dwelt at a great grove in the uninhabited 
forest. At that time, whilst the Tathagata was living in 
that grove, the Bodisat having been born as a lion, saw 
the Teacher plunged in ecstatic trance, and with trustful 
heart made obesiance to him, and walking round him with 
reverence, experienced great joy, and thrice uttered a 



PA DUMA BUDDHA. 41 

mighty roar. For seven days lie laid not aside the bliss 
arising from the thought of the Buddha, but through joy 
and gladness, seeking not after prey, he kept in attendance 
there, offering up his life. When the Teacher, after 
seven days, aroused himself from his trance, he looked 
upon the lion and thought, " He will put trust in the 
Order of monks and make obeisance to them ; let them 
draw near." At that very moment the monks drew 
near, and the lion put faith in the Order. The Teacher, 
knowing his thoughts, prophesied, saying, " Hereafter he 
shall be a Buddha." Now the city of Paduma the 
Blessed One was called Champaka, his father was Paduma 
the king, his mother Asama, Siila and TJpasala were his 
chief disciples, Yaruna his servitor, Rama and Uparama 
his chief female disciples, the Crimson-tree his Bo-tree ; 
his body was fifty-eight cubits high, and his age was a 
hundred thousand years. 

230. After Anomadassin came the perfect Buddha, the 

best of men, 
Paduma by name, unequalled, and without a rival. 

After him appeared the Teacher named Ndrada. He 
also had three assemblies of saints ; at the first assembly 
a million million monks were present, at the second 
ninety million million, at the third eighty million million. 
At that time the Bodisat, having taken the vows as a sage, 
acquired the five kinds of Wisdom and the eight sublime 
Acquisitions, and gave a great donation to the Order, 
with the Buddha at their head, making an offering of red 
sandal wood. And to him also he prophesied, "Hereafter 
thou shalt be a Buddha." The city of this Blessed One 
was called Dhannavati, his father was Sumedha the 
warrior, his mother Anoma, Bhaddasala and Jetamitta 
his chief disciples, Vasettha his servitor, Uttara and 
PaggunI his chief female disciples, the great Crimson- 



42 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

tree was his Bo-tree; his body was eighty-eight cubits 
high, and his age was ninety thousand years. 

231. After Paduma came the perfect Buddha, the best 

of men, 
Narada by name, unequalled, and without a rival. 

After Narada the Buddha a hundred thousand world- 
cycles ago there appeared in one kalpa only one Buddha 
called Padumuttara. He also had three assemblies of saints ; 
at the first a million million monks were present, at the 
second, on the Yebhara Mountain, nine hundred thousand 
million, at the third eight hundred thousand million. At 
that time the Bodisat, born as the Mahratta of the name 
of Jatila, gave an offering of robes to the Order, with 
the Buddha at their head. And to him also he announced, 
" Hereafter thou shalt be a Buddha." And at the time 
of Padumuttara the Blessed One there were no infidels, 
but all, men and angels, took refuge in the Buddha. 
His city was called Harjsavati, his father was Ananda the 
warrior, his mother Sujata, Devala and Sujata his chief 
disciples, Sumana his servitor, Amita and Asama his chief 
female disciples, the Sala-tree his Bo-tree ; his body was 
eighty- eight cubits high, the light from his body extended 
twelve leagues, and his age was a hundred thousand years. 

232. After Narada came the perfect Buddha, the best 

of men, 

Padumuttara by name, the Conqueror unshaken, 
like the sea. 

After him, when thirty thousand world-cycles had 
elapsed, two Buddhas, Sumedha and Sujata, were born in 
one kalpa. Sumedha also had three assemblies of his 
saints ; at the first assembly, in the city Sudassana, a 
thousand million sinless ones were present, at the second 



NARADA BUDDHA. 43 

nine hundred, at the third eight hundred. At that time 
the Bodisat, born as the brahman youth named Uttara, 
lavished eight hundred millions of money he had saved 
in giving a great donation to the Order, with the Buddha 
at their head. And he then listened to the Law, and 
accepted the Refuges, and abandoned his home, and took 
the vows. And to him also the Buddha prophesied, 
saying, "Hereafter thou shalt be a Buddha." The city 
of Sumedha the Blessed One was called Sudassana, 
Sudatta the king was his father, Sudatta his mother, 
Sarana and Sabbakama his two chief disciples, Sagara his 
servitor, Rama and Surama his two chief female disciples, 
the great Champaka-tree his Bo-tree ; his body was 
eighty-eight cubits high, and his age was ninety thousand 
years. 

233. After Padumuttara came the Leader named Su- 
medha, 

The Sage hard to equal, brilliant in glory, supreme 
in all the world. 

After him appeared the Teacher Sujdta. He also had 
three assemblies of his saints ; at the first assembly sixty 
thousand monks were present, at the second fifty, at the 
third forty. At that time the Bodisat was a universal 
monarch ; and hearing that a Buddha was born he went to 
him and heard the Law, and gave to the Order, with the 
Buddha at their head, his kingdom of the four continents 
with its seven treasures, and took the vows under the 
Teacher. All the dwellers in the land, taking advan- 
tage of the birth of a Buddha in their midst, did duty as 
servants in the monasteries, and continually gave great 
donations to the Order, with the Buddha at their head. 
And to him also the Teacher prophesied. The city of 
this Blessed One was called Sumangala, TJggata the king 
was his father, PabhavatI his mother, Sudassana and 



44 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

Deva his chief disciples, Narada his servitor, Naga and 
Nagasamala his chief female disciples, and the great 
Bambu-tree his Bo-tree ; this tree, they say, had smaller 
hollows and thicker wood than ordinary bambus have, 1 
and in its mighty upper branches it was as brilliant as a 
bunch of peacocks' tails. The body of this Blessed One 
was fifty cubits high, and his age was ninety thousand 
years. 

234. In that age, the Mandakalpa, appeared the Leader 

Sujata, 

Mighty jawed and grandly framed, whose measure 
none can take, and hard to equal. 

After him, when eighteen hundred world-cycles had 
elapsed, three Buddhas, Piyadassin, Atthadassin, and 
Dhammadassin, were born in one kalpa. Piyadassin also 
had three assemblies of his saints ; at the first a million 
million monks were present, at the second nine hundred 
million, at the third eight hundred million. At that 
time the Bodisat, as a young brahman called Kassapa, who 
had thoroughly learnt the three Vedas, listened to the 
Teacher's preaching of the Law, and built a monastery 
at a cost of a million million, and stood firm in the 
Refuges and the Precepts. And to him the Teacher 
prophesied, saying, " After the lapse of eighteen hundred 
kalpas thou shalt become a Buddha." The city of this 
Blessed One was called Anoma, his father was Sudinna 
the king, his mother Canda, Palita and Sabbadassin his 
chief disciples, Sobhita his servitor, Sujata and Dhamma- 
dinna his chief female disciples, and the Priyangu-tree 
his Bo-tree. His body was eighty cubits high, and his 
age ninety thousand years. 

1 Compare Jataka No. 20 below. 



ATTHADASSIN THE BUDDHA. 



45 



235. After Sujata came Piyadassin, Leader of the world, 
Self-taught, hard to match, unequalled, of great 

glory. 

After him appeared the Teacher called Atthadassin. 
He too had three assemblies of his saints; at the first 
nine million eight hundred thousand monks were present, 
at the second eight million eight hundred thousand, and 
the same number at the third. At that time the Bodisat, 
as the mighty ascetic Susima, brought from heaven 
the sunshade of Mandarava flowers, and offered it to the 
Teacher, who prophesied also to him. The city of this 
Blessed One was called Sobhita, Sagara the king was his 
father, Sudassana his mother, Santa and Apasanta his 
chief disciples, Abhaya his servitor, Dhamma and Su- 
dhamma his chief female disciples, and the Champaka his 
Bo-tree. His body was eighty cubits high, the glory 
from his body always extended over a league, and his age 
was a hundred thousand years. 

236. In the same Mandakalpa Atthadassin, best of men, 
Dispelled the thick darkness, and attained supreme 

Enlightenment. 

After him appeared the Teacher named Dhammadassin. 
He too had three assemblies of his saints ; at the first 
a thousand million monks were present, at the second 
seven hundred millions, at the third eight hundred 
millions. At that time the Bodisat, as Sakka the king 
of the gods, made an offering of sweet-smelling flowers 
from heaven, and heavenly music. And to him too the 
Teacher prophesied. The city of this Blessed One was 
called Sarana, his father was Sarana the king, his mother 
Sunanda, Paduma and Phussadeva his chief disciples, 
Sunetta his servitor, Khema and Sabbanama his chief 
female disciples, and the red Kuravaka-tree (called also 



46 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

Bimbijala) his Bo-tree. His body was eighty cubits high, 
and his age a hundred thousand years. 

237. In the same Mandakalpa the far-famed Dhamma- 

dassin 

Dispelled the thick darkness, illumined earth and 
heaven. 

After him, ninety- four world- cycles ago, only one 
Buddha, by name Siddhattha, appeared in one kalpa. Of 
his disciples too there were three assemblies ; at the first 
assembly a million million monks were present, at the 
second nine hundred millions, at the third eight hundred 
millions. At that time the Bodisat, as the ascetic Man- 
gala of great glory and gifted with the powers derived 
from the Higher Wisdom, brought a great jambu fruit 
and presented it to the Tathagata. The Teacher, having 
eaten the fruit, prophesied to the Bodisat, saying, 
" Ninety-four kalpas hence thou shalt become a Buddha." 
The city of this Blessed One was called Vebhara, Jayasena 
the king was his father, Suphassa his mother, Sambala 
and Sumitta his chief disciples, Revata his servitor, Sivali 
and Surama his chief female disciples, and the Kanikara- 
tree his Bo-tree. His body was sixty cubits high, and 
his age a hundred thousand years-. 

238. AfterDhammadassin,the Leader named Siddhattha 
Rose like the sun, bringing all darkness to an end. 

After him, ninety- two world-cycles ago, two Buddha s, 
Tissa and Phussa by name, were born in one kalpa. 
Tissa the Blessed One had three assemblies of his saints ; 
at the first a thousand millions of monks were present, 
at the second nine hundred millions, at the third eight 
hundred millions. At that time the Bodisat was born as 
the wealthy and famous icarrior-chief Sujdta. When he 



TISSA BUDDHA. 



47 



had taken the vows and acquired the wonderful powers 
of a rishi, he heard that a Buddha had been born ; and 
taking a heaven-grown Mandarava lotus, and flowers of 
the Paricchattaka-tree (which grows in Indra's heaven), 
he offered them to the Tathagata as he walked in the 
midst of his disciples, and he spread an awning of flowers 
in the sky. To him, too, the Teacher prophesied, saying, 
" Ninety-two kalpas hence thou shalt become a Buddha." 
The city of this Blessed One was called Khema, Jana- 
sandha the warrior-chief was his father, Paduma his 
mother, the god Brahma and Udaya his chief disciples, 
Sambhava his servitor, Phussa and Sudatta his chief 
female disciples, and the Asana-tree his Bo-tree. His 
body was sixty cubits high, and his age a hundred 
thousand years. 

239. After Siddhattha, Tissa, the unequalled and un- 
rivalled, 

Of infinite virtue and glory, was the chief Guide 
of the world. 

After him appeared the Teacher named Phussa. He 
too had three assemblies of his saints ; at the first 
assembly six million monks were present, at the second 
five, at the third three million two hundred thousand. At 
that time the Bodisat, born as the warrior-chief Vijitau, 
laid aside his kingdom, and, taking the vows under the 
Teacher, learnt the three Pitakas, and preached the Law 
to the people, and fulfilled the Perfection of Morality. 1 
And the Buddha prophesied to him in the same manner. 
The city of this Blessed One was called Kasi (Benares), 
Jayasena the king was his father, Sirima his mother, 
Surakkhita and Dhammasena his chief disciples, Sabhiya 
his servitor, Gala and Upacala his chief female disciples, 

1 Comp. pp. 19-20, verses 130-134. 



48 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

and the Amalaka-tree his Bo-tree. His body was fifty- 
eight cubits high, and his age ninety thousand years. 

240. In the same Mandakalpa Phussa was the Teacher 

supreme, 

Unequalled, unrivalled, the chief Guide of the 
world. 

After him, ninety world-cycles ago, appeared the 
Blessed One named Vipassin. He too had three assem- 
blies of his saints ; at the first assembly six million eight 
hundred thousand monks were present, in the second 
one hundred thousand, in the third eighty thousand. At 
that time the Bodisat, born as the mighty and powerful 
snake king Aiula, gave to the Blessed One a golden chair, 
inlaid with the seven kinds of gems. To him also he 
prophesied, saying, "Ninety -one world- cycles hence thou 
shalt become a Buddha." The city of this Blessed One 
was called BandhumatI, Bandhuma the king was his 
father, BandhumatI his mother, Khandha and Tissa his 
chief disciples, Asoka his servitor, Canda and Candamitta 
his chief female disciples, and the Bignonia (or Patali- 
tree) his Bo-tree. His body was eighty cubits high, the 
effulgence from his body always reached a hundred 
leagues, and his age was a hundred thousand years. 

241. After Phussa, the Supreme Buddha, the best of 

men, 

Yipassin by name, the far-seeing, appeared in the 
world. 

After him, thirty-one world- cycles ago, there were two 
Buddhas, called Sikhin and Vessabhu. Sikhin too had 
three assemblies of his saints ; at the first assembly a 
hundred thousand monks were present, at the second 
eighty thousand, at the third seventy. At that time the 



VESSABHU BUDDHA. 49 

Bodisat, born as Mng Arindama, gave a great donation of 
robes and other things to the Order with the Buddha 
at their head, and offered also a superb elephant, decked 
with the seven gems and provided with all things suitable. 
To him too he prophesied, saying, "Thirty-one world- 
cycles hence thou shalt become a Buddha." The city of 
that Blessed One was called Arunavati, Aruna the warrior- 
chief was his father, PabhavatI his mother, Abhibhu and 
Sambhava his chief disciples, Khemagkura his servitor, 
Makhela and Paduma his chief female disciples, and the 
Pundarlka-tree his Bo-tree. His body was thirty-seven 
cubits high, the effulgence from his body reached three 
leagues, and his age was thirty- seven thousand years. 

242. After Vipassin came the Supreme Buddha, the 

best of men, 

Sikhin by name, the Conqueror, unequalled and 
unrivalled. 

After him appeared the Teacher named Vessabhu. He 
also had three assemblies of his saints ; at the first 
eight million priests were present, at the second seven, 
at the third six. At that time the Bodisat, born as the 
king Sudassana, gave a great donation of robes and other 
things to the Order, with the Buddha at their head. 
And taking the vows at his hands, he became righteous 
in conduct, and found great joy in meditating on the 
Buddha. To him too the Blessed One prophesied, saying, 
" Thirty-one world-cycles hence thou shalt be a Buddha." 
The city of this Blessed One was called Anopama, Sup- 
patlta the king was his father, YasavatI his mother, Sona 
and Uttara his chief disciples, Upasanta his servitor, 
Dam a and Sumala his chief female disciples, and the 
Sal-tree his Bo-tree. His body was sixty cubits high, 
and his age sixty thousand years. 



50 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

243. In the same Mandakalpa, the Conqueror named 

Yessabhu, 
Unequalled and unrivalled, appeared in the world. 

After him, in this world-cycle, four Buddhas have 
appeared Kakusandha, Konagamana, Kassapa, and our 
Buddha. Kakusandha the Blessed One had one assembly, 
at which forty thousand monks were present. At that 
time the Bodisat, as Kshema the king, gave a great dona- 
tion, including robes and bowls, to the Order, with the 
Buddha at their head, and having given also collyriums 
and drugs, he listened to the Law preached by the 
Teacher, and took the vows. And to him also the 
Buddha prophesied. The city of Kakusandha the Blessed 
One was called Khema, Aggidatta the Brahman was his 
father, Yisakha the Brahman woman his mother, Vidhura 
and Sanjlva his chief disciples, Buddhija his servitor, 
Sama and Campaka his chief female disciples, and the 
great Sirlsa-tree his Bo-tree. His body was forty cubits 
high, and his age forty thousand years. 

244. After Yessabhu came the perfect Buddha, the 

best of men, 
Kakusandha by name, infinite and hard to equal. 

After him appeared the Teacher Kon agamana. Of his 
disciples too there was one assembly, at which thirty 
thousand monks were present. At that time the Bodisat, 
as Pabbata the king, went, surrounded by his ministers, 
to the Teacher, and listened to the preaching of the Law. 
And having given an invitation to the Order, with the 
Buddha at their head, he kept up a great donation, giving 
cloths of silk, and of fine texture, and woven with gold. 
And he took the vows from the Teacher's hands. And to 
him too the Buddha prophesied. The city of this Blessed 
One was called SobhavatI, Yaunadatta the Brahman was 



KASSAPA BUDDHA. 5I 

his father, Uttara the Brahman woman his mother, 
Bhiyyosa and Uttara his chief disciples, Sotthija his 
servitor, Samudda and Uttara his chief female disciples, 
and the Udumbara-tree his Bo-tree. His body was 
twenty cubits high, and his age was thirty thousand 
years. 

245. After Kakusandha came the Perfect Buddha, the 

best of men, 

Konagamana by name, Conqueror, chief of the 
world, supreme among men. 

After him the Teacher named Kassapa appeared in the 
world. Of his disciples too there was one assembly, at 
which twenty thousand monks were present. At that 
time the Bodisat, as the Brahman youth Jotipdla, accom- 
plished in the three Vedas, was well known on earth 
and in heaven as the friend of the potter Ghatlkara. 
Going with him to the Teacher and hearing the Law, he 
took the vows ; and zealously learning the three Pitakas, 
he glorified, by faithfulness in duty and in works of 
supererogation, the religion of the Buddhas. And to 
him too the Buddha prophesied. The birthplace of the 
Blessed One was called Benares, Brahmadatta the brah- 
man was his father, DhanavatI of the brahman caste his 
mother, Tissa and Bharadvaja his chief disciples, Sab- 
bamitta his servitor, Anula and Uruvela his chief female 
disciples, and the Nigrodha-tree his Bo-tree. His body 
was twenty cubits high, and his age was twenty thousand 
years. 

246. After Konagamana came the Perfect Buddha, 

best of men, 

Kassapa by name, that Conqueror, king of 
Righteousness, and giver of Light. 

Again, in the kalpa in which Dlpaijkara the Buddha 



52 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

appeared, three other Buddhas appeared also. On their 
part no prophecy was made to the Bodisat, they are 
therefore not mentioned here ; but in the commentary, 
in order to mention all the Buddhas from this kalpa, it 
is said, 

247. Tanharjkara and Medharjkara, and Saranankara, 
And the perfect Buddha Dlparjkara, and Kondafifia 

best of men, 

248. And Mag gala, and Sumana, and Revata, and 

Sobhita the sage, 
Anomadassin, Paduma, Narada, Padumuttara, 

249. And Sumedha, and Sujata, Piyadassin the famous 

one, 

Atthadassin, Dhammadassin, Siddhattha guide of 
the world, 

250. Tissa, and Phussa the perfect Buddha, Yipassin, 

Sikhin, Vessabhu, 

Kakusandha, Konagamana, and Kassapa too the 
Guide, 

251. These were the perfect Buddhas, the sinless ones, 

the well- controlled ; 

Appearing like suns, dispelling the thick darkness ; 
They, and their disciples too, blazed up like 

flames of fire and went out. 

Thus our Bodisat has come down to us through four 
asavftheyyas plus one hundred thousand kalpas, making 
resolve in the presence of the twenty -four Buddhas, begin- 
ning with Dlpankara. Now after Kassapa there is no 
other Buddha beside the present supreme Buddha. So 
the Bodisat received a prophecy from each of the twenty- 
four Buddhas, beginning at Dlpankara. 

And furthermore in accordance with the saying, 

" The resolve (to become a Buddha) only succeeds 



QUALIFICATIONS OF BODISATS. 53 

by the combination of eight qualifications : 
being a man, and of the male sex, and capable 
of attaining arahatship, association with the 
Teachers, renunciation of the world, perfection 
in virtue, acts of self-sacrifice, and earnest 
determination, ' ' 

he combined in himself these eight qualifications. And 
exerting himself according to the resolve he had made 
at the feet of Dlpagkara, in the words, 

"Come, I will search for the Buddha-making 

conditions, this way and that ; " l 

and beholding the Perfections of Almsgiving and the 
rest to be the qualities necessary for the making of a 
Buddha, according to the words, 

"Then, as I made my search, I beheld the first 

Perfection of Almsgiving ; " 2 

he came down through many births, fulfilling these 
Perfections, even up to his last appearance as Yessantara. 
And the rewards which fell to him on his way, as they 
fall to all the Bodisats who have resolved to become 
Buddhas, are lauded thus : 

252. So the men, perfect in every part, and destined to 

Buddhahood, 

Traverse the long road through thousands of 
millions of ages. 

253. They are not born in hell, nor in the space between 

the worlds ; 
They do not become ghosts consumed by hunger, 

thirst, and want, 
And they do not become small animals, even 

though born to sorrow. 

254. "When born among men they are not blind by 

birth, 

1 See verse 125, above p. 19. 2 See verse 126, above p. 19. 



54 THE N1DANAKATHA. 

They are not hard of hearing, they are not classed 
among the dumh. 

255. They do not become women ; among hermaphro- 

dites and eunuchs 

They are not found, these men destined to 
Buddhahood. 

256. Free from the deadly sins, everywhere pure-living, 
They follow not after vain philosophy, they per- 
ceive the working of Karma. 

257. Though they dwell in heaven, they are not born 

into the Unconscious state, 

Nor are they destined to rebirth among the angels 
in the Pure Abodes. 1 

258. Bent upon renunciation, holy in the world and 

not of it, 

They walk as acting for the world's welfare, 
fulfilling all perfection. 

While he was thus fulfilling the Perfections, there was 
no limit to the existences in which he fulfilled the Per- 
fection of Almsgiving. As, for instance, in the times 
when he was the brahman Akitti, and the brahmin Sarjkha, 
and the king Dhananjaya, andMaha-sudassana, and Maha- 
govinda, and the king Nimi, and the prince Canda, and 
the merchant Visayha, and the king Sivi, and Vessantara. 
So, certainly, in the Birth as the Wise Hare, according 
to the words, 2 

259. When I saw one coming for food, I offered my 

own self, 

There is no one like me in giving, such is my 
Perfection of Almsgiving, 

1 In the four highest of the thirty-one spheres of existence the angels are 
unconscious, and the five worlds helow these are called the Pure Abodes. 

2 All the following verses down to verse 269 are quotations from the 
Cariyapitaka. 



PERFECTIONS OF THE BODISAT. 



55 



he, offering up his own life, acquired the Supreme Per- 
fection called the Perfection of Almsgiving. 

In like manner there is no limit to the existences as, 
for instance, in the times when he was the snake king 
Sllava, and the snake king Campeyya, the snake king 
Bhuridatta, the snake king Chaddanta, and the prince 
Almasattu, son of king Jayaddisa in which he fulfilled 
the Perfection of Goodness. So, certainly, in the 
Sarjkhapala Birth, according to the words, 

260. Even when piercing me with stakes, and striking 

me with javelins, 

I was not angry with the sons of Bhoja, such is 
my Perfection of Goodness, 

he, offering up himself, acquired the Supreme Perfection, 
called the Perfection of Goodness. 

In like manner there is no limit to existences as, for 
instance, in the times when he was the prince Somanassa, 
and the prince Hatthipala, and the wise man Ayoghara 
in which, forsaking his kingdom, he fulfilled the Perfec- 
tion of Renunciation. So, certainly, in the Cula-Sutasoma 
Birth, according to the words, 

261. The kingdom, which was in my power, like 

spittle I rejected it, 

And, rejecting, cared not for it, such is my 
Perfection of Renunciation, 

he, renouncing the kingdom for freedom from the ties of 
sin, 1 acquired the Supreme Perfection, called the Perfec- 
tion of Renunciation. 

In like manner, there is no limit to the existences as, 

1 The Sarjgas, of which there are five lust, hate, ignorance, pride, and 
false doctriue. 



56 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

for instance, in the times when he was the wise man 
Yidhura, and the wise man Maha-govinda, and the wise 
man Kuddala, and the wise man Araka, and the ascetic 
Bodhi, and the wise man Mahosadha in which he 
fulfilled the Perfection of Wisdom. So, certainly, in 
the time when he was the wise man Senaka in the 
Sattubhatta Birth, according to the words, 

262. Searching the matter out by wisdom, I set the 

brahman free from pain, 

There is no one like me in wisdom ; such is my 
Perfection of Wisdom, 

he, pointing out the snake which had got into the 
bellows, acquired the Supreme Perfection called the 
Perfection of Wisdom. 

So, certainly, in the Maha-Janaka Birth, according 
to the words, 

263. Out of sight of the shore, in the midst of the 

waters, all men are as if dead, 
There is no other way of thinking ; such is my 
Perfection of Resolution, 

he, crossing the Great Ocean, acquired the Supreme 
Perfection called the Perfection of Resolution. 

And so in the Khantivada Birth, according to the 
words, 

264. Even when he struck me with a sharp axe, as if 

I were a senseless thing, 

I was not angry with the king of Kasi ; such is 
my Perfection of Patience, 

he, enduring great sorrow as if he were a senseless thing, 
acquired the Perfection of Patience. 



PERFECTIONS OF THE BODISA T. 



57 



And so in the Maha-Sutasoma Birth, according to the 
words, 

265. Guarding the word of Truth, and offering up 

my life, 

I delivered the hundred warriors ; such is my 
Perfection of Truth, 

he, offering up his life, and observing truth, obtained 
the Perfection of Truth. 

And in the Mugapakkha Birth, according to the words, 

266. Father and mother I hated not, reputation I 

hated not, 

But Omniscience was dear to me, therefore was I 
firm in duty, 

offering up even his life, and being resolute in duty, he 
acquired the Perfection of Resolution. 

And so in the Ekaraja Birth, according to the words, 

267. No man terrifies me, nor am I in fear of any 

man ; 

Firm in the power of kindness, in purity I take 
delight, 

regarding not even his life while attaining to kindness, 
he acquired the Perfection of Good- will. 

So in the Somaharjsa Birth, according to the words, 

268. I lay me down in the cemetery, making a pillow 

of dead bones : 

The village children mocked and praised : to all I 
was indifferent, 

he was unshaken in equanimity, even when the villagers 
tried to vex or please him by spitting or by offering 



58 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

garlands and perfumes, and thus lie acquired the 
Perfection of Equanimity. 

This is a summary only, the account will be found 
at length in the Cariya Pitaka. 

Having thus fulfilled the Perfections, in his birth as 
Vessantara, according to the words, 

269. This earth, unconscious though she be and 

ignorant of joy or grief, 

E'en she by my free-giving' s mighty power was 
shaken seven times, 

he performed such mighty acts of virtue as made the 
earth to shake. And when, in the fullness of time, he 
had passed away, he reassumed existence in the Tusita 
heaven. 

Thus should be understood the period, called Dure- 
nidiina, from the Resolution at the feet of Dlpagkara 
down to this birth in the City of Delight. 

II. AVIDURE NIDANA. 

It was when the Bodisat was thus dwelling in the City 
of Delight, that the so-called "Buddha proclamation" 
took place. For three such "Proclamations" take place 
on earth. These are the three. When they realize that 
at the end of a hundred thousand years a new dispensa- 
tion will begin, the angels called Loka-byuha, with their 
hair flying and dishevelled, with weeping faces, wiping 
away, their tears with their hands, clad in red garments, 
and with their clothes all in disorder, wander among 
men, and make proclamation, saying, 

" Friends, one hundred thousand years from now there 
will be a new dispensation ; this system of worlds will 
be destroyed ; even the mighty ocean will dry up ; this 



THE GREAT PROCLAMATIONS. 59 

great earth, with Sineru the monarch of mountains, will 
be burned up and destroyed ; and the whole world, up 
.to the realms of the immaterial angels, will pass away. 
Therefore, friends, do mercy, live in kindness, and 
sympathy, and peace, cherish your mothers, support your 
fathers, honour the elders in your tribes." This is called 
the proclamation of a new Age [Kappahalahalarj]. 

Again, when they realize that at the end of a thousand 
years an omniscient Buddha will appear on earth, the 
angel-guardians of the world go from place to place 
and make proclamation, saying, " Friends, at the end 
of a thousand years from this time a Buddha will appear 
on earth." This is called the proclamation of a Buddha 
[Buddha-halahalai)] . 

Again, when the angels realize that at the end of a 
hundred years a universal monarch will appear, they go 
from place to place and make proclamation, saying, 
" Friends, at the end of a hundred years from this time 
a universal monarch will appear on earth." This is 
called the proclamation of a Universal monarch [Cakka- 
vatti-halahalarj]. These are the three great proclamations. 

When of these three they hear the Buddha-proclama- 
tion, the deities of the ten thousand world- systems 
assemble together ; and having ascertained which of 
the then living beings will become the Buddha, they go 
to him and beseech him to do so, so beseeching him 
when the first signs appear that his present life is 
drawing to its close. Accordingly on this occasion they 
all, with the archangels in each world- system, 1 assembled 
in one world, and going to the future Buddha in the 
Heaven of Delight, they besought him, saying, 

" Blessed One, when thou wast fulfilling the Ten 
Perfections, thou didst not do so from a desire for the 

1 The names are given in the text ; the four Maharajas, Sakka, Suyama, 
Santusita, Paranimitta-vasavatti, and Maha-Brahma. They are the arch- 
angels in the different heavenly seats in each world-system (Cakkavula) 
of the Buddhist cosmogony. 



60 THE NWANAKATHA. 

glorious state of an archangel Sakka, or Mara, or 
Brahma or of a mighty king upon earth ; thou wast 
fulfilling them with the hope of reaching Omniscience 
for the sake of the Salvation of mankind ! Now has the 
moment come, Blessed One, for thy Buddhahood ; 
now has the time, O Blessed One, arrived ! " 

But the Great Being, as if he had not granted the 
prayer of the deities, reflected in succession on the 
following five important points, viz. the time of his 
advent; the continent and country where he should 
appear ; the tribe in which he should be born ; the mother 
who should bear him, and the time when her life should 
be complete. 

Of these he first reflected on the TIME, thinking, " Is 
this the time or not?" And on this point he thought, 
" When the duration of human existence is more than 
a hundred thousand years, the time has not arrived. 
Why not ? Because in such a period men perceive 
not that living beings are subject to birth, decay, and 
death ; the threefold pearl of the preaching of the Gospel 
of the Buddhas is unknown ; and when the Buddhas 
speak of the impermaneuce of all things, of the univer- 
sality of sorrow, and of the delusion of individuality, 
people will neither listen nor believe, saying, 'What is 
this they talk of ? * At such a time there can be no 
perception of the truth, and without that the gospel will 
not lead to salvation. That therefore is not the time. 
Neither is it the right time when the term of human 
existence is under one hundred years. Why not ? 
Because then sin is rife among men; and admonition 
addressed to the sinners finds no place for edification, 
but like a streak drawn on the water vanishes quickly 
away. That therefore is not the time. When, however, 
the term of human existence is under a hundred thousand 
and over a hundred years, that is the proper time." Now 
at that time the age of man was one hundred years. 



SIR TH OF THE BODISA T. 6 1 

The Great Being therefore saw that the time of his 
advent had arrived. 

Then reflecting upon THE CONTINENT, and considering 
the four great continents with their surrounding islands, 1 
he thought, " In three of the continents the Buddhas do 
not but in Jambudvlpa they do appear," and thus he 
decided on the continent. 

Then reflecting upon THE DISTRICT, and thinking, 
" Jambudvlpa indeed is large, ten thousand leagues in 
extent ; now in which district of it do the Buddhas 
appear?" he fixed upon the Middle Country. 2 And 
calling to mind that the town named Kapilavastu was 
in that country, he concluded that he ought to be 
born in it. 

Then reflecting on THE TRIBE, he thought, "The 
Buddhas are not born in the Vaisya caste, nor the Sudra 
caste ; but either in the Brahmana or in the Kshatriya 
caste, whichever is then held in the highest repute. 
The Kshatriya caste is now predominant, I must be born 
in it, and Suddhodana the chief shall be my father." 
Thus he decided on the tribe. 

Then reflecting on THE MOTHER, he thought, " The 
mother of a Buddha is not eager for love, or cunning after 
drink, but has fulfilled the Perfections for a hundred 
thousand ages, and from her birth upwards has kept the 
five Precepts unbroken. Now this lady Maha Maya is 

1 In the seas surrounding each continent (Mahadlpa) there are five hun- 
dred islands. See Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 13. 

2 Majjhima-desa, of which the commentator adds, " This is the country thus 
spoken of in the Vinaya," quoting the passage at Mahavagga, v. 13, 12, which 
gives the boundaries as follows : " To the E. the town Kajarjgala, and beyond 
it Mahasala; to the S.E. the river SalalavatI ; to the S. the town Setakannika ; 
to the W. the brahman town and district Thuna; and to the N. the Uslraddhaja 
Mountain." These are different from the boundaries of the Madhya Desa of 
later Brahminical literature, on which see Lassen's 'Indische Alterthumskunde,' 
vol. i. p. 119 (2nd edition). This sacred land was regarded as the centre of 
Jambudvlpa ; that is, of the then known world just as the Chinese talk of 
China as the Middle Country, and as other people have looked on their own 
capital as the navel or centre of the world, and on their world as the centre of 
the universe. 



62 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

such a one, she shall be my mother." And further 
considering how long her life should last, he foresaw that 
it would still last ten months and seven days. 

Having thus reflected on these five important points, 
he favoured the deities by granting their prayer, saying, 
" The time has arrived, O Blessed Ones, for me to become 
a Buddha." He then dismissed them with the words, 
"You may depart;" and attended by the angels of the 
heaven of Joy, he entered the grove of Gladness in the 
City of Delight. 

Now in each of the angel-heavens (Devalokas) there 
is such a grove of Gladness ; and there the angels are 
wont to remind any one of them who is about to depart 
of the opportunities he has gained by good deeds done in 
a former birth, saying to him, "When fallen hence, 
mayest thou be reborn in bliss." And thus He also, 
when walking about there, surrounded by angels re- 
minding him of his acquired merit, departed thence ; 
and was conceived in the womb of the Lady Maha Maya. 

In order to explain this better, the following is the 
account in fuller detail. At that time, it is said, the 
Midsummer festival was proclaimed in the City of 
Kapilavastu, and the people were enjoying the feast. 
During the seven days before the full moon the Lady 
Maha Maya had taken part in the festivity, as free from 
intoxication as it Was brilliant with garlands and per- 
fumes. On the seventh day she rose early and bathed 
in perfumed water: and she distributed four hundred 
thousand pieces in giving great largesse. Decked in her 
richest attire she partook of the purest food : and vowing 
to observe the Eight Commandments, she entered her 
beautiful chamber, and lying on her royal couch she fell 
asleep and dreamt this dream. 

The four archangels, the Guardians of the world, lifting 
her up in her couch, carried her to the Himalaya moun- 
tains, and placing her under the Great Sala-tree, seven 



MA HA MAYA'S DREAM. 63 

leagues high, on the Crimson Plain, sixty yojanas broad, 
they stood respectfully aside. Their queens then came 
toward her, and taking her to the lake of Anotatta, 
bathed her to free her from human stains ; and dressed 
her in heavenly garments ; and anointed her with per- 
fumes ; and decked her with heavenly flowers. Not far 
from there is the Silver Hill, within which is a golden 
mansion ; in it they spread a heavenly couch, with its 
head towards the East, and on it they laid her down. 
Then the future Buddha, who had become a superb white 
elephant, and was wandering on the Golden Hill, not far 
from there, descended thence, and ascending the Silver 
Hill, approached her from the North. Holding in his 
silvery trunk a white lotus flower, and uttering a far- 
reaching cry, he entered the golden mansion, and thrice 
doing obeisance to his mother's couch, he gently struck 
her right side, and seemed to enter her womb. 1 

Thus was he conceived at the end of the Midsummer 
festival. And the next day, having awoke from her sleep, 
she related her dream to the raja. The raja had sixty- 
four eminent Brahmans summoned, and had costly seats 
spread on a spot made ready for the state occasion with 
green leaves and dalbergia flowers, and he had vessels 
of gold and silver filled with delicate milk-rice com- 
pounded with ghee and sweet honey, and covered with 
gold and silver bowls. This food he gave them, and he 
satisfied them with gifts of new garments and of tawny 
cows. And when he had thus satisfied their every desire, 
he had the dream told to them, and then he asked them, 
" What will come of it ? " 

The Brahmans said, "Be not anxious, king ! your 
queen has conceived : and the fruit of her womb will be 
a man-child ; it will not be a woman-child. You will 

1 It is instructive to notice that in later accounts it is soberly related as 
actual fact that the Bodisat entered his mother's womb as a white elephant : 
and the Incarnation scene is occasionally so represented in Buddhist sculptures. 



64. THE NIDANAKATHA. 

i 

have a son. And he, if he adopts a householder's life, 
will become a king, a Universal Monarch ; but if, leaving 
his home, he adopt the religious life, he will become a 
Buddha, who will remove from the world the veils of 
ignorance and sin." 

Now at the moment when the future Buddha made 
himself incarnate in his mother's womb, the constituent 
elements of the ten thousand world- systems quaked, and 
trembled, and were shaken violently. The Thirty-two 
Good Omens also were made manifest. In the ten thou- 
sand world-systems an immeasurable light appeared. The 
blind received their sight (as if from very longing to 
behold this his glory). The deaf heard the noise. The 
dumb spake one with another. The crooked became 
straight. The lame walked. All prisoners were freed 
from their bonds and chains. In each hell the fire was 
extinguished. The hungry ghosts received food and 
drink. The wild animals ceased to be afraid. The 
illness of all who were sick was allayed. All men began 
to speak kindly. Horses neighed, and elephants trum- 
peted gently. All musical instruments gave forth each 
its note, though none played upon them. Bracelets and 
other ornaments jingled of themselves. All the heavens 
became clear. A cool soft breeze wafted pleasantly for 
all. Rain fell out of due season. "Water, welling up 
from the very earth, overflowed. 1 The birds forsook 
their flight on high. The rivers stayed their waters' 
flow. The waters of the mighty ocean became fresh. 
Everywhere the earth was covered with lotuses of every 
colour. All flowers blossomed on land and in water. 
The trunks, and branches, and twigs of trees were covered 
with the bloom appropriate to each. On earth tree-lotuses 
sprang up by sevens together, breaking even through 

1 I think this is the meaning of the passage, though Prof. Childers has 
a different rendering of the similar phrase at verse 104, where I would 
read " it" instead of " vegetation." Compare Dathavarjsa, i. 45. 



THE THIRTY-TWO SIGNS. 65 

the rocks ; and hanging-lotuses descended from the skies. 
The ten-thousand world-systems revolved, and rushed as 
close together as a bunch of gathered flowers ; and became 
as it were a woven wreath of worlds, as sweet- smelling 
and resplendent as a mass of garlands, or as a sacred altar 
decked with flowers. 

From the moment of the incarnation, thus brought 
about, of the future Buddha, four angels, with swords 
in their hands, stood guard over the Bodisat and his 
mother, to shield them from all harm. Pure in thought, 
having reached the highest aim and the highest honour, 
the mother was happy and unwearied ; and she saw the 
child within her as plainly as one could see a thread passed 
through a transparent gem. 1 But as a womb in which a 
future Buddha has dwelt, like a sacred relic shrine, can 
never be occupied by another ; the mother of the Bodisat, 
seven days after his birth, died, and was reborn in the 
City of Delight. 

Now other women give birth, some before, some 
after, the completion of the tenth month, some sitting, 
and some lying down. Not so the mother of a Bodisat. 
She gives birth to the Bodisat, standing, after she has 
cherished him in her womb for exactly ten months. This 
is a distinctive quality of the mother of a Buddha elect. 

And queen Maha Maya, when she too had thus cherished 
the Bodisat in her womb, like oil in a vessel, for ten 
months, felt herself far gone with child: and wishing 
to go to her family home she spake to King Suddhodana, 
and said, 

" king ! I wish to go to Devadaha, to the city of my 
people." 

The king, saying, " It is good," consented, and had the 
road from Kapilavastu to Devadaha made plain, and decked 

1 I once saw a notice of some mediaeval frescoes in which the Holy Child 
was similarly represented as visible within the Virgin's womb, but have 
unfortunately mislaid the reference. 



66 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

with arches of plaintain-trees, and well-filled water-pots, 
and flags, and banners. And seating the queen in a 
golden palanquin carried by a thousand attendants, he 
sent her away with a great retinue. 

Now between the two towns there is a pleasure- grove 
of sala-trees belonging to the people of both cities, and 
called the Lumbini grove. At that time, from the roots 
to the topmost branches, it was one mass of fruits and 
flowers ; and amidst the blossoms and branches swarms 
of various- coloured bees, and flocks of birds of different 
kinds, roamed, warbling sweetly. The whole of the 
Lumbini grove was like a wood of variegated creepers, 
or the well-decorated banqueting hall of some mighty 
king. The queen beholding it was filled with the desire 
of besporting herself in the sal-tree grove ; and the 
attendants, carrying the qiieen, entered the wood. When 
she came to the monarch sal-tree of the glade, she 
wanted to take hold of a branch of it, and the branch 
bending down, like a reed heated by steam, approached 
within reach of her hand. Stretching out her hand she 
took hold of the branch, and then her pains came upon 
her. The people drawing a curtain round her, retired. 
Standing, and holding the branch of the sal-tree, she 
was delivered. 

That very moment the four pure-minded Maha Brahma 
angels came there bringing a golden net ; and receiving 
the future Buddha on that net, they placed him before 
his mother, saying, " Be joyful, Lady ! a mighty son 
is born to thee ! " 

Now other living things, when they leave their mother's 
womb, leave it smeared with offensive and impure matter. 
Not so a Bodisat. The future Buddha left his mother's 
womb like a preacher descending from a pulpit or a man 
from a ladder, erect, stretching out his hands and feet, 
unsoiled by any impurities from contact with his mother's 
womb, pure and fair, and shining like a gem placed on 



THE BIRTH OF THE BUDDHA. 67 

fine muslin of Benares. But though this was so, two 
showers of water came down from heaven in honour of 
them and refreshed the Bodisat and his mother. 

From the hands of the angels who had received him in 
the golden net, four kings received him on cloth of ante- 
lope skins, soft to the touch, such as are used on occasions 
of royal state. From their hands men received him on a 
roll of fine cloth ; and on leaving their hands he stood up 
upon the ground and looked towards the East. Thousands 
of world- systems became visible to him like a single 
open space. Men and angels offering him sweet- smelling 
garlands, said, " great Being, there is no other like 
thee, how then a greater? " Searching the ten directions 
(the four points of the compass, the four intermediate 
points, the zenith and the nadir), and finding no one like 
himself, he took seven strides, saying, " This is the best 
direction." And as he walked the archangel Brahma 
held over him the white umbrella, and the archangel 
Suyama followed him with the fan, and other deities 
with the other symbols of royalty in their hands. Then 
stopping at the seventh step, he sent forth his noble voice 
and shouted the shout of victory, beginning with, " I am 
the chief of the world." l 

Now the future Buddha in three births thus uttered 
his voice immediately on leaving his mother's womb ; in 
his birth as Mahosadha, in his birth as Vessantara, and 
in this birth. In the Mahosadha birth the archangel 
Sakka came to him as he was being born, and placing 
some fine sandal- wood in his hand, went away. He came 
out from the womb holding this in his fist. His mother 
asked him, "What is it you hold, dear, as you come?" 
He answered, " Medicine, mother ! " So because he came 
holding medicine, they gave him the name of Medicine- 
child (Osadhadaraka). Taking the medicine they kept 

1 The Madurattha Vilusin! adds the rest, " I am supreme in the world ; 
this is my last birth ; henceforth there will be no rebirth for me." 



68 THE NIDANAKATHA, 

it in a chatty (an earthenware water-pot) ; and it became 
a drug by which all the sickness of the blind and deaf 
and others, as many as came, was healed. So the saying 
sprang up, " This is a powerful drug, this is a powerful 
drug ; " and hence he was called Mahosadha (The Great 
Medicine Man). 

Again, in the Vessantara birth, as he left his mother's 
womb, he stretched out his right hand, saying, "But is 
there anything in the house, mother? I would give a 
gift." Then his mother, saying, " You are born, dear, in 
a wealthy family," took his hand in hers, and placed on it 
a bag containing a thousand. 

Lastly, in this birth he sang the song of victory. Thus 
the future Buddha in three births uttered his voice as he 
came out of his mother's womb. And as at the moment 
of his conception, so at the moment of his birth, the 
thirty-two Good Omens were seen. 

Now at the very time when our Bodisat was born in 
the Lumbini grove, the lady, the mother of Rahula, 
Channa the attendant, Kaludayi the minister, Kanthaka 
the royal horse, the great Bo-tree, and the four vasefc full 
of treasure, also came into being. Of these last, one was 
two miles, one four, one six, and one eight miles in size. 
These seven are called the Sahajata, the Connatal Ones. 1 

The people of both towns took the Bodisat and went 
to Kapilavastu. On that day too, the choirs of angels in 
the Tavatirjsa heaven were astonished and joyful ; and 
waved their cloaks and rejoiced, saying, " In Kapilavastu, 



1 There is some mistake here, as the list contains nine or if the four 
treasures count as one, only six - Connatal Ones. I think before Kaludnyi 
we should insert Ananda, the loving disciple. So Alabaster and Hardy 
(Wheel of the Law, p. 106; Manual of Buddhism, p. 146). Bigandet also 
adds Ananda, hut calls him the son of Amittodana, which is against the 
common tradition (Life or Legend of Guadama, p. 36, comp. my Buddhism, 
p. 52). The legend is certainly, as to its main features, an early one, for 
it is also found, in greatly exaggerated and contradictory terms, in the books 
of Northern Buddhists (Lalita Vistara, Foucaux, p. 97, Beal, p. 53, comp. 
Senart, p. 294). 



THE BUDDHIST SIMEON. 69 

to Suddhodana the king, a son is born, who, seated under 
the Bo-tree, will become a Buddha." 

At that time an ascetic named Kala Devala (a con- 
fidential adviser of Suddhodana the king, who had passed 
through the eight stages of religious attainment) 1 had 
eaten his mid-day meal, and had gone to the Tavatii)sa 
heaven, to rest through the heat of the day. "Whilst 
there sitting resting, he saw these angels, and asked 
them, " Why are you thus glad at heart and rejoicing ? 
Tell me the reason of it." 

The angels replied, "Sir, to Suddhodana the king is 
born a son, who seated under the Bo-tree will become a 
Buddha, and will found a Kingdom of Righteousness. 2 
To us it will be given to see his infinite grace and to 
hear his word. Therefore it is that we are glad ! " 

The ascetic, hearing what they said, quickly came 
down from the angel- world, and entering the king's 
house, sat down on the seat set apart for him, and said, 
"A son they say is born to you, king ! let me see him." 

The king ordered his son to be clad in splendour 
and brought in to salute the ascetic. But the future 
Buddha turned his feet round, and planted them on 
the matted hair of the ascetic. 3 For in that birth there 
was no one worthy to be saluted by the Bodisat, and 
if those ignorant ones had placed the head of the 
future Buddha at the feet of the ascetic, assuredly the 
ascetic's head would have split in two. The ascetic rose 
from his seat, and saying, "It is not right for me to 
work my own destruction," he did homage to the Bodisat. 
And the king also seeing this wonder did homage to 
his own son. 

1 Samapatti. 

2 Dhammacakkcrq pavattessati. See my " Buddhism," p. 45. 

3 It was considered among the Brahmans a sign of holiness to wear matted 
or platted hair. This is referred to in the striking Buddhist verse (Dhamma- 
pada, v. 394), " What is the use of platted hair, fool ! What of a garment 
of skins ! Your low yearnings are within you, and the outside thou makest 
clean ! " 



jo THE NIDANAKATHA, 

Now the ascetic had the power of calling to mind the 
events of forty ages (kalpas) in the past, and of forty 
ages in the future. Looking at the marks of future 
prosperity on the Bodisat's body, he considered with 
himself, "Will he become a Buddha or not?" And 
perceiving that he would most certainly become a Buddha, 
he smiled, saying, "This is a wonderful child." Then 
reflecting, " Will it be given to me to behold him when 
he has become a Buddha ? " he perceived that it would 
not. " Dying before that time I shall be reborn in the 
Formless World ; so that while a hundred or perhaps a 
thousand Buddhas appear among men, I shall not be able 
to go and be taught by them. And it will not be my good 
fortune to behold this so wonderful child when he has 
become a Buddha. Great, indeed, is my loss ! " And he 
wept. 

The people seeing this, asked, saying, " Our master 
just now smiled, and has now begun to weep ! Will, sir, 
any misfortune befall our master's little one ? " l 

" There is no misfortune in him ; assuredly he will 
become a Buddha," was the reply. 

" Why then do you weep ? " 

" It will not be granted to me," he said, " to behold so 
great a man when he has become a Buddha. Great, 
indeed, is my loss ! bewailing myself, I weep." 

Then reflecting, " Will it be granted or not to any one 
of my relatives to see him as a Buddha ? " he saw it 
would be granted to his nephew Nalaka. So he went to 
his sister's house, and said to her, " Where is your son 
Nalaka?" 

" In the house, brother." 

" Call him," said he. When he came he said to him, 
" In the family of Suddhodana the king, dear, a son is 

1 " Our master " is here, of course, the sage. It is a pretty piece of 
politeness, not unfrequent in the Jutakas, to address a stranger as a relation. 
See below, Jataka No. 3. 



THE NAME-GIVING. -j 

born, a young Buddha. In thirty-five years he will 
become a Buddha, and it will be granted you to see him. 
This very day give up the world ! " 

Bearing in mind that his uncle was not a man to 
urge him without a cause, the young man, though born 
in a family of incalculable wealth, 1 straightway took 
out of the inner store a yellow suit of clothes and an 
earthenware pot, and shaved his head and put on the 
robes. And saying, " I take the vows for the sake of the 
greatest Being upon earth," he prostrated himself on the 
ground and raised his joined hands in adoration towards 
the Bodisat. Then putting the begging bowl in a bag, 
and carrying it on his shoulder, he went to the Himalaya 
mountains, and lived the life of a monk. 

When the Tathagata had attained to complete En- 
lightenment, Nalaka went to him and heard the way of 
salvation. 2 He then returned to the Himalayas, and 
reached Arahatship. And when he had lived seven months 
longer as a pilgrim along the most excellent Path, he past 
away when standing near a Golden Hill, by that final ex- 
tinction in which no part or power of man remains. 3 

Now on the fifth day they bathed the Bodisat' s head, 
saying, " Let us perform the rite of choosing a name for 
him." So they perfumed the king's house with four 
kinds of odours, and decked it with Dalbergia flowers, 
and made ready rice well cooked in milk. Then they 
sent for one hundred and eight Brahmans who had 
mastered the three Vedas, and seated them in the king's 
house, and gave them the pleasant food to eat, and did 

1 Literally " worth eighty and seven times a koti," both eighty and seven 
being lucky numbers. 

2 Literally, ' and caused him to declare, ' The way of salvation for 
Nalaka.' " Perhaps some iSutta is so called. Tathugata, "gone, or come, in 
like manner ; subject to the fate of all men," is an adjective applied 
originally to all mortals, but afterwards used as a favourite epithet of 
Gotama. Childers compares the use of ' Son of Man.' 

3 Anupudisesaya Atbbana-dliatuya purinibbayi. In the translator's 
" Buddhism," p. 113, an analysis of this phrase will be found. 



72 THE N1DANAKATHA. 

them great honour, and asked them to recognize the signs 
of what the child should be. 
Among them 

270. Rama, and Dhaja, and Lakkhana, and Mantin, 
Kondanya and Bhoja, Suyama and Sudatta, 
These eight Brahmans then were there, 
Their senses all subdued ; and they declared the 
charm. 

Now these eight Brahmans were recognizers of signs ; 
it was by them that the dream on the night of conception 
had been interpreted. Seven of them holding up two 
fingers prophesied in the alternative, saying, " If a man 
having such marks should remain a householder, he 
becomes a Universal Monarch ; but if he takes the vows, 
he becomes a Buddha." And, so saying, they declared 
all the glory and power of a Cakkavatti king. 

But the youngest of all of them, a young Brahman 
whose family name was Kondanya, beholding the per- 
fection of the auspicious marks on the Bodisat, raised 
up one finger only, and prophesied without ambiguity, 
and said, " There is no sign of his remaining amidst the 
cares of household life. Verily, he will become a Buddha, 
and remove the veils of sin and ignorance from the 
world." 

This man already, under former Buddhas, had made 
a deep resolve of holiness, and had now reached his last 
birth. Therefore it was that he surpassed the other 
seven in wisdom ; that he perceived how the Bodisat 
would only be subject to this one life ; and that, raising 
only one finger, he so prophesied, saying, " The lot of 
one possessed of these marks will not be cast amidst 
the cares of household life. Verily he will become a 
Buddha ! " 

Now those Brahmans went home, and addressed their 



777,5 FOUR OMENS. 



73 



sons, saying, " We are old, beloved ones ; whether or not 
we shall live to see the son of Suddhodana the king 
after he has gained omniscience, do you, when he has 
gained omniscience, take the vows according to his 
religion." And after they all seven had lived out their 
span of life, they passed away and were reborn according 
to their deeds. 

But the young Brahman Kondanya was free from 
disease ; and for the sake of the wisdom of the Great 
Being he left all that he had and made the great re- 
nunciation. And coming in due course to Uruvela, he 
thought, "Behold how pleasant is this place ! how suit- 
able for the exertions of a young man desirous of wrest- 
ling with sin." So he took up his residence there. 

And when he heard that the Great Being had taken 
the vows, he went to the sons of those Brahmans, and 
said to them, " Siddhattha the prince has taken the vows. 
Assuredly he will become a Buddha. If your fathers 
were in health they would to-day leave their homes, and 
take the vows : and now, if you should so desire, come, 
I will take the vows in imitation of him." But all of 
them were not able to agree with one accord ; three did 
not give up the world; the other four made Kondanya 
the Brahman their leader, and took the vows. It was 
those five who came to be called " the Company of the 
Five Elders." 

Then the king asked, " After seeing what, will my 
son forsake the world ? " 

" The four Omens," was the reply. 

" Which four ? " 

" A man worn out by age, a sick man, a dead body, 
and a monk." 

The king thought, "From this time let no such things 
come near my son. There is no good of my son's 
becoming a Buddha. I should like to see my son 
exercising rule and sovereignty over the four great 



74 . THE NIDANAKATHA. 

continents and the two thousand islands that surround 
them ; and walking, as it were, in the vault of heaven, 
surrounded by an innumerable retinue." 1 Then, so say- 
ing, he placed guards two miles apart in the four direc- 
tions to prevent men of those four kinds coming to the 
sight of his son. 

That day also, of eighty thousand clansmen assembled 
in the festival hall, each one dedicated a son, saying, 
"Whether this child becomes a Buddha or a king, we 
give each a son ; so that if he shall become a Buddha, he 
shall live attended and honoured by Kshatriya monks, 
and if he shall become a king, he shall live attended and 
honoured by Kshatriya nobles." 2 And the raja appointed 
nurses of great beauty, and free from every fault, for 
the Bodisat. So the Bodisat grew up in great splendour 
and surrounded by an innumerable retinue. 

Now one day the king held the so-called Ploughing 
Festival. On that day they ornament the town like a 
palace of the gods. All the slaves and servants, in new 
garments and crowned with sweet-smelling garlands, 
assemble in the king's house. For the king's work a 
thousand ploughs are yoked. . On this occasion one hun- 
dred and eight minus one were, with their oxen-reins 
and cross-bars, ornamented with silver. But the plough 
for the king to use was ornamented with red gold ; and 
so also the horns and reins and goads of the oxen. 

The king, leaving his house with a great retinue, took 
his son and went to the spot. There there was a Jambu- 
tree thick with leaves and giving a dense shade. Under 
it the raja had the child's couch laid out ; and over the 
couch a canopy spread inlaid with stars of gold, and 
round it a curtain hung. Then leaving a guard there, 
the raja, clad in splendour and attended by his minis- 
ters, went away to plough. 

1 Literally ' a retinue thirty-six leagues in circumference,' where ' thirty- 
six ' is a mere sacred number. 

2 Kshatriya was the warrior caste. 



THE PLOUGHING FESTIVAL, 75 

At such a time the king takes hold of a golden plough, 
the attendant ministers one hundred and eight minus 
one silver ploughs, and the peasants the rest of the 
ploughs. Holding them they plough this way and that 
way. The raja goes from one side to the other, and 
conies from the other back again. 

On this occasion the king had great success ; and the 
nurses seated round the Bodisat, thinking, " Let us go 
to see the king's glory," came out from within the 
curtain, and went away. The future Buddha, looking all 
round, and seeing no one, got up quickly, seated himself 
cross-legged, and holding his breath, sank into the first 
Jhana. 1 

The nurses, engaged in preparing various kinds of food, 
delayed a little. The shadows of the other trees turned 
round, but that of the Jambu-tree remained steady and 
circular in form. The nurses, remembering their young 
master was alone, hurriedly raised the curtain and re- 
turned inside it. Seeing the Bodisat sitting cross-legged, 
and that miracle of the shadow, they went and told the 
raja, saying, " king ! the prince is seated in such and 
such a manner ; and while the shadows of the other trees 
have turned, that of the Jambu-tree is fixed in a circle ! " 

And the raja went hurriedly and saw that miracle, 
and did homage to his son, saying, "This, Beloved One, 
is the second homage paid to thee ! " 

But the Bodisat in due course grew to manhood. And 
the king had three mansions made, suitable for the three 
seasons, one nine stories high, one seven stories high, 
and one five stories high ; and he provided him with 
forty thousand dancing girls. So the Bodisat, surrounded 
by well-dressed dancing girls, like a god surrounded by 
troops of houris, and attended by musical instruments 
which played of themselves, lived, as the seasons changed, 

1 A state of religious meditation. A full explanation is given in the 
translator's "Buddhism," pp. 174-176. 



7 6 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

in each of these mansions in enjoyment of great majesty. 
And the mother of Rahula was his principal queen. 

Whilst he was thus in the enjoyment of great pro- 
sperity the following talk sprang up in the public assembly 
of his clansmen : " Siddhattha lives devoted to pleasure ; 
not one thing does he learn; if war should break out, 
what would he do ? " 

The king sent for the future Buddha, and said to him, 
" Your relations, Beloved One, say that you learn nothing, 
and are given up to pleasure : now what do you think 
you should do about this ? " 

" king ! there is no art it is necessary for me to 
learn. Send the crier round the city, that I may show 
my skill. Seven days from now I will show my kindred 
what I can do." 

The king did so. The Bodisat assembled those so 
skilled in archery that they could split even a hair, and 
shoot as quick as lightning ; and then, in the midst of 
the people, he showed his relatives his twelve-fold skill, 
and how unsurpassed he was by other masters of the 
bow. 1 So the assembly of his clansmen doubted no 
longer. 

Now one day the future Buddha, wanting to go to his 
pleasure ground, told his charioteer to harness his chariot. 
The latter accordingly decked the gloriously beautiful 
chariot with all its trappings, and harnessed to it four 
state horses of the Sindhi breed, and white as the leaves 
of the white lotus flower. And he informed the Bodisat. 
So the Bodisat ascended the chariot, resplendent like a 
mansion in the skies, and went towards the garden. 

The angels thought, " The time for young Siddhattha 
to attain Enlightenment is near, let us show him the 
Omens." And they did so by making a son of the 
gods represent a man wasted by age, with decayed teeth 

1 A gloss adds, " This should he understood as is related at full in the 
Sarabhagga Jataka." 



THE FOUR OMENS. 



77 



and grey hair, bent and broken down in body, and with a 
stick in his hand. But he was only visible to the future 
.Buddha and his charioteer. 

Then the Bodisat asked his charioteer, as is told in the 
Mahapadana, "What kind of man is this, whose very 
hair is not as that of other men ? " When he heard his 
servant's answer, he said, " Shame then be to life ! since 
the decay of every living being is notorious ! " and with 
agitated heart he turned back at that very spot and re- 
entered his palace. 

The king asked, " Why does my son turn back so 
hurriedly ? " 

" He has seen an old man," they said ; " and having 
seen an old man, he will forsake the world." 

"By this you ruin me," exclaimed the raja; "quickly 
get ready concerts and plays to be performed before 
my son. So long as he continues in the enjoyment 
of pleasure, he will not turn his thoughts to forsaking 
the world!" Then increasing the guards, he placed 
them at each point of the compass, at intervals of half 
a league. 

Again, one day, when the future Buddha, as he was 
going to his pleasure ground, saw a sick man represented by 
the gods, he made the same inquiry as before; and then, 
with agitated heart, turned back and re-entered his palace. 
The king also made the same inquiry, and gave the 
same orders as before; and again increasing the guard, 
placed them all round at a distance of three-quarters of 
a league. 

Once more, when the future Buddha, as he was going 
to his pleasure ground, saw a dead man represented by 
the gods, he made the same inquiry as before ; and then, 
with agitated heart, turned back and re-entered his palace. 
The king also made the same inquiry, and gave the same 
orders as before ; and again increasing the guard, placed 
them all round at a distance of a league. 



78 THE NIDANAKATHA, 

Once again, when the future Buddha, as he was going 
to his pleasure ground, saw one who had abandoned the 
world, carefully and decently clad, he asked his charioteer, 
" Friend, what kind of man is that ? " As at that time 
there was no Buddha at all in the world, the charioteer 
understood neither what a mendicant was nor what were 
his distinguishing characteristics; but nevertheless, in- 
spired by the gods, he said, " That is a mendicant friar ; " 
and described the advantages of renouncing the world. 
And that day the future Buddha, cherishing the thought 
of renouncing the world, went on to his pleasure ground. 

The repeaters of the Dlgha Nikaya, 1 however, say that 
he saw all the four Omens on the same day, and then 
went to his pleasure ground. There he enjoyed himself 
during the day and bathed in the beautiful lake ; and at 
sunset seated himself on the royal resting stone to be 
robed. Now his attendants brought robes of different 
colours, and various kinds of ornaments, and garlands, 
and perfumes, and ointments, and stood around him. 

At that moment the throne on which Sakka was seated 
became warm. 2 And thinking to himself, "Who is it 
now who wants me to descend from hence?" he perceived 
that the time for the adornment of the future Buddha 
had come. And he said to Vissakamma, " Friend Vissa- 
kamma, the young noble Siddhattha, to-day, at midnight, 
will carry out the Great Renunciation. This is the last 
time he will be clad in splendour. Go to the pleasure 
ground and adorn him with heavenly array." 

By the miraculous power which angels have, he ac- 

1 The members of the Buddhist Order of mendicant friars were in the 
habit of selecting some book or books of the Buddhist Scriptures, which it 
was their especial duty to learn by heart, repeat to their pupils, study, 
expound, and preach from. Thus the Dlgha Nikaya, or collection of long 
treatises, had a special school of "repeaters " (bhanaka) to itself. 

2 At critical moments in the lives of persons of importance in the religious 
legends of Buddhist India, the seat of the Archangel Sakka becomes warm. 
Fearful of losing his temporary bliss, he then descends himself, or sends 
Vissakamma, the Buddhist Vulcan, to act as a deus ex machmu, and put things 
straight. 



GOTAMA'S SON. 



79 



cordingly, that very moment, drew near in the likeness 
of the royal barber ; and taking from the barber's hand 
.the material for the turban, he arranged it round the 
Bodisat's head. At the touch of his hand the Bodisat 
knew, " This is no man, it is a son of the gods." When 
the first round of the turban was put on, there arose, by 
the appearance of the jewelry on the diadem, a thousand 
folds ; when the turban was wrapt the second time round, 
a thousand folds arose again ; when ten times, ten thou- 
sand folds appeared. How so many folds could seem to 
rise on so small a head is beyond imagination ; for in 
size the largest of them were as the flower of the Black 
Priyarjgu creeper, and the rest even as Kutumbaka 
blossoms. And the head of the future Buddha became 
like a Kuyyaka flower in full bloom. 

And when he was arrayed in all his splendour, the 
musicians the while exhibiting each one his peculiar skill, 
the Brahmans honouring him with words of joy and 
victory, and the men of lower castes with festive cries and 
shouts of praise ; he ascended his superbly decorated car. 

At that time Suddhodana the king, who had heard 
that the mother of Rahula had brought forth a son, sent 
a message, saying, " Make known my joy to my son ! " 
The future Buddha, hearing this, said, " An impediment 
has come into being, a bond has come into being." When 
the king asked, "What did my son say?" and heard 
that saying ; he gave command, " From henceforth let 
RHhula (impediment) be my grandson's name." But the 
Bodisat, riding in his splendid chariot, entered the town 
with great magnificence and exceeding glory. 

At that time a noble virgin, Kisa Gotami by name, had 
gone to the flat roof of the upper story of her palace, 
and she beheld the beauty and majesty of the Bodisat 
as he was proceeding through the city. Pleased and 
delighted at the sight, she burst forth into this song of 



8o THE NIDANAKATHA. 

271. Blessed indeed is that mother, 
Blessed indeed is that father, 
Blessed indeed is that wife, 
Who owns this Lord so glorious ! 

Hearing this, the Bodisat thought to himself, " On 
catching sight of such a one the heart of his mother is 
made happy, the heart of his father is made happy, the 
heart of his wife is made happy ! This is all she says. 
But by what can every heart attain to lasting happiness 
and peace ? " And to him whose mind was estranged 
from sin the answer came, " When the fire of lust is gone 
out, then peace is gained; when the fires of hatred and 
delusion are gone out, then peace is gained ; when the 
troubles of mind, arising from pride, credulity, and all 
other sins, have ceased, then peace is gained ! Sweet is 
the lesson this singer makes me hear, for the Nirvana of 
Peace is that which I have been trying to find out. 
This very day I will break away from household cares ! 
I will renounce the world ! I will follow only after the 
Nirvana itself ! l 

Then loosing from his neck a string of pearls worth a 
hundred thousand, he sent it to Kisa Gotami as a teacher's 
fee. Delighted at this, she thought, "Prince Siddhattha 
has fallen in love with me, and has sent me a present." 
But the Bodisat, on entering his palace in great splen- 
dour, reclined on a couch of state. 

Thereupon women clad in beautiful array, skilful in 

1 The force of this passage is due to the fullness of meaning which, to the 
Buddhist, the words NIBBUTA and NIBBANAIJ convey. No words in Western 
languages cover exactly the same ground, or connote the same ideas. To 
explain them fully to any one unfamiliar with Indian fiiodes of thought 
would be difficult anywhere, and impossible in a note ; but their meaning is 
pretty clear from the above sentences. Where in them, in the song, the 
words blessed, happy, peace, and the words gone out, ceased, occur, NIBBUTA 
stands in the original in one or other of its two meanings ; where in them the 
words Nirvana, Nirviina of Peace occur, NIBBANAIJ stands in the original. 
Nirvana is a lasting state of happiness and peace, to be reached here on earth 
by the extinction of the ' fires ' and ' troubles ' mentioned in this passage. 



THE NAUTCH GIRLS. 8 1 

the dance and song, and lovely as heavenly virgins, 
brought their musical instruments, and ranging them- 
selves in order, danced, and sang, and played delight- 
fully. But the Bodisat, his heart being estranged 
from sin, took no pleasure in the spectacle, and fell 
asleep. 

And the women, saying, " He, for whose sake we 
were performing, is gone to sleep ? Why should we play 
any longer ? " laid aside the instruments they held, and 
lay down to sleep. The lamps fed with sweet- smelling 
oil were just burning out. The Bodisat, waking up, sat 
cross-legged on the couch, and saw them with their stage 
properties laid aside and sleeping some foaming at the 
mouth, some grinding their teeth, some yawning, some 
muttering in their sleep, some gaping, and some with 
their dress in disorder plainly revealed as mere horrible 
sources of mental distress. 

Seeing this wof ul change in their appearance, he became 
more and more disgusted with lusts. To him that magni- 
ficent apartment, as splendid as Sakka's residence in 
heaven, began to seem like a charnel-house full of loath- 
some corpses. Life, whether in the worlds subject to 
passion, or in the worlds of form, or in the formless 
worlds, seemed to him like staying in a house that had 
become the prey of devouring flames. 1 An utterance of 
intense feeling broke from him " It all oppresses me ! 
It is intolerable ! " and his mind turned ardently to the 
state of those who have renounced the world. Resolving 
that very day to accomplish the Great Renunciation, he 
rose from his couch, went to the door and called out, 
" Who is there ? " 

Channa, who had been sleeping with his head on the 
threshold, answered, " It is I, sir, Channa." 

1 Literally, " The three Bhavas seemed like houses on fire." The three 
Bhavas are Existence in the Kama-loka, the Rupa-loka, and the Arupa-loka 
respectively : that is, existence in the worlds whose inhabitants are subject 
to passion, have material forms, and have immaterial forms respectively. 

VOL. i. 6 



g z THE NIDANAKA7HA. 

Then said he, " I am resolved to-day to accomplish the 
Great Renunciation saddle me a horse." 

So Channa went to the stable-yard, and entering the 
stables saw by the light of the lamps the mighty steed 
Kanthaka, standing at a pleasant spot under a canopy of 
cloth, beautified with a pattern of jasmine flowers. " This 
is the very one I ought to saddle to-day," thought he ; 
and he saddled Kanthaka. 

Even whilst he was being saddled the horse knew, " He 
is saddling me so tightly, and not as on other days for such 
rides as those to the pleasure grounds, because my master 
is about to-day to carry out the Great Renunciation." 
Then, glad at heart, he neighed a mighty neigh ; and the 
sound thereof would have penetrated over all the town, 
had not the gods stopped the sound, and let no one hear it. 

Now after the Bodisat had sent Channa on this errand, 
he thought, " I will just look at my son." And rising 
from his couch he went to the apartments of Rahula's 
mother, and opened her chamber door. At that moment 
a lamp, fed with sweet-smelling oil, was burning dimly in 
the inner chamber. The mother of Rahula was asleep on 
a bed strewn with many jasmine flowers, 1 and resting her 
hand on the head of her son. Stopping with his foot on 
the threshold, the Bodisat thought, "If I lift her hand 
to take my son, she will awake ; and that will prevent my 
going away. I will come back and see him when I have 
become a Buddha." And he left the palace. 

Now what is said in the Jataka commentary, " At that 
time Rahula was seven days old," is not found in the 
other commentaries. Therefore the view given above 
should be accepted. 2 

And when the Bodisat had left the palace, he went to his 
horse, and said, "My good Kanthaka, do thou save me this 

1 Literally, " about an ammana (f e. five or six bushels) of the large jasmine 
and the Arabian jasmine." 

2 The Jataka Commentary here referred to is, no doubt, the older com- 
mentary in Elu, or old Sinhalese, on which the present work is based. 



THE MYTHIC HORSE. 83 

once to-night ; so that I, having become a Buddha by your 
help, shall save the world of men, and that of angels too." 
Then leaping up, he seated himself on Kanthaka's back. 

Kanthaka was eighteen cubits in length from the nape 
of his neck, and of proportionate height ; he was strong 
and fleet, and white all over like a clean chank shell. If 
he should neigh or paw the ground, the sound would 
penetrate through all the town. Therefore the angels so 
muffled the sound of his neighing that none could hear 
it ; and placed, at each step, the palms of their hands 
under his feet. 

The Bodisat rode on the mighty back of the mighty 
steed ; told Channa to catch hold of its tail, and arrived 
at midnight at the great gate of the city. 

Now the king thinking, " In that way the Bodisat 
will not be able at any time to open the city gate and 
get away," had placed a thousand men at each of the two 
gates to stop him. The Bodisat was mighty and strong 
according to the measure of elephants as ten thousand 
million elephants, and according to the measure of men 
as a million million men. He thought, " If the door 
does not open, sitting on Kanthaka's back with Channa 
holding his tail, I will press Kanthaka with my thighs, 
and jumping over the city rampart, eighteen cubits high, 
I will get away ! " Channa thought, " If the door is not 
opened, I will take my master on my neck, and putting 
my right hand round Kanthaka's girth, I will hold him 
close to my waist, and so leap over the rampart and get 
away ! " Kanthaka thought, " If the door is not opened, 
I will spring up with my master seated as he is on my 
back, and Channa holding by my tail, and will leap over 
the rampart and get away ! " And if the door had not 
been opened, verily one or other of those three would 
have accomplished that whereof he had thought. But 
the angel residing at the gate opened it. 

At that moment Mara came there with the intention 



84 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

of stopping the Bodisat ; and standing in the air, he ex- 
claimed, " Depart not, my lord ! in seven days from 
now the wheel of empire will appear, and will make you 
sovereign over the four continents and the two thousand 
adjacent isles. Stop, O my lord ! " 

" Who are you ? " said he. 

" I am Vasavatti," was the reply. 

" Mara ! Well do I know that the wheel of empire 
would appear to me ; but it is not sovereignty that I 
desire. I will become a Buddha, and make the ten 
thousand world-systems shout for joy." 

Then thought the Tempter to himself : " Now, from 
this time forth, whenever a thought of lust or anger or 
malice shall arise within you, I will get to know of it." 
And he followed him, ever watching for some slip, as 
closely as a shadow which never leaves its object. 

But the future Buddha, making light of the kingdom 
of the world, thus within his reach, casting it away as one 
would saliva, left the city with great honour on the full- 
moon day of Asalhi, when the moon was in the Uttara- 
salha lunar mansion (i.e. on the 1st July). And when he 
had left the city a desire sprang up within him to gaze 
upon it ; and the instant he did so the broad earth re- 
volved like a potter's wheel, and was stayed : saying as 
it were to him, " Great Being, there is no need for you 
to stop in order to fulfil your wish." So the Bodisat, 
with his face towards the city, gazed at it ; and he fixed 
at that place a spot for the Kanthaka-Nivattana Cetiya 
(that is, The Shrine of Kanthaka's Staying a Dagaba 
afterwards built where this miracle was believed to have 
happened). And keeping Kanthaka in the direction in 
which he was going, he went on with great honour and 
exceeding glory. 

For then, they say, angels in front of him carried sixty 
thousand torches, and behind him too, and on his right 
hand, and on his left. And while some deities, undefined 



THE GREAT RENUNCIATION. 85 

on the edge of the horizon, held torches aloft ; other 
deities, and the Nagas, and Winged Creatures, and other 
superhuman beings, bore him company doing homage 
with heavenly perfumes, and garlands, and sandal-wood 
powder, and incense. And the whole sky was full of 
Paricchataka flowers from Indra's heaven, as with the 
pouring rain when thick clouds gather. Heavenly songs 
floated around ; and on every side thousands of musical 
instruments sounded, as when the thunder roars in the 
midst of the sea, or the great ocean heaves against the 
boundaries of the world ! 

Advancing in this pomp and glory, the Bodisat, in that 
one night, passed beyond three kingdoms, and arrived, 
at the end of thirty leagues, at the bank of the river 
called Anoma. But why could not the horse go still 
further ? It was not through want of power : for he 
could go from one edge of the round world to the other, 
as easily as one could step across the circumference of a 
wheel lying on its side ; and doing this in the forenoon, 
he could return and eat the food prepared for him. But 
on this occasion he was constantly delayed by having to 
drag himself along, and break his way through the mass 
of garlands and flowers, cast down from heaven in such 
profusion by the angels, and the Snakes, and the Winged 
Creatures, that his very flanks were hid. Hence it was 
that he only got over thirty leagues. 

Now the Bodisat, stopping at the river side, asked 
Channa, " What is this river called ? " 

" Its name, my lord, is Anoma." 

" And so also our renunciation of the world shall be 
called Anoma (illustrious)," said he ; and signalling to 
his horse, by pressing it with his heel, the horse sprang 
over the river, five or six hundred yards in breadth, and 
stood on the opposite bank. 

The Bodisat, getting down from the horse's back, stood 
on the sandy beach, extending there like a sheet of silver, 



86 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

and said to Channa, " Good Channa, do thou now go back, 
taking my ornaments and Kanthaka. I am going to 
become a hermit." 

" But I also, my lord, will become a hermit." 

" You cannot be allowed to renounce the world, you 
must go back," he said. Three times he refused this 
request of Channa' s ; and he delivered over to him both 
the ornaments and Kanthaka. 

Then he thought, " These locks of mine are not suited 
for a mendicant. Now it is not right for any one else to 
cut the hair of a future Buddha, so I will cut them off 
myself with my sword." Then, taking his sword in his 
right hand, and holding the plaited tresses, together with 
the diadem on them, with his left, he cut them off. So his 
hair was thus reduced to two inches in length, and curling 
from the right, it lay close to his head. It remained that 
length as long as he lived, and the beard the same. There 
was no need at all to shave either hair or beard any more. 

The Bodisat, saying to himself, " If I am to become a 
Buddha, let it stand in the air ; if not, let it fall to the 
ground ; " threw the hair and diadem together as he held 
them towards the sky. The plaited hair and the jewelled 
turban went a league off and stopped in the air. The arch- 
angel Sakka caught sight of it with his divine eye, and 
receiving it into a jewel casket, a league high, he placed 
it in the Tavatinsa heaven, in the Dagaba of the Diadem. 

272. Cutting off his hair, with pleasant perfumes sweet, 
The Lordly Being cast it to the sky. 
The thousand-eyed one, Sakka, the sky God, 
Received it humbly in a golden casket. 

Again the Bodisat thought, " This my raiment of 
Benares muslin is not suitable for a mendicant." Now 
the archangel Ghatikara, who had formerly been his 
friend in the time of Kassapa Buddha, was led by his 



DEATH OF KANTHAKA. 87 

friendship, which had not grown old in that long interval, 
to think, " To-day my friend is accomplishing the Great 
Renunciation, I will go and provide him with the requi- 
sites of a mendicant." 

273. The three robes, and the alms bowl, 
Razor, needle, and girdle, 
And a water strainer these eight 
Are the wealth of the monk devout. 

Taking these eight requisites of a mendicant, he gave 
them to him. The Bodisat dressed himself in the outward 
signs of an Arahat, and adopted the sacred garb of Renun- 
ciation; and he enjoined upon Channa to go and, in his 
name, assure his parents of his safety. And Channa did 
homage to the Bodisat reverently, and departed. 

Now Kanthaka stood listening to the Bodisat as he 
talked with Channa. And thinking, " From this time 
forth I shall never see my master more ! " he was unable 
to bear his grief. And going out of their sight, he died 
of a broken heart ; and was reborn in the Tavatinsa 
heaven as an angel, with the name of Kanthaka. So 
far the sorrow of Channa had been but single ; now torn 
with the second sorrow of Kanthaka's death, he returned, 
weeping and bewailing, to the city. 

But the Bodisat, having renounced the world, spent 
seven days in a mango grove called Anupiya, hard by 
that spot, in the joy of salvation. Then he went on foot 
in one day to Rajagaha, a distance of thirty leagues, 1 

1 The word rendered league is yojana, said by Childers (Dictionary, s. v.) 
to be twelve miles, but really only between seven and eight miles. See my 
Ancient Coins and Measures, pp. 16, 17. The thirty yojanas here mentioned, 
together with the thirty from Kapilavastu to the river Anoma, make together 
sixty, or four hundred and fifty miles from Kapilavastu to Rajagaha, which 
is far too much for the direct distance. There is here, I think, an undesigned 
coincidence between Northern and Southern accounts ; for the Lalita Vistara 
(Chap. xvi. at the commencement) makes the Bodisat go to Rajagaha vid 
Vesali, and this would make the total distance exactly sixty yojanas. 



88 THE N1DANAKATHA. 

and entering the city, begged his food from door to door. 
The whole city at the sight of his beauty was thrown 
into commotion, like that other Rajagaha by the entrance 
of Dhana-palaka, or like heaven itself by the entrance of 
the Ruler of the Gods. 

The guards went to the king and said, describing him, 
" king ! such and such a being is begging through the 
town. We cannot tell whether he is a god, or a man, or 
a Naga, or a Supanna, 1 or what he is." 

The king, watching the Great Being from his palace, 
became full of wonder, and gave orders to his guards, 
saying, " Go, my men, and see. If it is a superhuman 
being, it will disappear as soon as it leaves the city ; if a 
god, it will depart through the air ; if a snake, it will dive 
into the earth ; if a man, it will eat the food just as it is." 

But the Great Being collected scraps of food. And 
when he perceived there was enough to support him, he 
left the city by the gate at which he had entered. And 
seating himself, facing towards the East, under the 
shadow of the Pandava rock, he began to eat his meal. 
His stomach, however, turned, and made as if it would 
come out of his mouth. Then, though distressed by that 
revolting food, for in that birth he had never even beheld 
such food with his eyes, he himself admonished himself, 
saying, " Siddhattha, it is true you were born in a family 
where food and drink were easily obtainable, into a state 
of life where your food was perfumed third- sea son's rice, 
with various curries of the finest kinds. But ever since 
you saw one clad in a mendicant's garb, you have been 
thinking, 'When shall I become like him, and live by 
begging my food ? would that that time were come ! ' 
And now that you have left all for that very purpose, 
what is this that you are doing ? " And overcoming his 
feelings, he ate the food. 

1 These are the superhuman Snakes and Winged Creatures, who were sup- 
posed, like the gods or angels, to he able to assume the appearance of men. 



THE GREAT STRUGGLE. 89 

The king's men saw this, and went and told him what 
had happened. Hearing what his messengers said, the 
king quickly left the city, and approaching the Bodisat, 
was so pleased at the mere sight of his dignity and grace, 
that he offered him all his kingdom. 

The Bodisat said, " In me, O king ! there is no desire 
after wealth or sinful pleasures. It is in the hope of 
attaining to complete enlightenment that I have left all." 
And when the king gained not his consent, though he 
asked it in many ways, he said, "Assuredly thou wilt 
become a Buddha ! Deign at least after thy Buddhahood 
to come to my kingdom first." 

This is here concisely stated ; but the full account, 
beginning, " I sing the Renunciation, how the Wise One 
renounced the world," will be found on referring to the 
Pabbajjii Sutta and its commentary. 

And the Bodisat, granting the king's request, went 
forward on his way. And joining himself to Alara 
Kalama, and to Uddaka, son of Rama, he acquired their 
systems of ecstatic trance. But when he saw that that 
was not the way to wisdom, he left off applying himself 
to the realization of that system of Attainment. 1 And 
with the intention of carrying out the Great Struggle 
against sin, and showing his might and resolution to 
gods and men, he went to TJruvela. And saying, "Plea- 
sant, indeed, is this spot ! " he took up his residence there, 
and devoted himself to the Great Struggle. 2 

1 Samapatti. 

2 The Great Struggle played a great part in the Buddhist system of moral 
training ; it was the wrestling with the flesh by which a true Buddhist 
overcame delusion and sin, and attained to Nirvana. It is best explained by 
its four-fold division into 1 . Mastery over the passions. 2. Suppression of 
sinful thoughts. 3. Meditation on the seven kinds of Wisdom (Bodhi-anga, 
see ' Buddhism,' p. 173) ; and 4. Fixed attention, the power of preventing 
the mind from wandering. It is also called Sammappad liana, Right Effort, 
and forms the subject of the Maha-Padhana Sutta, in the Digha Nikaya. 
The system was, of course, not worked out at the time here referred to ; but 
throughout the chronicle the biographer ascribes to Gotama, from the 
beginning, a knowledge of the whole Buddhist theory as afterwards elaborated. 
For to our author that theory had no development, it was Eternal and Im- 
mutable Truth already revealed by innumerable previous Buddhas. 



90 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

And those five mendicants, Kondanya and the rest, 
begging their way through villages, market towns, and 
royal cities, met with the Bodisat there. And for six 
years they stayed by him and served him, while he was 
carrying out the Great Struggle, with different kinds of 
service, such as sweeping out the hermitage, and so on ; 
thinking the while, " Now he will become a Buddha ! 
now he will become a Buddha ! " 

Now the Bodisat thought, " I will perform the utter- 
most penance." And he brought himself to live on one 
seed of the oil plant, or one grain of rice, and even to fast 
entirely ; but the angels gathered the sap of life and in- 
fused it into him through the pores of his skin. By this 
fasting, however, he became as thin as a skeleton ; the 
colour of his body, once fair as gold, became dark ; and 
the Thirty-two signs of a Great Being disappeared. And 
one day, when walking up and down, plunged in intense 
meditation, he was overcome by severe pain ; and he 
fainted, and fell. 

Then certain of the angels began to say, " The men- 
dicant Gotama is dead." But others said, " Such is the 
condition of Arahats (saints)." And those who thought 
he was dead went and told Suddhodana the king, saying, 
" Your son is dead." 

" Did he die after becoming a Buddha, or before ? " 

"He was unable to attain to Buddhahood, and fell 
down and died in the midst of the Great Struggle." 

"When the king heard this, he refused to credit it, 
saying, " I do not believe it. My son could never die 
without attaining to Wisdom ! " 

If you ask, " Why did not the king believe it ? " it 
was because he had seen the miracles at the foot of the 
Jambu-tree, and on the day when Kala Devala had been 
compelled to do homage to the Bodisat. 

And the Bodisat recovered consciousness again, and 
stood up. And the angels went and told the king, " Your 



SUJATAS OFFERING. 91 

son, king, is well." And the king said, " I knew my 
son was not dead." 

And the Great Being's six years' penance became noised 
abroad, as when the sound of a great bell is heard in the 
sky. But he perceived that penance was not the way to 
Wisdom ; and begging through the villages and towns, 
he collected ordinary material food, and lived upon it. 
And the Thirty-two signs of a Great Being appeared 
again upon him, and his body became fair in colour, like 
unto gold. 

Then the five attendant mendicants thought, "This 
man has not been able, even by six years' penance, to 
attain Omniscience ; how can he do so now, when he goes 
begging through the villages, and takes material food? 
He is altogether lost in the Struggle. To think of getting 
spiritual advantage from him is like a man, who wants to 
bathe his head, thinking of using a dewdrop. What is 
to be got from him ? " And leaving the Great Being, 
they took each his robes and begging bowl, and went 
eighteen leagues away, and entered Isipatana (a suburb 
of Benares, famous for its schools of learning). 

Now at that time, at TJruvela, in the village Senani, 
there was a girl named Sujata, born in the house of 
Senani the landowner, who, when she had grown up, 
prayed to a Nigrodha-tree, saying, " If I am married into 
a family of equal rank, and have a son for my first-born 
child, then I will spend every year a hundred thousand 
on an offering to thee." And this her prayer took effect. 

And in order to make her offering, on the full-moon day 
of the month of May, in the sixth year of the Great 
Being's penance, she had driven in front of her a thou- 
sand cows into a meadow of rich grass. With their milk 
she had fed five hundred cows, with theirs two hundred 
and fifty, and so on down to eight. Thus aspiring after 
quantity, and sweetness, and strength, she did what is 
called, " Working the milk in and in." 



92 THE N1DANAKATHA. 

And early on the full-moon day in the month of May, 
thinking, " Now I will make the offering," she rose up 
in the morning early and milked those eight cows. Of 
their own accord the calves kept away from the cows' 
udders, and as soon as the new vessels were placed ready, 
streams of milk poured into them. Seeing this miracle, 
Sujata, with her own hands, took the milk and poured it 
into new pans ; and with her own hands made the fire 
and began to cook it. When that rice-milk was boiling, 
huge bubbles rising, turned to the right and ran round 
together; not a drop fell or was lost ; not the least smoke 
rose from the fireplace. 

At that time the four guardian angels of the world 
came from the four points of the compass, and kept watch 
by the fireplace. The archangel Brahma held over it a 
canopy of state. The archangel Sakka put the sticks 
together and lighted the fire. By their divine power the 
gods, gathering so much of the Sap of life as would suffice 
for the support of all the men and angels of the four 
continents, and their circumjacent two thousand isles 
as easily as a man crushing the honey- comb formed round 
a stick would take the honey they infused it into the 
milk-rice. At other times the gods infused the Sap of 
life into each mouthful of rice as he took it ; but on the 
day of his Buddhahood, and on the day of his Death, 
they infused it into the very vessel-full of rice itself. 

Sujata, seeing that so many wonders appeared to her 
on this one day, said to her slave-girl Punna, " Friend 
Punna ! Very gracious is our god to-day ! Never before 
have I seen such a wonder. Go at once and keep watch 
by the holy place." " Very good, my lady," replied she ; 
and ran and hastened to the foot of the tree. 

Now the Bodisat had seen that night five dreams, and 
on considering their purport he had drawn the conclusion, 
" Verily this day I shall become a Buddha." And at the 
end of the night he washed and dressed himself, and 



GOTAMA AND THE TREE GOD. 93 

waiting till the time should come to go round begging 
his food, he went early, and sat at the foot of that tree, 
lighting it all up with his glory. 

And Punna coming there saw the Bodisat sitting at the 
foot of the tree and lighting up all the region of the East; 
and she saw the whole tree in colour like gold from the 
rays issuing from his body. And she thought, " To-day 
our god, descending from the tree, is seated to receive our 
offering in his own hand." And excited with joy, she 
returned quickly, and announced this to Sujata. Sujata, 
delighted at the news, gave her all the ornaments be- 
fitting a daughter, saying, "To-day, from this time forth, 
be thou to me in the place of an elder daughter ! " 

And since, on the day of attaining Buddhahood, it is 
proper to receive a golden vessel worth a hundred thou- 
sand, she conceived the idea, " We will put the milk-rice 
into a vessel of gold." And sending for a vessel of gold 
worth a hundred thousand, she poured out the well- cooked 
food to put it therein. All the rice-milk flowed into the 
vessel, like water from a lotus leaf, and filled the vessel 
full. Taking it she covered it with a golden dish, and 
wrapped it in a cloth. And adorning herself in all her 
splendour, she put the vessel on her head, and went with 
great dignity to the Nigrodha-tree. Seeing the Bodisat, 
she was filled with exceeding joy, taking him for the 
tree-god ; and advanced, bowing, from the spot whence 
she saw him. Taking the vessel from her head, she un- 
covered it; and fetching sweet-scented water in a golden 
vase, she approached the Bodisat, and stood by. 

The earthenware pot given him by the archangel 
Ghatikara, which had never till then left him, disap- 
peared at that moment. Not seeing his pot, the Bodisat 
stretched out his right hand, and took the water. Sujata 
placed the vessel, with the milk-rice in it, in the hand 
of the Great Being. The Great Being looked at her. 
Pointing to the food, she said, " O, my lord ! accept 



94 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

what I have offered thee, and depart withersoever seemeth 
to thee good." And adding, " May there arise to thee as 
much joy as has come to me ! " she went away, valuing 
her golden vessel, worth a hundred thousand, at no more 
than a dried leaf. 

But the Bodisat rising from his seat, and leaving the 
tree on the right hand, took the vessel and went to the 
bank of the Neranjara river, down into which on the 
day of their complete Enlightenment so many thousand 
Bodisats had gone. The name of that bathing place is 
the Supatitthita ferry. Putting the vessel on the bank, 
he descended into the river and bathed. 

And having dressed himself again in the garb of the 
Arahats worn by so many thousand Buddhas, he sat 
down with his face to the East; and dividing the rice 
into forty- nine balls of the size of so many single- seeded 
Palmyra fruits, he ate all that sweet milk- rice without 
any water. 1 Now that was the only food he had for forty- 
nine days, during the seven times seven days he spent, 
after he became a Buddha, at the foot of the Tree of 
Wisdom. During all that time he had no other food ; 
he did not bathe ; nor wash his teeth ; nor feel the 
cravings of nature. He lived on the joy arising from 
intense Meditation, on the joy arising from the Noble 
Path, on the joy arising from the Fruit thereof. 

But when he had finished eating that milk-rice, he took 
the golden vessel, and said, " If I shall be able to-day to 
become a Buddha, let this pot go up the stream ; if not, 
let it go down the stream ! " and he threw it into the water. 
And it went, in spite of the stream, eighty cubits up the 
river in the middle of the stream, all the way as quickly as 
a fleet horse. And diving into a whirlpool it went to the 
palace of Kala Nagaraja (the Black Snake King) ; and 
striking against the bowls from which the three previous 

1 The fruit of the Palmyra (Bor'assus Flahelliformis) has always three 
seeds. I do not understand the allusion to a one-seeded Palmyra. 



THE THRONE OF WISDOM. 95 

Buddhas had eaten, it made them sound " click! click ! " 
and remained stationary as the lowest of them. Kala, 
.the snake-king, hearing the noise, exclaimed, " Yesterday 
a Buddha arose, now to-day another has arisen ; " and he 
continued to praise him in many hundred stanzas. 

But the Bodisat spent the heat of the day in a grove of 
sala-trees in full bloom on the bank of the river. And in 
the evening, when the flowers droop on the stalks, he 
proceeded, like a lion when it is roused, towards the Tree 
of Wisdom, along a path five or six hundred yards wide, 
decked by the gods. The Snakes, and Genii, and Winged 
Creatures, 1 and other superhuman beings, offered him 
sweet- smelling flowers from heaven, and sang heavenly 
songs. The ten thousand world-systems became filled 
with perfumes and garlands and shouts of approval. 

At that time there came from the opposite direction a 
grass-cutter named Sotthiya, carrying grass ; and recog- 
nizing the Great Being, he gave him eight bundles of 
grass. The Bodisat took the grass; and ascending the 
rising ground round the Bo-tree, he stood at the South 
of it, looking towards the North. At that moment the 
Southern horizon seemed to descend below the level of 
the lowest hell, and the Northern horizon mounting up 
seemed to reach above the highest heaven. 

The Bodisat, saying, " This cannot, I think, be the 
right place for attaining Buddhahood," turned round it, 
keeping it on the right hand ; and went to the Western 
side, and stood facing the East. Then the Western hori- 
zon seemed to descend beneath the lowest hell, and the 
Eastern horizon to ascend above the highest heaven ; 
and to him, where he was standing, the earth seemed 

1 Nagas, Yakkhas and Supannas. The Yakkhas are characterized through- 
out the Jataka stories hy their cannibalism ; the female Yakkhas as sirens 
luring men on to destruction. They are invisible till they assume human 
shape ; but even then can be recognized by their red eyes. That the Ceylon 
aborigines are called Yakkhas in the Mahavansa probably results from a tra- 
dition of their cannibalism. On the others, see above, p. 88. 



96 THE NIDANAKATIIA. 

to bend up and down like a great cart wheel lying 
on its axis when its circumference is trodden on. 

The Bodisat, saying, " This cannot, I think, be the 
right place for attaining Buddhahood," turned round it, 
keeping it on the right hand ; and went to the Northern 
side, and stood facing the South. Then the Northern 
horizon seemed to descend beneath the lowest hell, and 
the Southern horizon to ascend above the highest heaven. 

The Bodisat, saying, "This cannot, I think, be the 
right place for attaining Buddhahood," turned round it, 
keeping it on the right hand ; and went to the Western 
side, and stood facing towards the East. Now in the 
East is the place where all the Buddhas have sat cross- 
legged ; and that place neither trembles nor shakes. 

The Great Being, perceiving, "This is the steadfast 
spot chosen by all the Buddhas, the spot for the throwing 
down of the temple of sin," took hold of the grass by 
one end, and scattered it there. And immediately there 
was a seat fourteen cubits long. For those blades of 
grass arranged themselves in such a form as would be 
beyond the power of even the ablest painter or carver to 
design. 

The Bodisat turning his back upon the trunk of the 
Bo-tree, and with his face towards the East, made the 
firm resolve, "My skin, indeed, and nerves, and bones, 
may become arid, and the very blood in my body may 
dry up ; but till I attain to complete insight, this seat I 
will not leave ! " And he sat himself down in a cross- 
legged position, firm and immovable, as if welded with a 
hundred thunderbolts. 

At that time the angel Mara, thinking, " Siddhattha 
the prince wants to free himself from my dominion. I 
will not let him get free yet ! " went to the hosts of his 
angels, and told the news. And sounding the drum, 
called "Satan's War-cry," he led forth the army of Satan. 

That army of Mara stretches twelve leagues before him, 



THE CONTEST OF GOOD AND EVIL. 97 

twelve leagues to right 'and left of him, behind him it 
reaches to the rocky limits of the world, above him it is 
nine leagues in height ; and the sound of its war-cry is 
heard, twelve leagues away, even as the sound of an 
earthquake. 

Then Mara, the angel, mounted his elephant, two hun- 
dred and fifty leagues high, named, " Girded with moun- 
tains." And he created for himself a thousand arms, and 
seized all kinds of weapons. And of the remainder, too, 
of the army of Mara, no two took the same weapon ; but 
assuming various colours and various forms, they went on 
to overwhelm the Great Being. 

But the angels of the ten thousand world- systems con- 
tinued speaking the praises of the Great Being. Sakka, 
the king of the angels, stood there blowing his trumpet 
Vijayuttara. Now that trumpet is a hundred and twenty 
cubits long, and can itself cause the wind to enter, and 
thus itself give forth a sound which will resound for four 
months, when it becomes still. The Great Black One, the 
king of the Nagas, stood there uttering his praises in 
many hundred stanzas. The archangel Maha Brahma 
stood there, holding over him the white canopy of state. 
But as the army approached and surrounded the seat 
under the Bo-tree, not one of the angels was able to stay, 
and they fled each one from the spot where the army met 
them. The Black One, the king of the Nagas, dived into 
the earth, and went to Manjerika, the palace of the Nagas, 
five hundred leagues in length, and lay down, covering 
his face with his hands. Sakka, taking the Vijayuttara 
trumpet on his back, stopped on the rocky verge of the 
world. Maha Brahma, putting the white canopy of state 
on to the summit of the rocks at the end of the earth, 
went to the world of Brahma. Not a single deity was 
able to keep his place. The Great Being sat there alone. 

But Mara said to his host, " Friends ! there is no other 
man like Siddhattha, the son of Suddhodana. We cannot 



9 8 THE NIDANAKATHA, 

give him battle face to face. Let us attack him from be- 
hind ! " The Great Being looked round on three sides, 
and saw that all the gods had fled, and their place was 
empty. Then beholding the hosts of Mara coming thick 
upon him from the North, he thought, "Against me 
alone this mighty host is putting forth all its energy 
and strength. No father is here, nor mother, nor brother, 
nor any other relative to help me. But those ten cardi- 
nal virtues have long been to me as retainers fed from 
my store. So, making the virtues my shield, I must 
strike this host with the sword of virtue, and thus over- 
whelm it ! " And so he sat meditating on the Ten Per- 
fections. 1 

Then Mara the angel, saying, " Thus will I drive away 
Siddhattha," caused a whirlwind to blow. And imme- 
diately such winds rushed together from the four corners 
of the earth as could have torn down the peaks of moun- 
tains half a league, two leagues, three leagues high 
could have rooted up the shrubs and trees of the forest 
and could have made of the towns and villages around 
one heap of ruins. But through the majesty of the 
goodness of the Great Being, they reached him with their 
power gone, and even the hem of his robe they were un- 
able to shake. 

Then saying, " I will overwhelm him with water and 
so slay him," he caused a mighty rain to fall. And 
the clouds gathered, overspreading one another by hun- 
dreds and by thousands, and poured forth rain ; and by 
the violence of the torrents the earth was saturated ; 
and a great flood, overtopping the trees of the forest, 
approached the Great Being. But it was not able to wet 
on his robe even the space where a dew-drop might fall. 

Then he caused a storm of rocks to fall. And mighty, 
mighty, mountain peaks came through the air, spitting 

1 His acquisition of the Ten Perfections, or Cardinal Virtues, is described 
above, pp. 54-58. 



THE ATTACK OF THE EVIL ONE. 



99 



forth fire and smoke. But as they reached the Great 
Being, they changed into bouquets of heavenly flowers. 

Then he raised a storm of deadly weapons. And they 
came one-edged, and two-edged swords, and spears, and 
arrows smoking and flaming through the sky. But as 
they reached the Great Being, they became flowers from 
heaven. 

Then he raised a storm of charcoal. But the embers, 
though they came through the sky as red as red Kinsuka 
flowers, were scattered at the feet of the future Buddha as 
heavenly flowers. 

Then he raised a storm of ashes ; and the ashes came 
through the air exceeding hot, and in colour like fire ; but 
they fell at the feet of the future Buddha as the dust of 
sandal-wood. 

Then he raised a storm of sand ; and the sand, exceeding 
fine, came smoking and flaming through the air ; but it 
fell at the feet of the future Buddha as heavenly flowers. 

Then he raised a storm of mud. And the mud came 
smoking and flaming through the air ; but it fell at the 
feet of the future Buddha as heavenly perfume. 

Then saying, " By this I will terrify Siddhattha, and 
drive him away ! " he brought on a thick darkness. And 
the darkness became fourfold : but when it reached the 
future Buddha, it disappeared as darkness does before the 
brightness of the sun. 

Thus was Mara unable by these nine the wind, and 
the rain, and the rocks, and the weapons, and the char- 
coal, and the ashes, and the sand, and the mud, and the 
darkness to drive away the future Buddha. So he 
called on his host, and said, " Why stand you still ? 
Seize, or slay, or drive away this prince ! " And himself 
mounted the Mountain-girded, and seated on his back, he 
approached the future Buddha, and cried out, " Get up, 
Siddhattha, from that seat ! It does not belong to thee ! 
It is meant for me ! " 



100 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

The Great Being listened to his words, and said, 
" Mara ! it is not by you that the Ten Cardinal Virtues 
have been perfected, nor the lesser Virtues, nor the 
higher Virtues. It is not you who have sacrificed your- 
self in the five great Acts of Self-renunciation, who have 
diligently sought after Knowledge, and the Salvation of 
the world, and the attainment of Wisdom. This seat does 
not belong to thee, it is to me that it belongs." 

Then the enraged Mara, unable to endure the vehe- 
mence of his anger, cast at the Great Being that 
Sceptre- javelin of his, the barb of which was in shape 
as a wheel. But it became a garland of flowers, and 
remained as a canopy over him, whose mind was bent 
upon good. 

Now at other times, when that Wicked One throws his 
Sceptre- javelin, it cleaves asunder a pillar of solid rock as 
if it were the tender shoot of a bambu. When, however, 
it thus turned into a garland-canopy, all the host of Mara 
shouted, " Now he shall rise from his seat and flee ! " 
and they hurled at him huge masses of rock. But these 
too fell on the ground as bouquets at the feet of Him 
whose mind was bent upon good ! 

And the angels stood on the edge of the rocks that 
encircle the world ; and stretching forwards in amaze- 
ment, they looked on, saying, " Lost ! lost is Siddhattha 
the Prince, the glorious and beautiful ! What can he 
do to save himself ! " 

Then the Great Being exclaimed, " I have reached the 
throne on which sit the Buddhas-to-be when they are 
perfect in all goodness, on that day when they shall reach 
Enlightenment." 

And he said to Mara, standing there before him, " Mara, 
who is witness that thou hast given alms ? " 

And Mara stretched forth his hand to the hosts of his 
followers, and said, " So many are my witnesses." 

And that moment there arose a shout as the sound of 



THE POWER OF CHARITY. 



IQf 



an earthquake from, the hosts of the Evil One, saying, " I 
am his witness ! I am his witness ! " 

Then the Tempter addressed the Great Being, and said, 
" Siddhattha ! who is witness that thou hast given alms ?" 

And the Great Being answered, "Thou hast living 
witnesses that thou hast given alms : and I have in this 
place no living witness at all. But not counting the 
alms I have given in other births, let this great and 
solid earth, unconscious though it be, be witness of the 
seven hundredfold great alms I gave when I was born as 
Wessantara ! " 

And withdrawing his right hand from beneath his robe, 
he stretched it forth towards the earth, and said, "Are 
you, or are you not witness of the seven hundredfold 
great gift I gave in my birth as Wessantara ? " 

And the great Earth uttered a voice, saying, "I am 
witness to thee of that ! " overwhelming as it were the 
hosts of the Evil One as with the shout of hundreds of 
thousands of foes. 

Then the mighty elephant " Girded with mountains," 
as he realized what the generosity of Wessantara had been, 
fell down on his knees before the Great Being. And the 
army of Mara fled this way and that way, so that not even 
two were left together : throwing off their clothes and 
their turbans, they fled, each one straight on before him. 

But the heavenly hosts, when they saw that the army 
of Mara had fled, cried out, " The Tempter is overcome ! 
Siddhattha the Prince has prevailed ! Come, let us 
honour the Victor ! " And the Nagas, and the Winged 
Creatures, and the Angels, and the Archangels, each 
urging his comrades on, went up to the Great Being at 
the Bo-tree's foot, and as they came, 

274. At the Bo-tree's foot the Naga bands 

Shouted, for joy that the Sage had won ; 
" The Blessed Buddha he hath prevailed ! 
And the Tempter is overthrown ! " 



102 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

275. At the Bo-tree's foot the "Winged Ones 
Shouted, for joy that the Sage had won ; 

" The Blessed Buddha he hath prevailed ! 
And the Tempter is overthrown ! " 

276. At the Bo-tree's foot the Angel hosts 
Shouted, for joy that the Sage had won ; 

" The Blessed Buddha he hath prevailed ! 
And the Tempter is overthrown ! " 

277. At the Bo-tree's foot the Brahma Gods 
Shouted, for joy that the Sage had won ; 

" The Blessed Buddha he hath prevailed ! 
And the Tempter is overthrown ! " 

The other gods, too, in the ten thousand world- systems, 
offered garlands and perfumes and uttered his praises 
aloud. 

It was while the sun was still above the horizon, that 
the Great Being thus put to flight the army of the Evil 
One. Then, whilst the Bo-tree paid him homage, as it were, 
by its shoots like sprigs of red coral falling over his robe, 
he acquired in the first watch of the night the Knowledge 
of the Past, in the middle watch the Knowledge of the 
Present, and in the third watch the Knowledge of the 
Chain of Causation which leads to the Origin of Evil. 1 

Now on his thus revolving this way and that way, and 
tracing backwards and forwards, and thoroughly realizing 
the twelvefold Chain of Causation, the ten thousand 
world-systems quaked twelve times even to their ocean 
boundaries. And again, when the Great Being, making 
the ten thousand world-systems to shout for joy, attained 
at break of day to complete Enlightenment, the whole 
ten thousand world- systems became glorious as on a festive 
day. The streamers of the flags and banners raised 
on the edge of the rocky boundary to the East of the world 

1 Pubbe-nivasa-fiana, Dibba-cakkhu, and Faticca-samuppada. 



HEAVEN AND EARTH 'ARE GLAD. 



103 



reached to the very West ; and so those on the West 
and North, and South, reached to the East, and South, and 
North ; while in like manner those of flags and banners 
on the surface of the earth reached to the highest heaven, 
and those of flags and banners in heaven swept down upon 
the earth. Throughout the universe flowering trees put 
forth their blossoms, and fruit-bearing trees were loaded 
with clusters of fruit ; the trunks and branches of trees, and 
even the creepers, were covered with bloom ; lotus wreaths 
hung from the sky ; and lilies by sevens sprang, one 
above another, even from the very rocks. The ten thou- 
sand world-systems as they revolved seemed like a mass 
of loosened wreaths, or like a nosegay tastefully arranged : 
and the great Voids between them, the hells whose dark- 
ness the rays of seven suns had never been able to dis- 
perse, became filled with light. The waters of the Great 
Ocean became sweet, down to its profoundest depths ; and 
the rivers were stayed in their course. The blind from 
birth received their sight ; the deaf from birth heard 
sound ; the lame from birth could use their feet ; and 
chains and bonds were loosed, and fell away. 1 

It was thus in surpassing glory and honour, and with 
many wonders happening around, that he attained Om- 
niscience, and gave vent to his emotion in the Hymn of 
Triumph, sung by all the Buddhas. 

278. Long have I wandered ! long ! 
Bound by the Chain of Life, 

Through many births : 
Seeking thus long, in vain, 
"Whence comes this Life in man, his Consciousness, 

his Pain ! " 

And hard to bear is Birth, 
When pain and death but lead to Birth again. 

1 Compare the Thirty-two Good Omens at the Buddha's Birth, above, p. 64. 



104 THE NIDAXAKATHA. 

Found ! It is found ! 
O Cause of Individuality ! 
No longer shalt thou make a house for me : 

Broken are all thy beams. 
Thy ridge-pole shattered ! 
Into Nirvana now my mind has past : 

The end of cravings has been reached at last ! l 

1 The train of thought is explained at length in my "Buddhism," pp. 
100-112. Shortly, it amounts to this. The Unconscious has no pain: with- 
out Consciousness, Individuality, there would be no pain. What gives men 
Consciousness ? It is due to a grasping, craving, sinful condition of heart. 
The ahsence of these cravings is Nirvana. Having reached Nirvana. Con- 
sciousness endures but for a time (until the body dies), and it will then no 
longer be renewed. The beams of sin, the ridge-pole of care, give to the 
house of individuality its seeming strength : but in the peace of Nirvana 
they have passed away. The Bodisat is now Buddha: he has reached 
Nirvana : he has solved the great mystery ; the jewel of salvation sought 
through so many ages has been found at last ; and the long, long struggle 
is over. 

The following is Spence Hardy's literal translation given in his " Manual 
of Buddhism," p. 180, where similar versions by Gogerly and Tumour will 
be found : but they scarcely seem to me to express the inner meaning of 
these difficult and beautiful verses : 

Through many different births 

I have run (to me not having found), 

Seeking the architect of the desire resembling house, 

Painful are repeated births ! 

house-builder ! I have seen (thee). 
Again a house thou canst not build for me. 

1 have broken thy rafters. 

Thy central support is destroyed. 

To Nirvana my mind has gone. 

I have arrived at the extinction of evil-desire. 

The figure of the house is found also in Manu (vi. 79-81) ; in the " Lalita 
Vistara " (p. 107 of Foucaux's Gya Tcher Eol Pa) ; and in the Adi Granth 
(Trumpp, pp. 215, 216, 471). The last passage is as follows : 

A storm of divine knowledge has come ! 

The shutters of Delusion all are blown away are there no longer ; 

The posts of Double-mindedness are broken down ; the ridge-pole of spiritual 

Blindness is shattered ; 
The roof of Craving has fallen on the ground ; the vessel of Folly has burst ! 



G OTA MA AS BUDDHA. 



105 



THE PROXIMATE OR LAST EPOCH. 1 

Now whilst lie was still seated there, after lie had sung 
the Hymn of Triumph, the Blessed One thought, " It is 
in order to attain to this throne of triumph that I have 
undergone successive births for so long a time, 2 that I 
severed my crowned head from my neck and gave it 
away, that I tore out my darkened eyes and my heart's 
flesh and gave them away, that I gave away to serve 
others such sons as Jali the Prince, and such daughters 
as Kanha Jina the Princess, and such wives as Maddl the 
Queen. This seat is a throne of triumph to me, and a 
throne of glory ; while seated on it my aims have heen 
fulfilled : I will not leave it yet." And he sat there 
absorbed in many thoughts 3 for those seven days referred 
to in the text, beginning, " And then the Blessed One 
sat motionless for seven days, realizing the bliss of 
Nirvana." 

Now certain of the angels began to doubt, thinking, 
" There must be something more Siddhattha has to do 
this day, for he still lingers seated there." The Master, 
knowing their thoughts, and to appease their doubts, 
rose into the air, and performed the miracle of making 
another appearance like unto himself. 4 

And the Master having thus by this miracle dispelled 
the angels' doubts, stood a little to the North-east of the 

1 See above, p. 2. A similar explanation is here repeated in a gloss. 
3 Literally for four asa-qkheyyas and a hundred thousand kalpas. 

3 Anekakoti-sata-sahassa samapattiyo samapajjanto. 

4 Yamaka-putihariyarj ; literally twin-miracle.' Comp. pp. 88, 193, of the 
text, and Mah. p. 107. I am not sure of the meaning of the expression. 
Bigandet, p. 93, has 'performed a thousand wonders.' Hardy, p. 181. omits 
the clause ; and Beal omits the whole episode. A gloss here adds that the 
Buddha performed a similar miracle on three other occasions. 



ro6 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

throne, thinking, " It was on that throne that I attained 
omniscience." And he thus spent seven days gazing 
steadfastly at the spot where he had gained the result of 
the deeds of virtue fulfilled through such countless years. 
And that spot became known as the Dagaba of the Stead- 
fast Gaze. 

Then he created between the throne and the spot where 
he had stood a cloistered walk, and he spent seven days 
walking up and down in that jewelled cloister which 
stretched from East to West. And that spot became 
knoAvn as the Dagaba of the Jewelled Cloister. 

But for the fourth week the angels created to the 
North-west of the Bo-tree a house of gems ; and he spent 
the week seated there cross-legged, and thinking out the 
Abhidhamma Pitaka both book by book and generally 
in respect of the origin of all things as therein explained. 
(But the Abhidhammikas l say that House of Gems here 
means either a mansion built of the seven kinds of jewels, 
or the place where the seven books were thought out : 
and as they give these two explanations of the passage, 
both should be accepted as correct.) 

Having thus spent four weeks close to the Bo-tree, he 
went, in the fifth week, to the Shepherd's Nigrodha-tree : 
and sat there meditating on the Truth, and enjoying the 
sweetness of Nirvana. 8 

Now at that time the angel Mara thought to himself, 
" So long a time have I followed this man seeking some 
fault in him, and find no sin in him ; and now, indeed, he 
is beyond my power." And overcome with sorrow he sat 
down on the highway, and as he thought of the following 
sixteen things he drew sixteen lines on the ground. 
Thinking, " I did not attain, as he did, to the perfection of 

1 The monks whose duty it is to learn by heart, repeat, and commentate 
upon the seven books in the Abhidhamma Pitaka. See above, p. 78. 

2 Vimutli. Perhaps the clause should be rendered : Eealizing the sweet 
sense of salvation gained, and the Truth (Dhamma) may be used in contra- 
distinction to Abhidharma of the rest of the Scriptures. 



THE DAUGHTERS OF EVIL. 107 

Charity ; therefore I have not become like him," he drew 
one line. Then thinking, " I did not attain, as he did, 
to the Perfections of Goodness, and Self -sacrifice, and 
Wisdom, and Exertion, and Longsuffering, and Truth, 
and Resolution, and Kindness, and Equanimity ; ! therefore 
I have not become like him," he drew nine more lines. 
Then thinking, " I did not attain the Ten Perfections, 
the conditions precedent to the acquisition of the extra- 
ordinary knowledge of the objects of sense, and therefore 
I have not become like him," he drew the eleventh line. 
Then thinking, " I did not attain to the Ten Perfections, 
the conditions precedent to the acquisition of the extra- 
ordinary knowledge of inclinations and dispositions, of 
the attainment of compassion, of the double miracle, of 
the removal of hindrances, and of omniscience ; therefore 
I have not become like him," he drew the five other lines. 
And so he sat on the highway, drawing sixteen lines for 
these sixteen thoughts. 

At that time Craving, Discontent, and Lust, 2 the three 
daughters of Mara, could not find their father, and were 
looking for him, wondering where he could be. And 
when they saw him, sad at heart, writing on the ground, 
they went up to him, and asked, " Why, dear, are you sad 
and sorrowful ? " 

And he answered, " Beloved, this illustrious mendicant 
is escaping from my power. Long have I watched, but 
in vain, to find some fault in him. Therefore it is that I 
am sad and sorrowful." 

" Be that as it may," replied they, " think not so. We 
will subject him to our influence, and come back bringing 
him captive with us." 

"Beloved," said he, "you cannot by any means bring 
him under your influence; he stands firm in faith, un- 
wavering." 

1 On these Ten Perfections, see above, pp. 15-18, and pp. 54-58. 

2 Tanha, AratT, and Raga. 



108 THE N1DANAKATHA. 

" But we are women,"" was the reply ; " this moment 
we will bring him bound by the allurements of passion. 
Do not you be so grieved." 

So they approached the Blessed One, and said, "0, 
holy man, upon thee we humbly wait ! " 

But the Blessed One neither paid any attention to their 
words, nor raised his eyes to look at them. He sat 
plunged in the joy of Nirvana, with a mind made free 
by the complete extinction of sin. 

Then the daughters of Mara considered with them- 
selves : " Various are men's tastes. Some fall, in love 
with virgins, some with young women, some with mature 
women, some with older women. We will tempt him 
in various forms." So each of them assumed the appear- 
ance of a hundred women, virgins, women who had 
never had a child, or only once, or only twice, middle- 
aged women, older women, and six times they went up 
to the Blessed One, and professed themselves his humble 
handmaidens ; and to that even the Blessed One paid no 
attention, since he was made free by the complete extinc- 
tion of sin. 

Now, some teachers say that when the Blessed One saw 
them approaching in the form of elderly women, he com- 
manded, saying, " Let these women remain just as they 
are, with broken teeth and bald heads." This should not 
be believed, for the Master issues not such commands. 

But the Blessed One said, " Depart ye ! Why strive 
ye thus ? Such things might be done in the presence of 
men who linger in the paths of sin ; but I have put away 
lust, have put away ill-will, have put away folly." And 
he admonished them in those two verses from the Chapter 
on the Buddha in the Scripture Verses : 

280. No one can e'er disturb his self-control 

Whose inward victories, once gained, are never 
lost. 



THE BLISS OF HOLINESS. 109 

That Sinless One, the Wise, whose mind embraces 

all- 
How by what guile what sin can you allure 

him to his fall ? 

281. He who has no ensnaring, venomous desire ; 
No craving wants to lead him aught astray : 
The Sinless One, the Wise, whose mind embraces 

all- 
How by what guile what sin can you allure 

him to his fall ? l 

And thus these women returned to their father, con- 
fessing that he had spoken truth when he had said that 
the Blessed One was not by any means to be led away 
by any unholy desire. 

But the Blessed One, when he had spent a week at that 
spot, went on to the Mucalinda-tree. There he spent a 
week, Mucalinda, the snake-king, when a storm ar&se, 
shielding him with seven folds of his hood, so that the 
Blessed One enjoyed the bliss of salvation as if he had 
been resting in a pleasant chamber, remote from all dis- 
turbance. Thence he went away to a Raj ayatana- tree, 
and there also sat down enjoying the bliss of salvation. 
And so seven weeks passed away, during which he expe- 
rienced no bodily wants, but fed on the joy of Meditation, 
the joy of the Paths, and the joy of the Fruit thereof 
(that is, of Nirvana). 2 

Now, as he sat there on the last day of the seven weeks 
the forty-ninth day he felt a desire to bathe his face. 
And Sakka, the king of the gods, brought a fruit of the 
Myrobolan-tree, and gave him to eat. And Sakka, too, 
provided a tooth-cleanser of the thorns of the snake- 
creeper, and water to bathe his face. And the Master 

1 Dhammapada, verses 179, 180. 2 See "Buddhism," pp. 108-110. 



no THE NIDANAKATHA. 

used the tooth-cleanser, and bathed his face, and sat him 
down there at the foot of the tree. 

At that time two merchants, Tapassu and Bhalluka by 
name, were travelling from Orissa to Central India 1 with 
five hundred carts. And an angel, a blood relation of 
theirs, stopped their carts, and moved their hearts to offer 
food to the Master. And they took a rice cake, and a 
honey cake, and went up to the Master, and said, " 0, 
Blessed One ! have mercy upon us, and accept this 
food." 

Now, on the day when he had received the sweet rice- 
milk, his bowl had disappeared; 2 so the Blessed One 
thought, " The Buddhas never receive food in their hands. 
How shall I take it ? " Then the four Guardian Angels 
knew his thought, and, coming from the four corners of 
heaven, they brought bowls made of sapphire. And the 
Blessed One accepted them. Then they brought four 
other bowls, made of jet ; and the Blessed One, out of 
kindness to the four angels, received the four, and, placing 
them one above another, commanded, saying, " Let them 
become one." And the four closed up into one of medium 
size, becoming visible only as lines round the mouth of it. 
The Blessed One received the food into that new-created 
bowl, and ate it, and gave thanks. 

The two brothers took refuge in the Buddha, the Truth, 
and the Order, and became professed disciples. Then, 
when they asked him, saying, " Lord, bestow upon us 
something to which we may pay reverence," with his own 
right hand he tore from his head, and gave to them, the 
Hair-relics. And they built a Dagaba in their own city, 
and placed the relics within it. 3 

1 Ukkala to Majjhima-desa. The latter included all the Buddhist Holy 
Land, from the modern Patna to Allahabad. See above, p. 61, note. 

2 See above, p. 93. 

3 "We have here an interesting instance of the growth of legend to authen- 
ticate and add glory to local relics, of which other instances will be found in 
" Buddhism," p. 195. The ancient form of this legend, as found here, must 



THE BUDDHA HESITA TES. I \ i- 

But the Perfectly Enlightened One rose up thence, and 
returned to the Shepherd's Nigrodha-tree, and sat down 
.at its foot. And no sooner was he seated there, consider- 
ing the depth of the Truth which he had gained, than 
there arose in his mind a doubt (felt by each of the 
Buddhas as he became aware of his having arrived at 
Truth) that he had not that kind of ability necessary to 
explain that Truth to others. 

Then the great Ruler of the Brahma heavens, exclaim- 
ing, " Alas ! the world is lost ! Alas ! the world will be 
altogether lost ! " brought with him the rulers and arch- 
angels of the heavens in tens of thousands of world - 
systems, and went up to the Master, and said, " O 
Blessed Lord, mayst thou proclaim the Truth ! Proclaim 
the Truth, Blessed Lord ! " and in other words of 
like purport begged from him the preaching of the 
Truth. 

Then the Master granted his request. And considering 
to whom he should first reveal the Truth, thought at first 
of Alara, his former teacher, as one who would quickly 
comprehend it. But, on further reflection, he perceived 
that Aliira had been dead seven days. So he fixed on 
Uddaka, but perceived that he too had died that very 
evening. Then he thought of the five mendicants, how 
faithfully they had served him for a time ; and casting 
about in his mind where they then might be, he perceived 
they were at the Deer-forest in Benares. And he deter- 
mined, saying, " There I will go to inaugurate the King- 
have arisen when the relics were still in Orissa. Both the Burmese and 
Ceylonese now claim to possess them. The former say that the two mer- 
chants were Burmese, and that the Dugaba above referred to is the celebrated 
sanctuary of Shooay Dagob (Bigandet, p. 101, 2nd ed.). The latter say that 
the Dugaba was in Orissa, and that the hair-relics were brought thence to 
Ceylon in 490 A.D., in the manner related in the Kesa Dhatu Varjsa, and 
referred to in the Maha Varjsa. (See verses 43-56 of my edition of the 39th 
chap, of the M. V. in the J. R. A. S. 1875.) The legend in the text is 
found in an ancient inscription on the great bell at Rangoon (Hough's 
version in the Asiatic Researches, vol. xvi. ; comp. Hardy, M. B. p. 183 ; 
Beal, Rom. Leg.) p. 240. 



H2 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

dom of Righteousness." But he delayed a few days, 
begging his daily food in the neighbourhood of the Bo- 
tree, with the intention of going to Benares on the full- 
moon day of the month of May. 

And at dawn of the fourteenth day of the month, when 
the night had passed away, he took his robe and his 
bowl; and had gone eighteen leagues, just half way, 
when he met the Hindu mendicant TJpaka. And he 
announced to him how he had become a Buddha ; and on 
the evening of that day he arrived at the hermitage near 
Benares. 1 

The five mendicants, seeing already from afar the 
Buddha coming, said one to another, " Friend, here comes 
the mendicant Gotama. He has turned back to a free 
use of the necessaries of life, and has recovered roundness 
of form, acuteness of sense, and beauty of complexion. 
We ought to pay him no reverence ; but as he is, after 
all, of a good family, he deserves the honour of a seat. So 
we will simply prepare a seat for him." 

The Blessed One, casting about in his mind (by the power 
that he had of knowing what was going on in the thoughts 
of all beings) as to what they were thinking, knew their 
thoughts. Then, concentrating that feeling of his love which 
was able to pervade generally all beings in earth and 
heaven, he directed it specially towards them. And the 
sense of his love diffused itself through their hearts ; and 
as he came nearer and nearer, unable any longer to adhere to 
their resolve, they rose from their seats, and bowed down 
before him, and welcomed him with every mark of rever- 
ence and respect. But, not knowing that he had become 
a Buddha, they addressed him, in everything they said, 
either by name, or as " Brother." Then the Blessed One 
announced to them his Buddhahood, saying, " mendi- 
cants, address not a Buddha by his name, or as ' brother.' 

1 Isipatana, the hermitage in the Deer-forest close to Benares. See above, 
p. 91. 



THE FIRST DISCIPLES. 1 1 3 

And I, mendicants, am a Buddha, clear in insight, as 
those who have gone before." 1 

Then, seated on the place prepared for him, and 
surrounded by myriads of angels, he addressed the five 
attendant elders, just as the moon was passing out of 
conjunction with the lunar mansion in June, and taught 
them in that discourse which was The Foundation of the 
Kingdom of Righteousness, 

Of the five Elders, Kondanya the Believer 2 gained in 
knowledge as the discourse went on ; and as it concluded, 
he, with myriads of angels, had arrived at the Fruit of the 
First Path. 3 And the Master, who remained there for the 
rainy season, sat in the itrihara the next day, when the 
other four had gone a-begging, talking to Vappa : and 
Yappa that morning attained to the Fruit of the First 
Path. And, in a similar manner, Bhaddiya on the next 
day, and Mahu Nama on the next, and Assaji on the next, 
attained to the Fruit of the First Path. And, on the 
fifth day, he called all five to his side, and preached to 
them the discourse On the Non-existence of the Soul; and at 
the end of that discourse all the five elders attained to 
Nirvana. 

Then the Master perceived that Yasa, a young man of 
good family, was capable of entering the Paths. And at 
night-time, as he was going away, having left his home in 
weariness of the world, the Master called him, saying, 
" Follow me, Yasa ! " and on that very night he attained to 
the Fruit of the First Path, and on the next day to Arahat- 
ship. And He received also the other fifty-four, his com- 
panions, into the order, with the formula, " Follow me ! " 
and caused them to attain to Arahatship. 

Now when there were thus in the world sixty-one persons 
who had become Arahats, the Master, after the rainy season 

1 Tathagato Sammasambuddho. 

2 So called from his action on this occasion. See above, pp. 72, 73. 

3 That is, became free from the delusion of soul, from doubt, and from 
belief in the efficacy of rites and ceremonies. "Buddhism," pp. 95, 108. 



1 1 4 THE NIDANAKA THA. 

and the Feast with which it closes were over, sent out the 
sixty in different directions, with the words, " Go forth, 
mendicants, preaching and teaching." And himself 
going towards Uruvela, overcame at the Kappasiya forest, 
half way thither, the thirty young Bhadda-vaggiyan 
nobles. Of these the least advanced entered the First, 
and the most advanced the Third Path : and he received 
them all into the Order with the formula, " Follow me ! " 
And sending them also forth into the regions round about, 
he himself went on to Uruvela. 

There he overcame, by performing three thousand five 
hundred miracles, the three Hindu ascetics, brothers, 
Uruvela Kassapa and the rest, who had one thousand 
disciples. And he received them into the Order with 
the formula, " Follow me ! " and established them in 
Arahatship by his discourse, when they were seated on 
the Gaya-slsa hill, " On the Lessons to be drawn from Fire" 
And attended by these thousand Arahats, he went to the 
grove called the Palm- grove, hard by Rajagaha, with the 
object of redeeming the promise he had made to Bimbl- 
sara the king. 1 

When the king heard from the keeper of the grove the 
saying, " The Master is come," he went to the Master, 
attended by innumerable priests and nobles, and fell down 
at the feet of the Buddha, those sacred feet, which bore 
on their surface the mystic figure of the sacred wheel, 
and gave forth a halo of light like a canopy of cloth of 
gold. Then he and his retinue respectfully took their 
seats on one side. 

Now the question occurred to those priests and nobles, 
" How is it, then ? has the Great Mendicant entered as a 
student in religion under Uruvela Kassapa, or Uruvela 
Kassapa under the Great Mendicant ? " And the Blessed 
One, becoming aware of their thus doubting within them- 
selves, addressed the Elder in the verse 

1 See abore p. 89. 



THE TRIAL OF KASSAPA. 1 1 5 

282. What hast thou seen, O dweller in Uruvela, 
That thou hast abandoned the Fire God, counting 

thyself poor ? 

I ask thee, Kassapa, the meaning of this thing : 
How is it thou hast given up the sacrifice of fire ? 

And the Elder, perceiving what the Blessed One intended, 
replied in the verse 

283. Some men rely on sights, and sounds, and taste, 
Others on sensual love, and some on sacrifice ; 
But this, I see, is dross so long as sin remains. 
Therefore I find no charm in offerings great or 

small. 

And (in order to make known his discipleship) he bowed 
his head to the Buddha's feet, saying, " The Blessed 
Lord is my master, and I am the disciple!" And 
seven times he rose into the air up to the height of 
one, two, three, and so on, up to the height of seven 
palm-trees ; and descending again, he saluted the Buddha, 
and respectfully took a seat aside. Seeing that wonder, 
the multitude praised the Master, saying, " Ah ! how 
great is the power of the Buddhas ! Even so mighty 
an infidel as this has thought him worthy ! Even Uruvela 
Kassapa has broken through the net of delusion, and has 
yielded to the successor of the Buddhas ! " 

But the Blessed One said, " Not now only have I 
overcome Uruvela Kassapa; in former ages, too, he was 
conquered by me." And he uttered in that connexion 
the Mahd Ndrada Kassapa Jdtaka, and proclaimed the 
Four Truths. And the king of Magadha, with nearly 
all his retinue, attained to the Fruit of the First Path, 
and the rest became lay disciples (without entering the 
Paths). 1 

1 Upasakas ; that is, those who have taken the Three Refuges and the vow 
to keep the Five Commandments (" Buddhism," pp. 139, 160). 



Ii6 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

And the king still sitting near the Master told him of 
the five wishes he had had; and then, confessing his faith, 
he invited the Blessed One for the next day, and rising 
from his side, departed with respectful salutation. 

The next day all the men who dwelt in Rajagaha, 
eighteen kotis in number, both those who had already seen 
the Blessed One, and those who had not, came out early 
from Rajagaha to the Grove of Reeds to see the successor 
of the Buddhas. The road, six miles long, could not contain 
them. The whole of the Grove of Reeds became like a 
basket packed quite full. The multitude, beholding the 
exceeding beauty of Him whose power is Wisdom, could 
not contain their delight. Vannabhu was it called (that is, 
the Place of Praise), for at such spots all the greater and 
lesser characteristics of a Buddha, and the glorious beauty 
of his person, are fated to be sung. There was not room 
for even a single mendicant to get out on the road, or in 
the grove, so crowded was it with the multitude gazing 
at the beautiful form of the Being endowed with the ten- 
fold power of Wisdom. 

So that day they say the throne of Sakka felt hot, to 
warn him that the Blessed One might be deprived of 
nourishment, which should not be. And, on considera- 
tion, he understood the reason ; and he took the form of 
a young Brahman, and descended in front of the Buddha, 
and made way for him, singing the praises of the Buddha, 
the Truth, and the Order. And he walked in front, mag- 
nifying the Master in these verses : 

284. He whose passions are subdued has come to Raja- 
gaha 

Glorious as Singi gold, the Blessed One ; 
And with him those who once were mere as- 
cetics, 
Now all subdued in heart and freed from sin. 



SAKKA SINGS PRAISES. \ \ j 

285. He who is free from sin has come to Rajagaha 

Glorious as Sing! gold, the Blessed One ; 
And with him those who once were mere as- 
cetics, 
Now freed from sin and saved. 

286. He who has crossed the flood 1 has come to Raja- 

gaha 

Glorious as Sing! gold, the Blessed One ; 

And with him those who once were mere as- 
cetics, 
But now crossed o'er the flood and freed from sin. 

287. He whose dwelling and whose wisdom are ten- 

fold ; 
He who has seen and gained ten precious 

things ; 2 

Attended by ten hundred as a retinue, 
The Blessed One, has come to Rajagaha. 

The multitude, seeing the beauty of the young Brahman, 
thought, "This young Brahman is exceeding fair, and yet 
we have never yet beheld him." And they said, "Whence 
comes the young Brahman, or whose son is he ? " And 
the young Brahman, hearing what they said, answered in 
the verse, 

288. He who is wise, and all subdued in heart, 
The Buddha, the unequalled among men, 
The Arahat, the most happy upon earth ! 

His servant am I. 

Then the Master entered upon the path thus made free 
by the Archangel, and entered Rajagaha attended by a 

1 Tinno, crossed the ocean of transmigration. 

2 That is, the Four Paths, the Four Fruits thereof, Nirvana, and the 
Scriptures (or the Truth, Dhamma). 



1 1 8 THE NIDANAKA THA. 

thousand mendicants. The king gave a great donation to 
the Order with the Buddha at their head ; and had water 
brought, bright as gems, and scented with flowers, in a 
golden goblet. And he poured the water over the hand 
of the Buddha, in token of the presentation of the Bambu 
Grove, saying, "I, my lord, cannot live without the 
Three Gems (the Buddha, the Order, and the Faith). 
In season and out of season I would visit the Blessed One. 
Now the Grove of Reeds is far away ; but this Grove of 
mine, called the Bambu Grove, is close by, is easy of 
resort, and is a fit dwelling-place for a Buddha. Let the 
Blessed One accept it of me ! " 

At the acceptance of this monastery the broad earth 
shook, as if it said, "Now the Religion of Buddha has 
taken root ! " For in all India there is no dwelling- 
place, save the Bambu Grove, whose acceptance caused 
the earth to shake : and in Ceylon there is no dwelling- 
place, save the Great "Wihara, whose acceptance caused 
the earth to shake. 

And when the Master had accepted the Bambu Grove 
Monastery, and had given thanks for it, he rose from his 
seat and went, surrounded by the members of the Order, 
to the Bambu Grove. 

Now at that time two ascetics, named Sariputta and 
Moggallana, were living near Rajagaha, seeking after 
salvation. Of these, Sariputta, seeing the Elder Assaji 
on his begging round, was pleasurably impressed by 
him, and waited on him, and heard from him the verse 
beginning, 

"What things soever are produced from causes." 1 
And he attained to the blessings which result from con- 

1 The celebrated verse here referred to has been found inscribed several 
times in the ruins of the great Dfigaba at Isipatana, and facsimiles are given 
in Cunningham's Archaeological Eeports, plate xxxiv. vol. i. p. 123. The 
text is given by Burnouf in the Lotus de la Bonne Loi, p. 523 ; and in the 
Maha Vagga, pp. 40, 41. See also Hardy's Manual, p. 196. 



THE FIRST COUNCIL. 



119 



version ; and repeated that verse to his companion 
Moggallana the ascetic. And he, too, attained to the 
blessings which first result from conversion. And each 
of them left San jay a, 1 and with his attendants took orders 
under the Master. Of these two, Moggallana attained 
Arahatship in seven days, and Sariputta the Elder in 
half a month. And the Master appointed these two to 
the office of his Chief Disciples ; and on the day on 
which Sariputta the Elder attained Arahatship, he held 
the so-called Council of the Disciples. 2 

Now whilst the Successor of the Buddhas was dwelling 
there in the Bambu Grove, Suddhodana the king heard 
that his son, who for six years had devoted himself to 
works of self-mortification, had attained to Complete En- 
lightenment, had founded the Kingdom of Righteousness, 
and was then dwelling at the Bambu Grove near Raja- 
gaha. So he said to a certain courtier, " Look you, Sir ; 
take a thousand men as a retinue, and go to Rajagaha, 
and say in my name, ' Your father, Suddhodana the king, 
desires to see you ; ' and bring my son here." 

And he respectfully accepted the king's command with 
the reply, " So be it, king ! " and went quickly with a 
thousand followers the sixty leagues distance, and sat 
down amongst the disciples of the Sage, and at the hour 
of instruction entered the Wihara. And thinking, " Let 
the king's message stay awhile," he stood just beyond 
the disciples and listened to the discourse. And as he so 
stood he attained to Arahatship, with his whole retinue, 
and asked to be admitted to the Order. And the Blessed 
One stretched forth his hand and said, " Come among us, 
mendicants." And all of them that moment appeared 
there, with robes and bowls created by miracle, like 
Elders of a hundred years' standing. 

1 Their then teacher. 

2 Or perhaps, " He formed the Corporation of the Disciples," that is, the 
Order of Mendicants. 



120 THE NIDANAKA7HA. 

Now from the time when they attain Arahatship the 
Arahats become indifferent to worldly things : so he did 
not deliver the king's message to the Sage. The king, 
seeing that neither did his messenger return, nor was any 
message received from him, called another courtier in the 
same manner as before, and sent him. And he went, and 
in the same manner attained Arahatship with his fol- 
lowers, and remained silent. Then the king in the same 
manner sent nine courtiers each with a retinue of a 
thousand men. And they all, neglecting what they had 
to do, stayed away there in silence. 

And when the king found no one who would come and 
bring even a message, he thought, "Not one of these 
brings back, for my sake, even a message : who will then 
carry out what I say ? " And searching among all his 
people he thought of Kala Udayin. For he was in every- 
thing serviceable to the king, intimate with him, and 
trustworthy. He was born on the same day as the future 
Buddha, and had been his playfellow and companion. 

So the king said to him, " Friend Kala Udayin, as I 
wanted to see my son, I sent nine times a thousand men ; 
but there is not one of them who has either come back 
or sent a message. Now the end of my life is not far off, 
and I desire to see my son before I die. Can you help 
me to see my son ? " 

" I can, king ! " was the reply, " if I am allowed to 
become a recluse." 

"My friend," said the king, "become a recluse or not 
as you will, but help me to see my son ! " 

" And he respectfully received the king's message, with 
the words, "So be it, O king! " and went to Rajagaha; 
and stood at the edge of the disciples at the time of the 
Master's instruction, and heard the gospel, and attained 
Arahatship with his followers, and was received into the 
Order. 

The Master spent the first Lent after he had become 



A MESSAGE FROM HOME. 121 

Buddha at Isipatana ; and when it was over went to 
Uruvela and stayed there three months and overcame the 
three brothers, ascetics. And on the full-moon day of 
the month of January, he went to Rajagaha with a 
retinue of a thousand mendicants, and there he dwelt 
two months. Thus five months had elapsed since he left 
Benares, the cold season was past, and seven or eight days 
since the arrival of Udayin, the Elder. 

And on the full- moon day of March Udayin thought, 
" The cold season is past ; the spring has come ; men raise 
their crops and set out on their journeys ; the earth is 
covered with fresh grass ; the woods are full of flowers ; 
the roads are fit to walk on ; now is the time for the Sage 
to show favour to his family." And going to the Blessed 
One, he praised travelling in about sixty stanzas, that the 
Sage might revisit his native town. 

289. Red are the trees with blossoms bright, 

They give no shade to him who seeks for fruit ; 

Brilliant they seem as glowing fires. 

The very season's full, Great One, of delights. 

290. 'Tis not too hot ; 'tis not too cold ; 
There's plenty now of all good things ; 
The earth is clad with verdure green, 
Fit is the time, O mighty Sage ! 

Then the Master said to him, "But why, Udayin, do 
you sing the pleasures of travelling with so sweet a voice ? " 

" My lord ! " was the reply, " your father is anxious 
to see you once more ; will you not show favour to your 
relations ? " 

" 'Tis well said, Udayin ! I will do so. Tell the Order 
that they shall fulfil the duty laid on all its members of 
journeying from place to place." 

Kala Udayin accordingly told the brethren. And the 
Blessed One, attended by twenty thousand mendicants free 



122 THE N1DANAKATHA. 

from sin ten thousand from the upper classes in Magadha 
and Anga, and ten thousand from the upper classes in 
Kapila-vatthu started from Rajagaha, and travelled a 
league a day ; going slowly with the intention of reach- 
ing Kapila-vatthu, sixty leagues from Rajagaha, in two 
months. 

And the Elder, thinking, " I will let the king know 
that the Blessed One has started," rose into the air and 
appeared in the king's house. The king was glad to see 
the Elder, made him sit down on a splendid couch, filled 
a bowl with the delicious food made ready for himself, 
and gave to him. Then the Elder rose up, and made as 
if he would go away. 

" Sit down and eat," said the king. 

" I will rejoin the Master, and eat then," said he. 

" Where is the Master now ? " asked the king. 

" He has set out on his journey, attended by twenty 
thousand mendicants, to see you, O king ! " said he. 

The king, glad at heart, said, "Do you eat this; and 
until my son has arrived at this town, provide him with 
food from here." 

The Elder agreed ; and the king waited on him, and 
then had the bowl cleansed with perfumed chunam, and 
filled with the best of food, and placed it in the Elder's 
hand, saying, " Give it to the Buddha." 

And the Elder, in the sight of all, threw the bowl into 
the air, and himself rising up into the sky, took the food 
again, and placed it in the hand of the Master. 

The Master ate it. Every day the Elder brought him 
food in the same manner. So the Master himself was fed, 
even on the journey, from the king's table. The Elder, 
day by day, when he had finished his meal, told the king, 
" To-day the Blessed One has come so far, to-day so far." 
And by talking of the high character of the Buddha, he 
made all the king's family delighted with the Master, 
even before they saw him. On that account the Blessed 



THE SAKYAS ARE PROUD. 123 

One gave him. pre-eminence, saying, "Pre-eminent, 
mendicants, among all those of my disciples who gained 
over my family, was Kala Udayin." 

The Sakyas, as they sat talking of the prospect of 
seeing their distinguished relative, considered what place 
he could stay in ; and deciding that the Nigrodha Grove 
would be a pleasant residence, they made everything 
ready there. And with flowers in their hands they went 
out to meet him ; and sending in front the little children, 
and the boys and girls of the village, and then the young 
men and maidens of the royal family; they themselves, 
decked of their own accord with sweet- smelling flowers 
and chunam, came close behind, conducting the Blessed 
One to the Nigrodha Grove. There the Blessed One sat 
down on the Buddha's throne prepared for him, sur- 
rounded by twenty thousand Arahats. 

The Sakyas are proud by nature, and stubborn in their 
pride. Thinking, "Siddattha is younger than we are, 
standing to us in the relation of younger brother, or 
nephew, or son, or grandson," they said to the little chil- 
dren and the young people, " Do you bow down before 
him, we will seat ourselves behind you." The Blessed 
One, when they had thus taken their seats, perceived 
what they meant ; and thinking, " My relations pay me 
no reverence ; come now, I must force them to do so," he 
fell into the ecstasy depending on wisdom, and rising into 
the air as if shaking off the dust of his feet upon them, he 
performed a miracle like unto that double miracle at the 
foot of the Gandamba-tree. 1 

The king, seeing that miracle, said, " Blessed One ! 
When you were presented to Kala Devala to do obeisance 
to him on the day on which you were born, and I saw 
your feet turn round and place themselves on the 

1 See above, p. 105. The Dhammapada Commentary, p. 334, has a 
different account of the miracle performed on this occasion. It says he 
made a jewelled terrace (ratana-cajjkaman) in the sky, and walking up and 
down in it, preached the Faith (Dhammarj). 



124 THE N1DANAKATHA. 

Brahman's head, I did obeisance to you. That was my 
first obeisance. When you were seated on your couch 
in the shade of the Jambu-tree on the day of the plough- 
ing festival, I saw how the shadow over you did not turn, 
and I bowed down at your feet. That was my second 
obeisance. Now, seeing this unprecedented miracle, I 
bow down at your feet. This is my third obeisance." 

Then, when the king did obeisance to him, there was 
not a single Sakya who was able to refrain from bowing 
down before the Blessed One ; and all of them did 
obeisance. 

So the Blessed One, having compelled his relatives to 
bow down before him, descended from the sky, and sat 
down on the seat prepared for him. And when the 
Blessed One was seated, the assembly of his relatives 
yielded him pre-eminence ; and all sat there at peace in 
their hearts. 

Then a thunder-cloud poured forth a shower of rain, 
and the copper- coloured water went away rumbling be- 
neath the earth. He who wished to get wet, did get 
wet ; but not even a drop fell on the body of him who 
did not wish to get wet. And all seeing it became filled 
with astonishment, and said one to another, " Lo ! what 
miracle ! Lo ! what wonder ! " 

But the Teacher said, "Not now only did a shower 
of rain fall upon me in the assembly of my relations, 
formerly also this happened." And in this connexion 
he pronounced the story of his Birth as Wessantara. 

When they had heard his discourse they rose up, and 
paid reverence to him, and went away. Not one of them, 
either the king or any of his ministers, asked him on 
leaving, " To-morrow accept your meal of us." 

So on the next day the Master, attended by twenty 
thousand mendicants, entered Kapilavatthu to beg. Then 
also no one came to him or invited him to his house, or 
took his bowl. The Blessed One, standing at the gate, 



THE BUDDHA BEGS FOR FOOD. 



125 



considered, "How then did the former Buddhas go on 
their begging rounds in their native town ? Did they go 
direct to the houses of the kings, or did they beg straight 
on from house to house ? " Then, not finding that any of 
the Buddhas had gone direct, he thought, " I, too, must 
accept this descent and tradition as my own ; so shall my 
disciples in future, learning of me, fulfil the duty of 
begging for their daily food." And beginning at the 
first house, he begged straight on. 

At the rumour that the young chief Siddhattha was 
begging from door to door, the windows in the two-storied 
and three- storied houses were thrown open, and the mul- 
titude was transfixed at the sight. And the lady, the 
mother of Rahula, thought, " My lord, who used to go to 
and fro in this very town with gilded palanquin and 
every sign of royal pomp, now with a potsherd in his 
hand begs his food from door to door, with shaven hair 
and beard, and clad in yellow robes. Is this becoming ? " 
And she opened the window, and looked at the Blessed 
One ; and she beheld him glorious with the unequalled 
majesty of a Buddha, distinguished with the Thirty- two 
characteristic signs and the eighty lesser marks of a Great 
Being, and lighting up the street of the city with a halo 
resplendent with many colours, proceeding to a fathom's 
length all round his person. 

And she announced it to the king, saying, " Your son 
is begging his bread from door to door ; " and she mag- 
nified him with the eight stanzas on " The Lion among 
Men," beginning 

291. Glossy and dark and soft and curly is his hair ; 
Spotless and fair as the sun is his forehead ; 
Well-proportioned and prominent and delicate is 

his nose ; 

Around him is diffused a network of rays ; 
The Lion among Men ! 



126 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

The king was deeply agitated; and he departed in- 
stantly, gathering up his robe in his hand, and went 
quickly and stood before the Blessed One, and said, 
"Why, Master, do you put us to shame ? Why do you 
go begging for your food ? Do you think it impossible 
to provide a meal for so many monks ? " 

" This is our custom, king ! " was the reply. 

" Not so, Master ! our descent is from the royal race of 
the Great Elected ; 1 and amongst them all not one chief 
has ever begged his daily food." 

" This succession of kings is your descent, O king ! but 
mine is the succession of the prophets (Buddhas), from 
Diparjkara and Kondanya and the rest down to Kassapa. 
These, and thousands of other Buddhas, have begged their 
daily food, and lived on alms." And standing in the 
middle of the street he uttered the verse 

292. Rise up, and loiter not ! 
Follow after a holy life ! 

Who follows virtue rests in bliss, 
Both in this world and in the next." 

And when the verse was finished the king attained to the 
Fruit of the First, and then, on hearing the following 
verse, to the Fruit of the Second Path 

293. FoUow after a holy life ! 
Follow not after sin ! 

Who follows virtue rests in bliss, 
Both in this world and in the next. 

And when he heard the story of the Birth as the Keeper 
of Righteousness, 2 he attained to the Fruit of the Third 
Path. And just as he was dying, seated on the royal 
couch under the white canopy of state, he attained to 

1 Maha Sammata, the first king among men. 2 Dhammapala Jataka. 



GO TAMAS RETURN HOME. \ 2 7 

\ 

Arahatship. The king never practised in solitude the 
Great Struggle. 1 

Now as soon as he had realized the Fruit of Conversion, 
he took the Buddha's bowl, and conducted the Blessed 
One and his retinue to the palace, and served them with 
savoury food, both hard and soft. And when the meal 
was over, all the women of the household came and did 
obeisance to the Blessed One, except only the mother of 
Rahula. 

But she, though she told her attendants to go and 
salute their lord, stayed behind, saying, " If I am of any 
value in his eyes, my lord will himself come to me ; and 
when he has come I will pay him reverence." 

And the Blessed One, giving his bowl to the king to 
carry, went with his two chief disciples to the apartments 
of the daughter of the king, saying, "The king's daughter 
shall in no wise be rebuked, howsoever she may be pleased 
to welcome me." And he sat down on the seat prepared 
for him. 

And she came quickly and held him by his ankles, and 
laid her head on his feet, and so did obeisance to him, 
even as she had intended. And the king told of the 
fullness of her love for the Blessed One, and of her good- 
ness of heart, saying, " When my daughter heard, O 
Master, that you had put on the yellow robes, from that 
time forth she dressed only in yellow. When she heard 
of your taking but one meal a day, she adopted the same 
custom. When she heard that you renounced the use of 
elevated couches, she slept on a mat spread on the floor. 
When she heard you had given up the use of garlands 
and unguents, she also used them no more. And when 
her relatives sent a message, saying, ' Let us take care 
of you,' she paid them no attention at all. Such is my 
daughter's goodness of heart, O Blessed One ! " 

1 See above, p. 89. 



128 THE NIDANAKATHA. 

" 'Tis no wonder, king ! " was the reply, " that she 
should watch over herself now that she has you for a 
protector, and that her wisdom is mature ; formerly, even 
when wandering among the mountains without a pro- 
tector, and when her wisdom was not mature, she watched 
over herself." And he told the story of his Birth as the 
Moonsprite ; 1 and rose from his seat, and went away. 

On the next day the festivals of the coronation, and of 
the housewarming, and of the marriage of Nanda, the 
king's son, were being celebrated all together. But the 
Buddha went to his house, and gave him his bowl to 
carry ; and with the object of making him abandon the 
world, he wished him true happiness; and then, rising 
from his seat, departed. And (the bride) Janapada Kalyani, 
seeing the young man go away, gazed wonderingly at him, 
and cried out, " My Lord, whither go you so quickly ? " 
But he, not venturing to say to the Blessed One, " Take 
your bowl," followed him even unto the Wihara. And the 
Blessed One received him, unwilling though he was, into 
the Order. 

It was on the third day after he reached Kapilapura 
that the Blessed One ordained Nanda. On the second 
day the mother of Rahula arrayed the boy in his best, 
and sent him to the Blessed One, saying, " Look, dear, at 
that monk, attended by twenty thousand monks, and 
glorious in appearance as the Archangel Brahma ! That 
is your father. He had certain great treasures, which 
we have not seen since he abandoned his home. Gro now, 
and ask for your inheritance, saying, * Father, I am your 
son. When I am crowned, I shall become a king over all 
the earth. I have need of the treasure. Give me the 
treasure ; for a son is heir to his father's property.' " 

The boy went up to the Blessed One, and gained the 
love of his father, and stood there glad and joyful, saying, 

1 Candakinnara Jataka. 



THE SPIRITUAL INHERITANCE. 



129 



" Happy, monk, is thy shadow ! " and adding many 
other words befitting his position. When the Blessed 
One had ended his meal, and had given thanks, he rose 
from his seat, and went away. And the child followed 
the Blessed One, saying, " monk ! give me my in- 
heritance ! give me my inheritance ! " 

And the Blessed One prevented him not. And the 
disciples, being with the Blessed One, ventured not to 
stop him. And so he went with the Blessed One even up 
to the grove. Then the Blessed One thought, " This 
wealth, this property of his father's, which he is asking 
for, perishes in the using, and brings vexation with it ! 
I will give him the sevenfold wealth of the Arahats which 
I obtained under the Bo-tree, and make him the heir of a 
spiritual inheritance ! " And he said to Sariputta, " Well, 
then, Sariputta, receive Riihula into the Order." 

But when the child had been taken into the Order the 
king grieved exceedingly. And he was unable to bear 
his grief, and made it known to the Blessed One, and 
asked of him a boon, saying, " If you so please, Master, 
let not the Holy One receive a son into the Order without 
the leave of his father and mother." And the Blessed 
One granted the boon. 

And the next day, as he sat in the king's house after 
his meal was over, the king, sitting respectfully by him, 
said, " Master ! when you were practising austerities, an 
angel came to me, and said, ' Your son is dead ! ' And I 
believed him not, and rejected what he said, answering, 
' My son will not die without attaining Buddhahood ! ' ' 

And he replied, saying, " Why should you now have 
believed ? when formerly, though they showed you my 
bones and said your son was dead, you did not believe 
them." And in that connexion he told the story of his 
Birth as the Great Keeper of Righteousness. 1 And when 
the story was ended, the king attained to the Fruit of the 

1 Makudhammapala Jataka. See above, p. 126. 
VOL. i. 9 



I 3 o THE NIDANAKATHA. 

Third Path. And so the Blessed One established his 
father in the Three Fruits ; and he returned to Rajagaha 
attended by the company of the brethren, and resided at 
the Grove of Slta. 

At that time the householder Anatha Pindika, bringing 
merchandise in five hundred carts, went to the house of a 
trader in Rajagaha, his intimate friend, and there heard 
that a Blessed Buddha had arisen. And very early in 
the morning he went to the Teacher, the door being 
opened by the power of an angel, and heard the Truth 
and became converted. And on the next day he gave a 
great donation to the Order, with the Buddha at their 
head, and received a promise from the Teacher that he 
would come to Siivatthi. 

Then along the road, forty-five leagues in length, he 
built resting-places at every league, at an expenditure of 
a hundred thousand for each. And he bought the Grove 
called Jetavana for eighteen kotis of gold pieces, laying 
them side by side over the ground, and erected there a 
new building. In the midst thereof he made a pleasant 
room for the Sage, and around it separately constructed 
dwellings for the eighty Elders, and other residences with 
single and double walls, and long halls and open roofs, 
ornamented with ducks and quails; and ponds also he 
made, and terraces to walk on by day and by night. 

And so having constructed a delightful residence on a 
pleasant spot, at an expense of eighteen kotis, he sent a 
message to the Sage that he should come. 

The Master, hearing the messenger's words, left Raja- 
gaha attended by a great multitude of monks, and in due 
course arrived at the city of Savatthi. Then the wealthy 
merchant decorated the monastery; and on the day on 
which the Buddha should arrive at Jetavana he arrayed 
his son in splendour, and sent him on with five hundred 
youths in festival attire. And he and his retinue, holding 
five hundred flags resplendent with cloth of five different 



THE FIRST MONASTERY. 131 

colours, appeared before the Sage. And behind him 
Maha-Subhadda and Cula-Subhadda, the two daughters 
of the merchant, went forth with five hundred damsels 
carrying water-pots full of water. And behind them, 
decked with all her ornaments, the merchant's wife went 
forth, with five hundred matrons carrying vessels full of 
food. And behind them all the great merchant himself, 
clad in new robes, with five hundred traders also dressed 
in new robes, went out to meet the Blessed One. 

The Blessed One, sending this retinue of lay disciples 
in front, and attended by the great multitude of monks, 
entered the Jetavana monastery with the infinite grace 
and unequalled majesty of a Buddha, making the spaces 
of the grove bright with the halo from his person, as if 
they were sprinkled with gold-dust. 

Then Anatha Pindika asked him, "How, my Lord, 
shall I deal with this Wihara ? " 

" householder," was the reply, " give it then to the 
Order of Mendicants, whether now present or hereafter to 
arrive." 

And the great merchant, saying, " So be it, my Lord," 
brought a golden vessel, and poured water over the hand 
of the Sage, and dedicated the Wihara, saying, " I give 
this Jetavana Wihara to the Order of Mendicants with 
the Buddha at their head, and to all from every direction 
now present or hereafter to come." 1 

And the Master accepted the Wihara, and giving thanks, 
pointed out the advantages of monasteries, saying, 

294. Cold they ward off, and heat ; 
So also beasts of prey, 
And creeping things, and gnats, 
And rains in the cold season. 
And when the dreaded heat and winds 
Arise, they ward them off. 

1 This formula has been constantly found in -rock inscriptions in India and 
Ceylon over the ancient cave-dwellings of Buddhist hermits. 



132 



THE NIDANAKATHA. 



295. To give to monks a dwelling-place, 
Wherein in safety and in peace 
To think till mysteries grow clear, 
The Buddha calls a worthy deed. 

296. Let therefore a wise man, 
Regarding his own weal, 
Have pleasant monasteries built, 
And lodge there learned men. 

297. Let him with cheerful mien 
Give food to them, and drink, 
And clothes, and dwelling-places 
To the upright in mind. 

298. Then they shall preach to him the Truth, 
The Truth, dispelling every grief, 
Which Truth, when here a man receives, 
He sins no more, and dies away ! 

Anatha Pindika began the dedication festival from the 
second day. The festival held at the dedication of 
Visakha's building ended in four months, but Anatha 
Pindika's dedication festival lasted nine months. At the 
festival, too, eighteen kotis were spent ; so on that one 
monastery he spent wealth amounting to fifty- four kotis. 

Long ago, too, in the time of the Blessed Buddha 
Yipassin, a merchant named Punabbasu Mitta bought that 
very spot by laying golden bricks over it, and built a 
monastery there a league in length. And in the time of 
the Blessed Buddha Sikhin, a merchant named Sirivaddha 
bought that very spot by standing golden ploughshares 
over it, and built there a monastery three-quarters of a 
league in length. And in the time of the Blessed Buddha 

o o 

Yessabhu, a merchant named Sotthiya bought that very 
spot by laying golden elephant feet along it, and built a 
monastery there half a league in length. And in the 



THE JETAVANA W1HARA. 133 

time of the Blessed Buddha Kakusandha, a merchant 
named Accuta also bought that very spot by laying 
golden bricks over it, and built there a monastery a 
quarter of a league in length. And in the time of the 
Blessed Buddha Konagamana, a merchant named Ugga 
bought that very spot by laying golden tortoises over it, 
and built there a monastery half a league in length. And 
in the time of the Blessed Buddha Kassapa, a merchant 
named Sumarjgala bought that very spot by laying golden 
bricks over it, and built there a monastery sixty acres in 
extent. And in the time of our Blessed One, Anatha 
Pindika the merchant bought that very spot by laying 
kahapanas over it, and built there a monastery thirty 
acres in extent. For that spot is a place which not one 
of all the Buddhas has deserted. And so the Blessed 
One lived in that spot from the attainment of omniscience 
under the Bo-tree till his death. This is the Proximate 
Epoch. And now we will tell the stories of all his 
Births. 

END OF THE ACCOUNT OF THE CAUSES THAT LEAD TO THE 
ATTAINMENT OF BUDDHAHOOD. 



GLORY BE TO THE BLESSED, THE HOLY, THE 
ALL- WISE ONE. 



BOOK I. 



No. 1. Holding to the Truth. 1 

THIS discourse on the True (Apannaka), the Blessed 
One delivered while at the Jetavana Wihara, near 
Savatthi. 

What was the circumstance concerning which this tale 
arose ? About the five hundred heretics, friends of the 
Merchant. 

For one day, we are told, Anatha Pindika the merchant 
took five hundred heretics, friends of his, and had many 
garlands and perfumes and ointments and oil and honey 
and molasses and clothes and vestments brought, and 
went to Jetavana. And saluting the Blessed One, he 
offered him garlands and other things, and bestowed 
medicines and clothes on the Order of Mendicants, and sat 
down in a respectful and becoming manner on one side of 
the Teacher. 2 And those followers of wrong belief also 
saluted the Blessed One, and sat down close to Anatha 
Pindika. And they beheld the countenance of the 
Teacher like the full moon in glory; and his person 

1 Apannaka Jataka. 

2 Literally, sat down on one side, avoiding the six improper ways of doing so. 



HOLDING TO THE TRUTH. 



135 



endowed with all the greater and lesser marks of honour, 
and surrounded to a fathom's length with brightness ; 
and also the clustering rays (the peculiar attribute of a 
Buddha), which issued from him like halos, and in pairs. 
Then, though mighty in voice like a young lion roaring 
in his pride in the Red Rock Valley, 1 or like a monsoon 
thunder- cloud, he preached to them in a voice like an 
archangel's voice, perfect and sweet and pleasant to hear, a 
discourse varied with many counsels, as if he were weaving 
a garland of pearls out of the stars in the Milky Way ! 

When they had heard the Teacher's discourse, they 
were pleased at heart ; and rising up, they bowed down 
to the One Mighty by Wisdom, and giving up the wrong 
belief as their refuge, they took refuge in the Buddha. 
And from that time they were in the habit of going with 
Anatha Pindika to the Wihara, taking garlands and 
perfumes with them, and of hearing the Truth, and of 
giving gifts, and of keeping the Precepts, and of making 
confession. 

Now the Blessed One went back again from Savatthi to 
Rajagaha. And they, as soon as the Successor of the 
Prophets was gone, gave up that faith ; and again put their 
trust in heresy, and returned to their former condition. 

And the Blessed One, after seven or eight months, 
returned to Jetavana. And Anatha Pindika again brought 
those men with him, and going to the Teacher honoured 
him with gifts as before, and bowing down to him, seated 
himself respectfully by his side. Then he told the 
Blessed One that when the Successor of the Prophets had 
left, those men had broken the faith they had taken, had 
returned to their trust in heresy, and had resumed their 
former condition. 

And the Blessed One, by the power of the sweet words 
he had continually spoken through countless ages, opened 

1 A famous haunt of lions in the Himalaya Mountains. 



136 APANNAKA JATAKA. 

his lotus mouth as if lie were opening a jewel-casket 
scented with heavenly perfume, and full of sweet-smelling 
odours ; and sending forth his pleasant tones, he asked 
them, saying, "Is it true, then, that you, my disciples, 
giving up the Three Refuges, 1 have gone for refuge to 
another faith ? " 

And they could not conceal it, and said, "It is true, O 
Blessed One ! " 

And when they had thus spoken, the Teacher said, 
" Not in hell beneath, nor in heaven above, nor beyond in 
the countless world- systems of the universe, is there any 
one like to a Buddha in goodness and wisdom much less, 
then, a greater." And he described to them the qualities 
of the Three Gems as they are laid down in the Scripture 
passages beginning, " Whatever creatures there may be, 
etc., the Successor of the Prophets is announced to be 
the Chief of all." And again, " Whatsoever treasure there 
be here or in other worlds," etc. And again, " From the 
chief of all pleasant things," etc. 

And he said, " Whatever disciples, men or women, 
have taken as their refuge the Three Gems endowed with 
these glorious qualities, they will never be born in hell ; 
but freed from birth in any place of punishment, they 
will be reborn in heaven, and enter into exceeding bliss. 
You, therefore, by leaving so safe a refuge, and placing 
your reliance on other teaching, have done wrong." 

And here the following passages should be quoted to 
show that those who, for the sake of Perfection and Sal- 
vation, have taken refuge in the Three Gems, will not be 
reborn in places of punishment : 

Those who have put their trust in Buddha, 
They will not go to a world of pain : 
Having put off this mortal coil, 
They will enter some heavenly body ! 

1 Trust in the Buddha, in the Order, and in the Truth, which are the 
' Three Gems.' 



HOLDING TO THE TRUTH. 137 

Those who have put their trust in the Truth, 
They will not go to a world of pain : 
Having put off this mortal coil, 
They will enter some heavenly body ! 

Those who have put their faith in the Order, 
They will not go to a world of pain : 
Having put off this mortal coil, 
They will enter some heavenly body ! 

They go to many a refuge 
To the mountains and the forest .... 
(and so on down to) 

Having gone to this as their refuge, 
They are freed from every pain. 1 

The above was not all the discourse which the Teacher 
uttered to them. He also said, " Disciples ! the medita- 
tion on the Buddha, the Truth, and the Order, gives the 
Entrance and the Fruit of the First Path, and of the 
Second, and of the Third, and of the Fourth." And 
having in this way laid down the Truth to them, he 
added, " You have done wrong to reject so great 
salvation ! " 

And here the fact of the gift of the Paths to those who 
meditate on the Buddha, the Order, and the Truth, might 
be shown from the following and other similar passages : 
" There is one thing, mendicants, which, if practised 
with increasing intensity, leads to complete weariness of 
the vanities of the world, to the end of longings, to the 
destruction of excitement, to peace of mind, to higher 
knowledge, to complete enlightenment, to Nirviina. What 
is that one thing ? The meditation on the Buddhas." 

Having thus exhorted the disciples in many ways, the 
Blessed One said, " Disciples ! formerly, too, men trusting 

1 This last quotation is from Dhammapada, verses 188-192. 



1 38 APANNAKA JATAKA. 

to their own reason foolishly mistook for a refuge that 
which was no refuge, and becoming the prey of demons 
in a wilderness haunted by evil spirits, came to a dis- 
astrous end. Whilst those who adhered to the absolute, 
the certain, the right belief, found good fortune in that 
very desert." And when he had thus spoken, he remained 
silent. 

Then Anatha Pindika, the house-lord, arose from his 
seat, and did obeisance to the Blessed One, and exalted 
him, and bowed down before him with clasped hands, and 
said, " Now, at least, Lord ! the foolishness of these 
disciples in breaking with the best refuge is made plain 
to us. But how those self-sufficient reasoners were 
destroyed in the demon-haunted desert, while those who 
held to the truth were saved, is hid from us, though it 
is known to you. May it please the Blessed One to make 
this matter known to us, as one causing the full moon to 
rise in the sky ! " 

Then the Blessed One said, " householder ! it was 
precisely with the object of resolving the doubts of the 
world that for countless ages I have practised the Ten 
Cardinal Virtues, 1 and have so attained to perfect know- 
ledge. Listen, then, and give ear attentively, as if you 
were filling up a golden measure with the most costly 
essence ! " Having thus excited the merchant's attention, 
he made manifest that which had been concealed by 
change of birth, setting free, as it were, the full moon 
from the bosom of a dark snow- cloud. 



Once upon a time in the country of Kasi and the city 
of Benares, there was a king called Brahma-datta. The 
Bodisat was at that time born in a merchant's family ; 

1 See above, pp. 54-58, for an explanation of this. 



HOLDING TO THE TRUTH. 



139 



and in due course he grew up, and went about trafficking 
with five hundred bullock- carts. Sometimes he travelled 
from east to west, and sometimes from west to east. At 
Benares too there was another young merchant, stupid, 
dull, and unskilful in resource. 

Now the Bodisat collected in Benares merchandise of 
great value, and loaded it in five hundred bullock- carts, 
and made them ready for a journey. And that foolish 
merchant likewise loaded five hundred carts, and got 
them ready to start. 

Then the Bodisat thought, "If this foolish young 
merchant should come with me, the road will not suffice 
for the thousand carts, all travelling together ; the men 
will find it hard to get wood and water, and the bullocks 
to get grass. Either he or I ought to go on first." 

And sending for him he told him as much ; saying, 
" We two can't go together. Will you go on in front, 
or come on after me ? " 

And that other thought, " It will be much better for 
me to go first. I shall travel on a road that is not cut 
up, the oxen will eat grass that has not been touched, 
and for the men there will be curry- stuffs, of which the 
best have not been picked ; the water will be undisturbed ; 
and I shall sell my goods at what price I like." So he 
said, " I, friend, will go on first." 

But the Bodisat saw that it would be better to go 
second : for thus it occurred to him, " Those who go in 
front will make the rough places plain, whilst I shall 
go over the ground they have traversed : the old rank 
grass will have been eaten by the oxen that have gone 
first, whilst my oxen will eat the freshly grown and 
tender shoots : for the men there will be the sweet 



140 APANNAKA JATAKA. 

curry-stuffs that have grown where the old was picked : 
where there is no water these others will dig and get 
supplies, whilst we shall drink from the wells that they 
have dug: and haggling about prices too is killing 
work ; whereas by going afterwards, I shall sell my goods 
at the prices they have established." So seeing all these 
advantages, he said, "Well, friend, you may go on first." 

The foolish merchant said, " Very well, then ! " yoked 
his waggons and started; and in due course passed 
beyond the inhabited country, and came to the border 
of the wilderness. 

Now there are five kinds of wildernesses, those that 
have become so by reason of thieves, of wild beasts, of 
the want of water, of the presence of demons, and of 
insufficiency of food ; and of these this wilderness was 
demon-haunted and waterless. 1 So the merchant placed 
great water-pots on his carts, and filled them with water, 
and then entered the desert, which was sixty leagues 
across. 

But, when he had reached the middle of the desert, 
the demon who dwelt there thought, " I will make these 
fellows throw away the water they have brought; and 
having thus destroyed their power of resistance, I will 
eat them every one ! " 

So he created a beautiful carriage drawn by milk-white 
bulls ; and attended by ten or twelve demons with bows 
and arrows, and swords and shields, in their hands, he 
went to meet the merchant, seated like a lord in his 
carriage, but adorned with a garland of water-lilies, 
with his hair and clothes all wet, and his carriage wheels 
begrimed with mud. His attendants too went before 

1 A gloss repeats these descriptions at somewhat greater length. 



HOLDING TO THE TRUTH. 141 

and after him, with their hair and clothes all wet, decked 
with garlands of white lotuses, carrying bunches of red 
lotuses, eating the edible stalks of water-plants, and with 
drops of water and mud trickling from them. 

Now the chiefs of trading caravans, whenever a head- 
wind blows, ride in their carriage in front, surrounded by 
their attendants, and thus escape the dust ; and when it 
blows from behind, they, in the same manner, ride behind. 
At that time there was a headwind, so the merchant went 
in front. 

As the demon saw him coming, he turned his carriage 
out of the way, and greeted him kindly, saying, " Where 
are you going to ? " 

And the merchant hurrying his carriage out of the way, 
made room for the carts to pass, and waiting beside him, 
said to the demon, "We have come thus far from Benares. 
And you I see with lotus wreaths, and water-lilies in 
your hands, eating lotus stalks, soiled with dirt, and 
dripping with water and mud. Pray, does it rain on the 
road you have come by, and are there tanks there covered 
with water-plants ? " 

No sooner had the demon heard that, than he answered ; 
" What is this that you say ? Yonder streak is green 
forest ; from thence onwards the whole country abounds 
with water, it is always raining, the pools are full, and 
here and there are ponds covered with lotuses." And as 
the carts passed by one after another, he asked, " Where 
are you going with these carts ? " 

" To such and such a country," was the reply. 

" And in this cart, and in this, what have you got ? " 
said he. 

" Such and such things." 



142 APANNAKA JATAKA. 

11 This cart coming last comes along very heavily, what 
is there in this one ? " 

" There's water in that." 

" You have done right to bring water as far as this ; 
but further on there's no need of it. In front of you 
there's plenty of water. Break the pots and pour away 
the water, and go on at your ease." Then he added, 
" Do you go on, we have already delayed too long ! " and 
himself went on a little, and as soon as he was out of 
sight, went back to the demons' home. 

And that foolish merchant, in his folly, accepted the 
demon's word, and had his pots broken, and the water 
poured away (without saving even a cupful), and sent on 
the carts. And before them there was not the least water. 
And the men, having nothing to drink, became weary. 
And journeying on till sunset, they unyoked the waggons, 
and ranged them in a circle, and tied the oxen to the 
wheels. And there was neither water for the oxen, nor 
could the men cook their rice. And the worn-out men 
fell down here and there and slept. 

And at the end of the night the demons came up from 
their demon city, and slew them all, both men and oxen, 
and ate their flesh, and went away leaving their bones 
behind. So on account of one foolish young merchant 
these all came to destruction, and their bones were scat- 
tered to all the points of the compass ! And the five 
hundred carts stood there just as they had been loaded ! 

Now for a month and a half after the foolish merchant 
had started, the Bodisat waited ; and then left the city, 
and went straight on till he came to the mouth of the 
desert. There he filled the vessels, and laid up a plentiful 
store of water, and had the drum beaten in the encamp- 



HOLDING TO THE TRUTH. I43 

ment to call the men together, and addressed them thus : 
" Without asking me, let not even a cupful of water be 
used ! There are poisonous trees in the wilderness : 
without asking me, let not a leaf nor a flower nor a fruit 
you have not eaten before, be eaten ! " And when he had 
thus exhorted his followers, he entered the desert with his 
five hundred waggons. 

When he had reached the middle of the desert, that 
demon, in the same way as before, showed himself to the 
Bodisat as if he were coming from the opposite direction. 
The Bodisat knew him as soon as he saw him, thinking 
thus : " There is no water in this wilderness ; its very 
name is the arid desert. This fellow is red-eyed and bold, 
and throws no shadow. The foolish merchant who went 
on before me will doubtless have been persuaded by this 
fellow to throw away all his water ; will have been 
wearied out ; and, with all his people, have fallen a prey. 
But he doesn't know, methinks, how clever I am, and how 
fertile in resource." 

Then he said to him, " Begone ! We are travelling 
merchants, and don't throw away the water we've got till 
we see some more ; and as soon as we do see it, we under- 
stand quite well how to lighten carts by throwing ours 
away ! " 

The demon went on a little way, and when he got out 
of sight, returned to his demon city. When the demons 
were gone, his men said to the Bodisat, " Sir ! those men 
told us that yonder was the beginning of the green forest, 
and from there onwards it was always raining. They had 
all kinds of lotuses with them in garlands and branches, 
and were chewing the edible lotus- stalks ; their clothes 
and hair were all wet, and they came dripping with water. 



144 APANNAKA JATAKA. 

Let us throw away the water, and go on quickly with, 
light carts ! " 

And when he heard what they said, the Bodisat made 
the waggons halt, and collecting all his men, put the 
question to them, "Have you ever heard anybody say 
that there was any lake or pond in this desert ? " 

" We never heard so." 

" And now some men are saying that it rains on the 
other side of that stretch of green forest. How far can a 
rain- wind be felt ? " 

" About a league, Sir." 

" Now does the rain- wind reach the body of any one of 
you?" 

"No, Sir." 

" And how far off is the top of a rain-cloud visible ? " 

"About a league, Sir." 

"Now does any one of you see the top of a single 
cloud?" 

"No one, Sir." 

" How far off can a flash of lightning be seen ? " 

" Four or five leagues, Sir." 

" Now has the least flash of lightning been seen by any 
one of you ? " 

"No, Sir." 

" How far off can thunder be heard ? " 

" A league or two, Sir." 

" Now has any of you heard the thunder ? " 

"No, Sir." 

" These fellows are not men, they are demons ! They 
must have come to make us throw away our water with 
the hope of destroying us in our weakness. The foolish 
young merchant who went on before us had no power of 



\. HOLDING TO THE TRUTH. I45 

resource. No doubt he has let himself be persuaded to 
throw away his supply of water, and has fallen a prey to 
these fellows. His waggons will be standing there just 
as they were loaded. We shall find them to-day. Go on 
as quickly as you can, and don't throw away a single 
half-pint of water ! " 

With these words he sent them forward ; and going on 
he found the five hundred carts as they had been loaded, 
and the bones of men and oxen scattered about. And he 
had his waggons unyoked, and ranged in a circle so as to 
form a strong encampment; and he had the men and 
oxen fed betimes, and the oxen made to lie down in the 
midst of the men. And he himself took the overseers of 
the company, and stood on guard with a drawn sword 
through the three watches of the night, and waited for 
the dawn. And quite early the next day he saw that 
everything that should be done was done, and the oxen 
fed ; and leaving such carts as were weak he took strong 
ones, and throwing away goods of little value he loaded 
goods of greater value. And arriving at the proposed 
mart, he sold his merchandise for two or three times the 
cost price, and with all his company returned to his own 
city. 



And when he had told this story, the Teacher added, 
" Thus, householder, long ago those who relied on their 
own reason came to destruction, while those who held to 
the truth escaped the hands of the demons, went whither 
they had wished to go, and got back again to their own 
place." And it was when he had become a Buddha that 

VOL. I. 10 



I 4 6 \.-APANNAKA JATAKA. 

he uttered the following verse belonging to this lesson on 
Holding to the Truth ; and thus uniting the two stories, 
he said 

1. Some speak that which none can question ; 
Mere logicians speak not so. 
The wise man knows that this is so, 
And takes for true what is the truth ! 

Thus the Blessed One taught those disciples the lesson 
regarding truth. " Life according to the Truth confers 
the three happy conditions of existence here below, and 
the six joys of the Brahmalokas in the heaven of delight, 
and finally leads to the attainment of Arahatship ; but 
life according to the Untrue leads to rebirth in the four 
hells and among the five lowest grades of man." He also 
proclaimed the Four Truths in sixteen ways. And at the 
end of the discourse on the Truths all those five hundred 
disciples were established in the Fruit of Conversion. 

The Teacher having finished the discourse, and told the 
double narrative, established the connexion, 1 and summed 
up the Jataka by concluding, " The foolish young mer- 
chant of that time was Devadatta, his men were Deva- 
datta's followers. The wise young merchant's men were 
the attendants of the Buddha, and the wise young mer- 
chant was I myself." 

END OF THE STORY ON HOLDING TO THE TRUTH. 



1 That is, I think, hetween the persons in the story on the one hand, and 
the Buddha and his contemporaries on the other : not, as Childers says (under 
anusandhi], hetween the story and the maxim. 



No. 2. 

VANNUPATHA JATAKA. 
The Sandy Road. 

" The Determined Ones," etc. This discourse was uttered 
by the Blessed One while at Savatthi. About what ? 
About a mendicant who had no perseverance. 

For whilst the Successor of the Prophets, we are told, 
was staying at Savatthi, a young man of good family 
dwelling there went to Jetavana, and heard a discourse 
from the Teacher. And with converted heart he saw the 
evil result of lusts, and entered the Order. When he had 
passed the five years of noviciate, he learnt two sum- 
maries of doctrine, and applied himself to the practice of 
meditation. And receiving from the Teacher a suitable 
subject as a starting-point for thought, he retired to a 
forest. There he proceeded to pass the rainy season ; but 
after three months of constant endeavour, he was unable 
to obtain even the least hint or presentiment of the at- 
tainment of insight. 1 Then it occurred to him, "The 

1 The Buddhists had no prayer ; their salvation consisting in a self- 
produced inward change. This could be brought about in various ways, one 
of which was the kind of meditation here referred to (Kammatthana) , leading 
to a firm conviction of the impermanence of all finite things. As every road 
leads to Rome, so any finite object may be taken as the starting-point from 
which thought may be taken, by gradually increasing steps, near to the in- 
finite ; and so acquire a sense of the proportion of things, and realize the 
insignificance of the individual. The unassisted mind of the ignorant would 
naturally find difficulty in doing this ; and certain examples of the way in 
which it might be done were accordingly worked out; and a disciple would 
go to his teacher, and ask him to recommend which way he should adopt. 
But the disciple must work out his own enlightenment. 



148 l. VANNUPATHA JATAKA. 

Teacher said there were four kinds of men ; I must 
belong to the lowest class. In this birth there will be, I 
think, neither Path nor Fruit for me. What is the good 
of my dwelling in the forest ? Returning to the Teacher, 
I will live in the sight of the glorious person of the 
Buddha, and within hearing of the sweet sound of the 
Law." And he returned to Jetavana. 

His friends and intimates said to him, " Brother, you 
received from the Teacher a subject of meditation, and 
left us to devote yourself to religious solitude ; and 
now you have come back, and have given yourself up 
again to the pleasures of social intercourse. Have you 
then really attained the utmost aim of those who have 
given up the world ? Have you escaped transmigra- 
tion?" 1 

" Brethren ! I have gained neither the Path nor the 
Fruit thereof. I have come to the conclusion that I am 
fated to be a useless creature; and so have come back 
and given up the attempt." 

" You have done wrong, Brother ! after taking vows 
according to the religion of the Teacher whose firmness 
is so immovable, to have given up the attempt. Come, 
let us show this matter to the Buddha." And they took 
him to the Teacher. 

When the Teacher saw them, he said, " I see, 
mendicants ! that you have brought this brother here 
against his will. What has he done ? " 

" Lord ! this brother having taken the vows in so 
sanctifying a faith, has abandoned the endeavour to ac- 
complish the aim of a member of the Order, and has come 
back to us." 

Then the Teacher said to him, "Is it true you have 
given up trying ? " 

1 A successful Kammatthana, a complete realization of the relation of the 
individual to the great Sum of all things, will lead to that sense of brother- 
hood, of humility, of holy calm, which is the " utmost aim," viz. Nirvana, and 
involves, as its result, escape from transmigration. 



. THE SANDY ROAD. 



149 



" It is true, Blessed One ! " was the reply. 

" How is it, brother, that you, who have now taken the 
vows according to such a system, have proved yourself 
to be not a man of few desires, contented, separate from 
the world, persevering in effort but so irresolute ! Why, 
formerly you were full of determination. By your energy 
alone the men and bullocks of five hundred waggons 
obtained water in the sandy desert, and were saved. 
How is it that you give up trying, now ? " 

Then by those few words that brother was established 
in resolution ! 

But the others, hearing that story, besought of the 
Blessed One, saying, " Lord ! We know that this brother 
has given up trying now ; and yet you tell how formerly 
by his energy alone the men and bullocks of five hundred 
waggons obtained water in the sandy desert, and were 
saved. Tell us how this was." 

" Listen, then, O mendicants !" said the Blessed One : 
and having thus excited their attention, he made manifest 
a thing concealed through change of birth. 



Once upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in 
Benares, in the country of Kiisi, the future Buddha was 
born in a merchant's family ; and when he grew up, he 
went about trafficking with five hundred carts. 

One day he arrived at a sandy desert twenty leagues 
across. The sand in that desert was so fine, that when 
taken in the closed fist, it could not be kept in the hand. 
After the sun had risen it became as hot as a mass of 
charcoal, so that no man could walk on it. Those, there- 
fore, who had to travel over it took wood, and water, and 



I S o 2. VANNUPATHA JATAKA. 

oil, and rice in their carts; and travelled during the 
night. And at daybreak they formed an encampment, 
and spread an awning over it, and taking their meals 
early, they passed the day sitting in the shade. At sunset 
they supped ; and when the ground had become cool, 
they yoked their oxen and went on. The travelling was 
like a voyage over the sea : a so-called land-pilot had to 
be chosen, and he brought the caravan safe to the other 
side by his knowledge of the stars. 

On this occasion the merchant of our story traversed 
the desert in that way. And when he had passed over 
fifty-nine leagues he thought, "Now in one more night 
we shall get out of the sand," and after supper he directed 
the wood and water to be thrown away, and the waggons 
to be yoked; and so set out. The pilot had cushions 
arranged on the foremost cart, and lay down looking at 
the stars, and directing them where to drive. But worn 
out by want of rest during the long march, he fell asleep, 
and did not perceive that the oxen had turned round and 
taken the same road by which they had come. 

The oxen went on the whole night through. Towards 
dawn the pilot woke up, and, observing the stars, called 
out, " Stop the waggons, stop the waggons ! " The day 
broke just as they had stopped, and were drawing up the 
carts in a line. Then the men cried out, " Why, this is 
the very encampment we left yesterday ! Our wood and 
water is all gone ! We are lost ! " And unyoking the 
oxen, and spreading the canopy over their heads, they lay 
down, in despondency, each one under his waggon. 

But the Bodisat, saying to himself, " If I lose heart, all 
these will perish," walked about while the morning was 
yet cool. And on seeing a tuft of Kusa-grass, he thought, 



2. - THE SAND Y ROAD. 1 5 1 

" This must have grown by attracting some water which 
there must be beneath it." 

And he made them bring a hoe and dig in that spot. 
And they dug sixty cubits deep. And when they had got 
thus far, the spade of the diggers struck on a rock : and 
as soon as it struck, they all gave up in despair. 

But the Bodisat thought, "There must be water under 
that rock," and descending into the well, he got upon the 
stone, and, stooping down, applied his ear to it, and 
tested the sound of it. And he heard the sound of water 
gurgling beneath. And he got out, and called his page. 
" My lad, if you give up now, we shall all be lost. Don't 
you lose heart. Take this iron hammer, and go down 
into the pit, and give the rock a good blow." 

The lad obeyed, and though they all stood by in 
despair, he went down full of determination, and struck 
at the stone. And the rock split in two, and fell below, 
and no longer blocked up the stream. And water rose till 
its brim was the height of a palm-tree in the well. And 
they all drank of the water, and bathed in it. Then they 
split up their extra yokes and axles, and cooked rice, and 
ate it, and fed their oxen with it. And when the sun 
set, they put up a flag by the well, and went to the place 
appointed. There they sold their merchandise at double 
and treble profit, and returned to their own home, and 
lived to a good old age, and then passed away according 
to their deeds. And the Bodisat gave gifts, and did other 
virtuous acts, and passed away according to his deeds. 



152 1. VANNUPATHA JATAKA. 

When the Buddha had told the story, he, as Buddha, 
uttered the verse 

2. The men of firm resolve dug on into the sand, 
Till in the very road they found whereof to drink. 
And so the wise, strong by continuing effort, 
Finds if he weary not Rest for his heart ! 

When he had thus discoursed, he declared the Four 
Truths. And when he had concluded, the despairing 
priest was established in the highest Fruit, in Arahatship 
(which is Nirvana). 

After the Teacher had told the two stories, he formed 
the connexion, and summed up the Jataka, by saying, 
in conclusion, " The page who at that time despaired not, 
but broke the stone, and gave water to the multitude, was 
this brother without perseverance : the other men were 
the attendants on the Buddha ; and the caravan leader was 
I myself." 

END OF THE STORY OF THE SANDY ROAD. 



No. 3. 

SERI-VANIJA JATAKA. 
The Merchant of Seri. 

11 If you fail here," etc. This discourse, too, the Blessed 
One uttered, while staying at Savatthi, about a monk 
who was discouraged in his efforts to obtain spiritual 
enlightenment. 

For we are told that when he too was brought up by 
the brethren in the same manner as before, the Teacher 
said, " Brother ! you who have given up trying, after 
taking the vows according to a system so well fitted to 
lead you to the Paths and Fruit thereof, will sorrow long, 
like the Seriva trader when he had lost the golden vessel 
worth a hundred thousand." 

The monks asked the Blessed One to explain to them 
the matter. The Blessed One made manifest that which 
had been hidden by change of birth. 



Long ago, in the fifth dispensation before the present 
one, the Bodisat was a dealer in tin and brass ware, 
named Seriva, in the country of that name. This Seriva, 
together with another dealer in tin and brass ware, who 
was an avaricious man, crossed the river Tela-vaha, and 
entered the town called Andha-pura. And dividing the 



154 S.SERI-VANIJA JATAKA. 

streets of the city between them, the Bodisat went round 
selling his goods in the street allotted to him, while the 
other took the street that fell to him. 

Now in that city there was a wealthy family reduced 
to abject poverty. All the sons and brothers in the 
family had died, and all its property had been lost. Only 
one girl and her grandmother were left ; and those two 
gained their living by serving others for hire. There 
was indeed in the house the vessel of gold out of which 
the head of the house used to eat in the days of its 
prosperity ; but it was covered with dirt, and had long 
lain neglected and unused among the pots and pans. And 
they did not even know that it was of gold. 

At that time the avaricious hawker, as he was going 
along, calling out, " Buy my water-pots ! Buy my water- 
pots ! " came to the door of their house. When the girl 
saw him, she said to her grandmother, " Mother ! do buy 
me an ornament." 

" But we are poor, dear. What shall we give in ex- 
change for it ? " 

" This dish of ours is no use to us ; you can give that 
away and get one." 

The old woman called the hawker, and after asking 
him to take a seat, gave him the dish, and said, " Will 
you take this, Sir, and give something to your little sister 1 
for it?" 

The hawker took the dish, and thought, " This must be 
gold ! " And turning it round, he scratched a line on its 
back with a needle, and found that it was so. Then 
hoping to get the dish without giving them anything, he 
said, " What is this worth ? It is not even worth a half- 
1 On this mode of politeness see above, p. 70. 



. THE MERCHANT OF SERI. 



155 



penny." And throwing it on the ground, he got up from 
his seat, and went away. 

Now, it was allowed to either hawker to enter the street 
which the other had left. And the Bodisat came into that 
street, and calling out, " Buy my water-pots," came up to 
the door of that very house. And the girl spoke to her 
grandmother as before. But the grandmother said, " My 
child, the dealer who came just now threw the dish on 
the floor, and went away ; what have I now got to give 
him in exchange ? " 

" That merchant, mother dear, was a surly man ; but 
this one looks pleasant, and has a kind voice : perchance 
he may take it." 

" Call him, then," said she. 

So she called him. And when he had come in and sat 
down, they gave him the dish. He saw that it was 
gold, and said, " Mother ! this dish is worth a hundred 
thousand. All the goods in my possession are not equal 
to it in value ! " 

" But, Sir, a hawker who came just now threw it on the 
ground, and went away, saying it was not worth a half- 
penny. It must have been changed into gold by the 
power of your virtue, so we make you a present of it. 
Give us some trifle for it, and take it." 

The Bodisat gave them all the cash he had in hand 
(five hundred pieces), and all his stock-in-trade, worth 
five hundred more. He asked of them only to let him 
keep eight pennies, and the bag and the yoke that 
he used to carry his things with. And these he took 
and departed. 

And going quickly to the river- side, he gave those eight 
pennies to a boatman, and got into the boat. 



156 Z.-SERI-VANIJA JATAKA. 

But that covetous hawker came back to the house, and 
said : " Bring out that dish, I'll give you something for 
it!" 

Then she scolded him, and said, "You said our gold 
dish, worth a hundred thousand, was not worth a half- 
penny. But a just dealer, who seems to be your master, 1 
gave us a thousand for it, and has taken it away." 

When he heard this he called out, "Through this 
fellow I have lost a golden pot worth 0, worth a 
hundred thousand ! He has ruined me altogether ! " And 
bitter sorrow overcame him, and he was unable to retain 
his presence of mind ; and he lost all self-command. And 
scattering the money he had, and all the goods, at the 
door of the house, he seized as a club the yoke by which 
he had carried them, and tore off his clothes, and pursued 
after the Bodisat. 

When he reached the river- side, he saw the Bodisat 
going away, and he cried out, " Hallo, Boatman ! stop 
the boat ! " 

But the Bodisat said, " Don't stop ! " and so prevented 
that. And as the other gazed and gazed at the departing 
Bodisat, he was torn with violent grief ; his heart grew 
hot, and blood flowed from his mouth until his heart 
broke like tank-mud in the heat of the sun ! 

Thus harbouring hatred against the Bodisat, he brought 
about on that very spot his own destruction. This was 
the first time that Devadatta harboured hatred against the 
Bodisat. 

But the Bodisat gave gifts, and did other good acts, 
and passed away according to his deeds. 

1 The reader will not take this too seriously. The old lady's scorn turns 
as easily here to irony as her gratitude above finds expression in flattery. 



Z.THE MERCHANT OF SERL 



'57 



It was when the Buddha had finished this discourse, 
that he, as Buddha, uttered the following verse 

3. If in this present time of Grace, 
You fail to reach the Happy State ; l 
Long will you suffer deep Remorse 
Like this trading man of Seriva. 

So the Teacher, discoursing in such a manner as to 
lead up to the subject of Arahatship, dwelt on the Four 
Truths. And at the end of the discourse the monk who 
had given up in despondency was established in the 
highest Fruit that is, in Nirvana. 

And when the Teacher had told the double story, he 
made the connexion, and summed up the Jataka by con- 
cluding, " The then foolish dealer was Devadatta, but the 
wise dealer was I myself." 

END OF THE STORY OF THE MERCHANT OF SERI. 



1 What the Happy State is will perhaps best be understood from the 
enumeration of its six divisions: 1. Faith. 2. Modesty. 3. Fear of 
sinning. 4. Learning. 5. Energy. 6. Presence of Mind. This Happy 
State can only be reached in a birth as a man. If being born as a man, one 
neglects the salvation then within one's reach, one may pass many ages in 
other births before a "time of grace" comes round again. It is folly to 
expect salvation in some other and future world ; it can only be gained here, 
and now. 



No. 4. 

CTJLLAKA-SETTHI JATAKA. 
The Story of Chullaka tlie Treasurer. 

" The wise, far-seeing man," etc. This discourse the 
Blessed One uttered, while at Jlvaka's Mango-grove near 
Rajagaha, concerning the Elder whose name was Roadling 
the Younger. 

Now here it ought to be explained how Roadling the 
Younger came to be born. The daughter of a wealthy 
house in Rajagaha, they say, had contracted an intimacy 
with a slave, and being afraid that people would find out 
what she had done, she said to him, " We can't stay here. 
If my parents discover this wrongdoing, they will tear us 
in pieces. Let us go to some far-off country, and dwell 
there." So, taking the few things they had, they went 
out privately together to go and dwell in some place, it 
did not matter where, where they would not be known. 

And settling in a certain place, they lived together 
there, and she conceived. And when she was far gone 
with child, she consulted with her husband, saying, " I 
am far gone with child ; and it will be hard for both of 
us if the confinement were to take place where I have no 
friends and relations. Let us go home again ! " 

But he let the days slip by, saying all the while, " Let 
us go to-day ; let us go to-morrow." 

1 The introductory story to this Jataka is used in Rogers's Suddhagoshas 
Parables, pp. 61-68, as the introduction to a different Birth Story. Verse 25 
of the Ithommapada is said hy the Commentator on that book (Fausboll, 
p. 181) to have been spoken of Little Eoadling, and it would fit very aptly 
to the present story ahout him. 



1.CHULLAKA THE TREASURER. 



'59 



Then she thought, "This silly fellow dares not go 
home because his offence has been so great. But parents 
are, after all, true friends. Whether he goes or not, it 
will be better for me to go." 

So, as soon as he had gone out, she set her house in 
order, and telling her nearest neighbours that she was 
going to her own home, she started on her way. The 
man returned to the house ; and when he could not find 
her, and learned on inquiry from the neighbours that she 
had gone home, he followed her quickly, and came up to 
her halfway on the road. There the pains of labour had 
just seized her. And he accosted her, saying, " Wife, 
what is this ? " 

" Husband, I have given birth to a son," replied she. 
" What shall we do now ? " said he. 

" The very thing we were going home for has happened 
on the road. What's the use of going there ? Let us 
stop ! " 

So saying, they both agreed to stop. And as the child 
was born on the road, they called him Roadling. Now 
not long after she conceived again, and all took place as 
before ; and as that child too was born on the road, they 
called the firstborn Great Roadling, and the second Little 
Roadling. And taking the two babies with them, they 
went back to the place where they were living. 

And whilst they were living there this child of the 
road heard other children talking about uncles, and 
grandfathers, and grandmothers ; and he asked his 
mother, saying, "Mother, the other boys talk of their 
uncles, and grandfathers, and grandmothers. Have we 
no relations ? " 

" Certainly, my dear ! You have no relations here, 
but you have a grandfather, a rich gentleman, at Raja- 
gaha ; and there you have plenty of relations." 

" Then why don't we go there, mother ? " said he. 

Then she told him the reason of their not going. But 



160 1.CULLAKA-SETTHI JATAKA. 

when the children spoke to her again and again about 
it, she said to her husband, " These children are con- 
tinually troubling me. Can our parents kill us and eat 
us when they see us ? Come, let us make the boys ac- 
quainted with their relatives on the grandfather's side." 

" Well, I myself daren't meet them face to face, but I 
will take you there." 

" Yery well, then ; any way you like : the children 
ought to be made acquainted with their grandfather's 
family." 

So they two took the children, and in due course 
arrived at Rajagaha, and put up at a chowltrie (a public 
resting-place) at the gate of the town. And the mother, 
taking the two boys, let her parents know of her arrival. 
When they heard the message, they sent her back word 
to the following effect : "To be without sons and daughters 
is an unheard-of thing among ordinary people ; l but these 
two have sinned so deeply against us, that they cannot 
stand in our sight. Let them take such and such a sum, 
and go and dwell wherever they two may like. But the 
children they may send here." And their daughter took 
the money her parents sent, and handing over her 
children to the messengers, let them go. 

And the children grew up in their grandfather's house. 
Little Eoadling was much the younger of the two, but 
Great Roadling used to go with his grandfather to hear 
the Buddha preach ; and by constantly hearing the Truth 
from the mouth of the Teacher himself, his mind turned 
towards renunciation of the world. And he said to his 
grandfather, " If you would allow it, I should enter the 
Order." 

"What are you saying, my child ? " answered the old 
man. " Of all persons in the world I would rather have 
you enter the Order. Become a monk by all means, if 

1 Literally, " those subject to transmigration," that is, those who are 
not Arahats, whose natural desires have not given way before intense reli- 
gious conviction. 



1.CHULLAKA THE TREASURER. 161 

you feel yourself able to do so." So, granting his request, 
he took him to the Teacher. 

The Teacher said, " What, Sir, have you then a son ? " 

" Yes, my Lord, this lad is my grandson, and he wants 
to take the vows under you." 

The Teacher called a monk, and told him to ordain the 
lad : and the monk, repeating to him the formula of 
meditation on the perishable nature of the human body, 1 
received him as a novice into the Order. After he had 
learnt by heart much scripture, and had reached the full 
age required, he was received into full membership ; and 
applying himself to earnest thought, he attained the state 
of an Arahat. And whilst he was thus himself enjoying 
the delight which arises from wise and holy thoughts, and 

wise and holy life, he considered whether he could not 
procure the same bliss for Little Roadling. 

So he went to his grandfather, and said : " If, noble 
Sir, you will grant me your consent, I will receive Little 
Roadling into the Order ! " 

" Ordain him, reverend Sir," was the reply. The Elder 
accordingly initiated Little Roadling, and taught him to 
live in accordance with the Ten Commandments. But 
though he had reached the noviciate, Little Roadling was 
dull, and in four months he could not get by heart even 
this one verse 

As a sweet-smelling Kokanada lily 
Blooming all fragrant in the early dawn, 
Behold the Sage, bright with exceeding glory 
E'en as the burning sun in the vault of heaven ! 

For long ago, we are told, in the time of Kassapa the 
Buddha, he had been a monk, who, having acquired 
learning himself, had laughed to scorn a dull brother as 

1 Taca-pancaka-kammatthanajj. a formula always repeated at the ordina- 
tion of a novice. The words of it will be found in Dickson's Upasampada- 
Kammavaca, p. 7. Compare also the note above, p. 147. 

VOL. i. 11 



1 62 1.CULLAKA-SETTHI JATAKA. 

he was learning a recitation. That brother was so over- 
whelmed with confusion by his contempt, that he could 
neither commit to memory, nor recite the passage. In 
consequence of this conduct he now, though initiated, 
became dull ; he forgot each line he learnt as soon as he 
learnt the next ; and whilst he was trying to learn this 
one verse four months had passed away. 

Then his elder brother said to him: "Roadling, you 
are not fit for this discipline. In four months you have 
not been able to learn a single stanza, how can you hope 
to reach the utmost aim of those who have given up the 
world ? Gro away, out of the monastery ! " And he 
expelled him. But Little Roadling, out of love for the 
religion of the Buddhas, did not care for a layman's life. 

Now at that time it was the elder Roadling' s duty to 
regulate the distribution of food to the monks. And the 
nobleman Jlvaka brought many sweet-scented flowers, 
and going to his Mango-grove presented them to the 
Teacher, and listened to the discourse. Then, rising 
from his seat, he saluted the Buddha, and going up to 
Great Roadling, asked him, "How many brethren are 
there with the Teacher ? " 

" About five hundred," was the reply. 

" Will the Buddha and the five hundred brethren come 
and take their morning meal to-morrow at our house ? " 

" One called Little Roadling, disciple, is dull, and 
makes no progress in the faith ; but I accept the invita- 
tion for all excepting him." 

Little Roadling overheard this, and thought, " Though 
accepting for so many monks, the Elder accepts in such 
a manner as to leave me out. Surely my brother's love 
for me has been broken. What's the good of this dis- 
pline to me now? I must become a layman, and give 
alms, and do such good deeds as laymen can." And early 
the next day he went away, saying he would re-enter 
the world. 



1.CHULLAKA THE TREASURER. 163 

Now the Teacher, very early in the morning, when he 
surveyed the world, became aware of this matter. 1 And 
going out before him, he remained walking up and down 
by the gateway on the road along which Little Roadling 
would have to pass. And Little Roadling, as he left the 
house, saw the Teacher, and going up to him, paid him 
reverence. Then the Teacher said to him, "How now, 
Little Roadling ! whither are you going at this time in 
the morning ? " 

" Lord ! my brother has expelled me, so I am going 
away to wander again in the ways of the world ! " 

"Little Roadling! It was under me that your pro- 
fession of religion took place. When your brother ex- 
pelled you, why did you not come to me ? What will a 
layman's life advantage you ? You may stay with me ! " 

And he took Little Roadling, and seated him in front 
of his own apartment, and gave him a piece of very white 
cloth, created for the purpose, and said, "Now, Little 
Roadling, stay here, sitting with your face to the East, 
and rub this cloth up and down, repeating to yourself 
the words, " The removal of impurity ! The removal of 
impurity ! " And so saying he went, when time was 
called, to Jlvaka's house, and sat down on the seat pre- 
pared for him. 2 

But Little Roadling did as he was desired : and as he 
did SO) the cloth became soiled, and he thought, " This 
piece of cloth was just now exceeding white ; and now, 
through me, it has lost its former condition, and is become 
soiled. Changeable indeed are all component things ! " 
And he felt the reality of decay and death, and the eyes 
of his mind were opened ! 

1 The Buddha is frequently represented in the later books as bringing the 
world before his mind's eye in the morning, and thus perceiving whom he 
could benefit during the day. 

2 When the daily meal was to be served in the house of some layman, all 
the monks invited went there as soon as the time was announced by the " call 
of refection " being set up, and sat themselves down in the order of their 
seniority. 



1 64 1.CULLAKA-SE TTHI JA TAKA. 

Then the Teacher, knowing that the eyes of his mind 
were opened, sent forth a glorious vision of himself, which 
appeared as if sitting before him in visible form, and 
saying, " Little Roadling ! be not troubled at the thought 
that this cloth has become so soiled and stained. Within 
thee, too, are the stains of lust and care and sin ; but 
these thou must remove ! " And the vision uttered these 
stanzas : 

It is not dust, but lust, that really is the stain : 
This ' stain ' is the right word for lust. 
'Tis the monks who have put away this stain, 
Who live up to the Word of the Stainless One ! 

It is not dust, but anger, that really is the stain : 
This ' stain ' is the right word for anger. 
'Tis the monks who have put away this stain, 
Who live up to the Word of the Stainless One ! 

It is not dust, but delusion, that really is the stain : 
This ' stain ' is the right word for delusion. 
'Tis the monks who have put away this stain, 
Who live up to the Word of the Stainless One ! 

And as the stanzas were finished, Little Roadling attained 
to Arahatship, and with it to the intellectual gifts of an 
Arahat ; and by them he understood all the Scriptures. 

Long ago, we are told, he had been a king, who, as he 
was once going round the city, and the sweat trickled 
down from his forehead, wiped the top of his forehead 
with his pure white robe. When the robe became dirty, 
he thought, " By this body the pure white robe has lost 
its former condition, and has become soiled. Changeable 
indeed are all component things ! " And so he realized 
the doctrine of impermanency. It was on this account 
that the incident of the transfer of impurity brought 
about his conversion. 



l.CHULLAKA THE TREASURER. 165 

But to return to our story. Jlvaka, the nobleman, 
brought to the Buddha the so-called water of presentation. 
The Teacher covered the vessel with his hand, and said, 
" Are there no monks in the monastery, Jlvaka ? " 

"Nay, my Lord, there are no monks there," said 
Great Roadling. 

" But there are, Jlvaka," said the Master. 

Jlvaka then sent a man, saying, " Do you go, then, and 
find out whether there are any monks or not at the 
monastery." 

At that moment Little Roadling thought, " My brother 
says there are no monks here ; I will show him there 
are." And he filled the Mango-grove with priests a 
thousand monks, each unlike the other some making 
robes, some repairing them, and some repeating the 
Scriptures. 

The man, seeing all these monks at the monastery, 
went back, and told Jlvaka, " Sir, the whole Mango-grove 
is alive with monks." 

It was with reference to this that it is said of him, 
that 

" Roadling, multiplying himself a thousand fold, 
Sate in the pleasant Mango- grove till he was bidden 
to the feast." 

Then the Teacher told the messenger to go again, and 
say, " The Teacher sends for him who is called Little 
Roadling." 

So he went and said so. But from a thousand monks 
the answer came, " I am Little Roadling ! I am Little 
Roadling ! " 

The man returned, and said, " Why, Sir, they all say 
they are called Little Roadling ! " 

" Then go and take by the hand the first who says ' I 
am Little Roadling,' and the rest will disappear." 



1 66 <LCULLAKA-SETTHI JATAKA. 

And he did so. And the others disappeared, and the 
Elder returned with the messenger. 1 

And the Teacher, when the meal was over, addressed 
Jlvaka, and said, " Jlvaka, take Little Roadling's bowl ; 
he will pronounce the benediction." And he did so. And 
the Elder, as fearlessly as a young lion utters his chal- 
lenge, compressed into a short benedictive discourse the 
spirit of all the Scriptures. 

Then the Teacher rose from his seat and returned 
to the Wihara (monastery), accompanied by the body 
of mendicants. And when the monks had completed 
their daily duties, the Blessed One arose, and standing 
at the door of his apartment, discoursed to them, pro- 
pounding a subject of meditation. He then dismissed 
the assembly, entered his fragrant chamber, and lay down 
to rest. 

In the evening the monks collected from different 
places in the hall of instruction, and began uttering the 
Teacher's praises, thus surrounding themselves as it were 
with a curtain of sweet kamala flowers ! " Brethren, his 
elder brother knew not the capacity of Little Roadling, and 
expelled him as a dullard because in four months he could 
not learn that one stanza; but the Buddha, by his un- 
rivalled mastery over the Truth, gave him Arahatship, 
with the intellectual powers thereof, in the space of a 
single meal, and by those powers he understood all the 
Scriptures ! Ah ! how great is the power of the 
Buddhas ! " 

And the Blessed One, knowing that this conversation 
had arisen in the hall, determined to go there ; and rising 
from his couch, he put on his orange-coloured under 
garment, girded himself with his belt as it were with 
lightning, gathered round him his wide flowing robe red 
as kamala flowers, issued from his fragrant chamber, and 

1 Little Roadling has now become an Elder, a monk of the higher of the 
two grades. 



1.CHULLAKA THE TREASURER. 167 

proceeded to the hall with that surpassing grace of motion 
peculiar to the Buddhas, like the majestic tread of a 
mighty elephant in the time of his pride. And ascending 
the magnificent throne made ready for the Buddha in 
the midst of the splendid hall, he seated himself in the 
midst of the throne emitting those six-coloured rays 
peculiar to the Buddhas, like the young sun when it 
rises over the mountains on the horizon, and illumines 
the ocean depths ! 

As soon as the Buddha came in, the assembly of the 
mendicants stopped their talking and were silent. The 
Teacher looked mildly and kindly round him, and thought, 
" This assembly is most seemly ; not a hand nor foot stirs, 
no sound of coughing or sneezing can be heard ! If I 
were to sit here my life long without speaking, not one 
of all these men awed by the majesty and blinded by 
the glory of a Buddha would venture to speak first. It 
behoves me to begin the conversation, and I myself will 
be the first to speak ! " And with sweet angelic voice he 
addressed the brethren : " What is the subject for which 
you have seated yourselves together here, and what is the 
talk among you that has been interrupted ? " 

" Lord ! we are not sitting in this place to talk of any 
worldly thing : it is thy praises we are telling ! " And 
they told him the subject of their talk. When he heard 
it the Teacher said, " Mendicants ! Little Roadling has 
now through me become great in religion ; now formerly 
through me he became great in riches." 

The monks asked the Buddha to explain how this was. 
Then the Blessed One made manifest that which had 
been hidden by change of birth. 



1 68 1. CULLAKA-SETTHI JATAKA. 

Long ago, 1 when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, 
in the land of Kasi, the Bodisat was born in a treasurer's 
family; and when he grew up he received the post of 
treasurer, and was called Chullaka. 2 And he was wise 
and skilful, and understood all omens. One day as he 
was going to attend upon the king he saw a dead mouse 
lying on the road; and considering the state of the 
stars at the time, he said, "A young fellow with eyes 
in his head might, by picking this thing up, start a trade 
and support a wife." 

Now a certain young man of good birth, then fallen 
into poverty, heard what the official said, and thinking, 
" This is a man who wouldn't say such a thing without 
good reason," took the mouse, and gave it away in a certain 
shop for the use of the cat, and got a farthing for it. 

With the farthing he bought molasses, and took water 
in a pot. And seeing garland- makers returning from the 
forest, he gave them bits of molasses, with water by the 
ladle-full. 3 They gave him each a bunch of flowers ; and 
the next day, with the price of the flowers, he bought 
more molasses ; and taking a potful of water, went to the 
flower garden. That day the garland-makers gave him, 
as they went away, flowering shrubs from which half the 
blossoms had been picked. In this way in a little time 
he gained eight pennies. 

Some time after, on a rainy windy day, a quantity of 
dry sticks and branches and leaves were blown down by 
the wind in the king's garden, and the gardener saw no 
way of getting rid of them. The young man went and 

1 "With this story compare Katha Sarit Sagara, Book VI. vv. 29 and foil. 

2 Pronounce Choollacker with the accent on the first syllable. 

3 ' Ulurjka,' half a cocoa-nut shell, the common form of cup or ladle among 
the Indian poor. 



1.CHULLAKA THE TREASURER. 169 

said to the gardener, " If you will give me these sticks 
and leaves, I will get them out of the way." The gar- 
dener agreed to this, and told him to take them. 

Chullaka's pupil 1 went to the children's playground, 
and by giving them molasses had all the leaves and 
sticks collected in a twinkling, and placed in a heap at 
the garden gate. Just then the king's potter was looking 
out for firewood to burn pots for the royal household, 
and seeing this heap he bought it from him. That day 
Chullaka's pupil got by selling his firewood sixteen pennies 
and five vessels water-pots, and such-like. 

Having thus obtained possession of twenty-four pennies, 
he thought, " This will be a good scheme for me," and 
went to a place not far from the city gate, and placing 
there a pot of water, supplied five hundred grass-cutters 
with drink. 

" Friend ! you have been of great service to us," said 
they. " What shall we do for you ? " 

" You shall do me a good turn when need arises," said 
he. And then, going about this way and that, he struck 
up a friendship with a trader by land and a trader by 
sea. 

And the trader by land told him, " To-morrow a horse- 
dealer is coming to the town with five hundred horses." 

On hearing this, he said to the grass-cutters, " Give 
me to-day, each of you, a bundle of grass, and don't sell 
your own grass till I have disposed of mine." 

" All right ! " cried they in assent, and brought five 
hundred bundles, and placed them in his house. The 
horse-dealer, not being able to get grass for his horses 

1 So called ironically, from the apt way in which he had learnt the lessou 
taught him by Chullaka. 



1 70 1,CULLAKA-SETTHI JATAKA. 

through all the city, bought the young man's grass for a 
thousand pence. 

A few days afterwards his friend the trader by sea 
told him that a large vessel had come to the port. He 
thinking, " This will be a good plan," got for eight 
pennies a carriage that was for hire, with all its proper 
attendants ; and driving to the port with a great show 
of respectability, gave his seal-ring as a deposit for the 
ship's cargo. Then he had a tent pitched not far off, 
and taking his seat gave orders to his men that when 
merchants came from outside he should be informed of 
it with triple ceremony. 1 

On hearing that a ship had arrived, about a hundred 
merchants came from Benares to buy the goods. 

They were told, " You can't have the goods : a great 
merchant of such and such a place has already paid 
deposit for them." 

On hearing this, they went to him ; and his footmen 
announced their arrival, as had been agreed upon 
three deep. Each of the merchants then gave him a 
thousand to become shareholders in the ship, and then 
another thousand for him to relinquish his remaining 
share : and thus they made themselves owners of the 
cargo. 

So Chullaka's pupil returned to Benares, taking with 
him two hundred thousand. 2 And from a feeling of 

1 Literally, " with a threefold knock," which I take to mean that the 
outside attendant announced them to another attendant, he to a third, and 
the third attendant to their master. The latter thus appeared to be a man of 
great consequence, as access to him was so difficult, and attended with so 
much ceremony. 

2 That is, twice a thousand pieces from each of the hundred merchants. 
But of course he should have paid out of this sum the price of the cargo. It 
can scarcely he intended to suggest that his acuteness led him to go off with- 
out paying for the cargo. The omission must be a slip of the story-teller's. 



4. CHULLAKA THE TREASURER. 171 

gratitude, he took a hundred thousand and went to 
Chullaka the treasurer. Then the treasurer asked him, 
" What have you been doing, my good man, to get all 
this wealth ? " 

" It was by adhering to what you said that I have 
acquired it within four months," said he : and told him 
the whole story, beginning with the dead mouse. 

And when Chullaka the high treasurer heard his tale, 
he thought, " It will never do to let such a lad as this 
get into any one else's hands." So he gave him his 
grown-up daughter in marriage, and made him heir to 
all the family estates. And when the treasurer died, he 
received the post of city treasurer. But the Bodisat 
passed away according to his deeds. 



It was when the Buddha had finished his discourse that 
he, as Buddha, uttered the following verse : 

As one might nurse a tiny flame, 
The able and far-seeing man, 
E'en with the smallest capital, 
Can raise himself to wealth ! 

It was thus the Blessed One made plain what he had 
said, " Mendicants ! Little Roadling has now through me 
become great in religion ; but formerly through me he 
became great in riches." 

When he had thus given this lesson, and told the 
double story, he made the connexion, and summed up 
the Jiitaka by concluding, "He who was then Chullaka's 
pupil was Little Roadling, but Chullaka the high trea- 
surer was I myself." 

END OF THE STORY OF CHULLAKA THE TREASURER. 



No. 5. 

TANDULA-NALI JATAKA. 
The Measure of Rice. 1 

" What is the value of a measure of rice" etc. This the 
Teacher told while sojourning at Jetavana, about a monk 
called Udayin the Simpleton. 

At that time the Elder named Dabba, a Mallian by birth, 
held the office of steward in -the Order. 2 When he issued 
the food- tickets in the morning, Udayin sometimes received 
a better kind of rice, and sometimes an inferior kind. One 
day when he received the inferior kind, he threw the 
distribution-hall into confusion, crying out, " Why should 
Dabba know better than any other of us how to give out 
the tickets ? " 

When he thus threw the office into disorder, they gave 
him the basket of tickets, saying, " Well, then, do you 
give out the tickets to-day ! " 

From that day he began to distribute tickets to the 
Order ; but when giving them out he did not know which 
meant the better rice and which the worse, nor in which 

1 Compare Leon Feer in the Journal Asiatique, 1876, vol. viii. pt. ii. 
pp. 510-525. 

2 The Bhatt' Uddesika, or steward, was a senior monk who had the duty 
of seeing that all the brethren were provided with their daily food. Some- 
times a layman offered to provide it (e.g. above, p. 162) ; sometimes grain, or 
other food' belonging to the monastery, was distributed to the monks by the 
steward giving them tickets to exchange at the storehouse. The necessary 
qualifications for the stewardship are said to be : 1 . Knowledge of the 
customs regulating the distribution. 2. A sense of justice. 3. Freedom 
from ignorance. 4. Absence of fear. 5. Good temper. 



5. THE MEASURE OF RICE. 



'73 



storehouse the better was kept and in which the worse. 
"When fixing the turns, too, he did not distinguish to 
what storehouse each monk's turn had come ; but when 
the monks had taken their places, he would make a 
scratch on the wall or on the floor, to show that the turn 
for such and such a kind of rice had come thus far, and 
for such and such a kind of rice thus far. But the next 
day there were either more or fewer monks in hall. When 
they were fewer, the mark was too low down ; when they 
were more, the mark was too high up ; but ignoring the 
right turns, he gave out the tickets according to the signs 
he had made. 

So the monks said to him, " Brother Udayin ! the mark 
is too high, or too low." And again, " The good rice is 
in such a storehouse, the inferior rice in such a store- 
house." 1 

But he repelled them, saying, " If it be so, why is the 
mark different ? "Why should I trust you ? I will trust 
the mark rather ! " 

Then the boys and novices cast him out from the hall of 
distribution, exclaiming, " When you give tickets, Brother 
Udayin, the brethren are deprived of their due. You 
are incapable of the office. Leave the place ! " 

Thereupon a great tumult arose in the hall of distribu- 
tion. The Teacher heard it, and asked of Ananda the 
Elder, "There is a great tumult, Ananda, in the hall. 
What is the noise about ? " 

The Elder told the Successor of the Prophets how it 
was. 

Then he said, " Not now only, Ananda, does Udayin by 
his stupidity bring loss upon others, formerly also he did 
the same." 

1 I am not sure that I have understood rightly the meaning of vassagga,& 
word of doubtful derivation, which has only been found in this passage. 
Possibly we should translate : " The turn for the better rice has come to the 
monk whose seniority dates from such and such a year, and the turn for the 
inferior kind to the monk whose seniority dates from such and such a year." 



174 5.TANDULA-NALI JATAKA. 

The Elder asked the Blessed One to explain that 
matter. Then the Blessed One made manifest an occur- 
rence hidden by change of birth. 



Long ago, Brahma-datta was king in Benares, in the 
land of Kasi. At that time our Bodisat was his Valuer. 
He valued both horses, elephants, or things of that kind ; 
and jewelry, gold, or things of that kind; and having 
done so, he used to have the proper price for the goods 
given to the owners thereof. 

Now the king was covetous. And in his avarice he 
thought, " If this valuer estimates in this way, it will 
not be long before all the wealth in my house will come 
to an end. I will appoint another valuer." 

And opening his window, and looking out into the 
palace yard, he saw a stupid miserly peasant crossing the 
yard. Him he determined to make his valuer ; and 
sending for him, asked if he would undertake the office. 
The man said he could ; and the king, with the object of 
keeping his treasure safer, established that fool in the 
post of valuer. 

Thenceforward the dullard used to value the horses 
and elephants, paying no regard to their real value, but 
deciding just as he chose : and since he had been ap- 
pointed to the office, as he decided, so the price was. 

Now at that time a horse-dealer brought five hundred 
horses from* the northern prairies. The king sent for that 
fellow, and had the horses valued. And he valued the five 
hundred horses at a mere measure of rice, and straightway 



5. THE MEASURE OF RICE. 



'75 



ordered the horse-dealer to be given the measure of rice, 
and the horses to be lodged in the stable. Then the 
horse-dealer went to the former valuer, and told him 
what had happened, and asked him what he should do. 

" Give a bribe to that fellow," said he, " and ask him 
thus : * We know now that so many horses of ours are 
worth a measure of rice, but we want to know from you 
what a measure of rice is worth. Can you value it for 
us, standing in your place by the king ?' If he says he 
can, go with him into the royal presence, and I will be 
there too." 

The horse-dealer accepted the Bodisat's advice, went 
to the valuer, and bribed him, and gave him the hint 
suggested. And he took the bribe, and said, " All right ! 
I can value your measure of rice for you." 

"Well, then, let us go to the audience-hall," said he; 
and taking him with him, went into the king's presence. 
And the Bodisat and many other ministers went there 
also. 

The horse-dealer bowed down before the king, and said, 
"I acknowledge, king, that a measure of rice is the 
value of the five hundred horses ; but will the king be 
pleased to ask the valuer what the value of the measure of 
rice may be ? " 

The king, not knowing what had happened, asked, 
" How now, valuer, what are five hundred horses worth ?" 

" A measure of rice, king ! " said he. 

" Very good, then ! If five hundred horses are worth 
only a measure of rice, what is that measure of rice 
worth ? " 

" The measure of rice is worth all Benares, both within 
and without the walls," replied that foolish fellow. 



I 7 6 5.TANDULA-NALI JATAKA. 

For the story goes that he first valued the horses at a 
measure of rice just to please the king ; and then, when 
he had taken the dealer's bribe, valued that measure of 
rice at the whole of Benares. Now at that time the 
circumference of the rampart of Benares was twelve 
leagues, and the land in its suburbs was three hundred 
leagues in extent. Yet the foolish fellow estimated that 
so-great city of Benares, together with all its suburbs, at 
a measure of rice ! 

Hearing this the ministers clapped their hands, laugh- 
ing, and saying, " "We used to think the broad earth, and 
the king's realm, were alike beyond price ; but this great 
and famous royal city is worth, by his account, just a 
measure of rice ! the depth of the wisdom of the 
valuer ! How can he have stayed so long in office ? 
Truly he is just suited to our king ! " Thus they laughed 
him to scorn. 

Then the Bodisat uttered this stanza : 

What is a measure of rice worth ? 

All Benares and its environs ! 

And what are five hundred horses worth ? 

That same measure of rice ! l 

Then the king was ashamed, and drove out that fool, 
and appointed the Bodisat to the office of Valuer. And 
in course of time the Bodisat passed away according to 
his deeds. 

1 These lines are not in the printed text. But see the Corrigenda ; and 
Leon Feer, in the Journal Asiatique for 1876, p. 520. 



5. THE MEASURE OF RICE. 



'77 



When the Teacher had finished preaching this discourse, 
and had told the double story, he made the connexion, 
and summed up the Jataka by concluding, " He who was 
then the foolish peasant valuer was Udayin the Simpleton, 
but the wise valuer was I myself." 

END OF THE STORY OF THE MEASURE OF RICE. 



12 



No. 6. 

DEVA-DHAMMA JATAKA. 
On True Divinity. 1 

" Those who fear to sin" etc. This the Blessed One 
told while at Jetavana, concerning a monk of much 
property. 

For a landed proprietor who dwelt at Savatthi became 
a monk, we are told, after the death of his wife. And 
when he was going to be ordained, he had a hermitage 
and a kitchen and a storehouse erected for his own use, 
and the store filled with ghee and rice, and so was re- 
ceived into the Order. And even after he was ordained 
he used to call his slaves and have what he liked cooked, 
and ate it. And he was well furnished with all things 
allowed to the fraternity ; he had one upper garment to 
wear at night and one to wear by day, and his rooms 
were detached from the rest of the monastery. 

One day, when he had taken out his robes and coverlets, 
and spread them in the cell to dry, a number of brethren 
from the country, who were seeking for a lodging, came to 
his cell, and seeing the robes and other things, asked 
him, " Whose are these ? " 

" Mine, brother," said he. 

"But, brother, this robe, and this robe, and this under 

1 It was on the occasion related in the Introductory Story of this Jataka, 
and after he had told the Birth Story, that the Buddha, according to the 
commentator on that work (Fausholl, pp. 302-305), uttered the 141st verse 
of the Dhamma-padarj. The Introductory Story to No. 32, translated below 
in this volume, is really only another version of this tale of the luxurious 
monk. 



Q.-ON TRUE DIVINITY. 



'79 



garment, and this under garment, and this coverlet are 
they all yours ? " 

" Yes ; mine indeed," said he. 

" Brother, the Buddha has allowed only three sets of 
robes ; yet, though you have entered the Order of the 
self-denying Buddha, you have furnished yourself thus 
grandly." And saying, "Come, let us bring him before 
the Sage," they took him, and went to the Teacher. 

When the Teacher saw them, he said, " How is it, men- 
dicants, that you bring this brother here against his will?" 
" Lord ! this mendicant has much property and a large 
wardrobe." 

"Is this true then, brother, that you have so many 
things ? " 

" It is true, O Blessed One ! " 

" How is it, brother, that you have become thus luxu- 
rious ? Have not I inculcated being content with little, 
simplicity, seclusion, and self-control ? " 

On hearing what the Teacher said, he called out 
angrily, " Then I will go about in this way ! " and 
throwing off his robe, he stood in the midst of the people 
there with only a cloth round his loins ! 

Then the Teacher, giving him support in temptation, 
said, " But, brother, you had formerly a sense of shame, 
and lived for twelve years a conscientious life when you 
were a watersprite. How then, now, having entered the 
so honourable Order of the Buddhas, can you stand there 
throwing off your robes in the presence of all the brethren, 
and lost to all sense of shame ? " 

And when he heard the Teacher's saying, he recovered 
his sense of propriety, and robed himself again, and 
bowing to the Teacher stood respectfully aside. 

But the monks asked the Teacher to explain how that 
was. Then the Teacher made manifest the matter which 
had been hidden by change of birth. 



i8o S.DEVA-DHAMMA JA1AKA. 

Long ago Brahma-datta was king in Benares, in the 
country of Kasi. And the Bodisat of that time assumed 
re-existence in the womb of his chief queen ; and on the 
day on which they chose a name for him, they gave him 
the name of Prince Mahigsasa. And when he could run 
to and fro, and get about by himself, another son was 
born, whom they called the Moon Prince. 

When he could run to and fro, and get about by him- 
self, the mother of the Bodisat died. The king appointed 
another lady to the dignity of chief queen. She became 
very near and dear to the king, and in due course she 
brought forth a son, and they called his name the Sun 
Prince. 

When the king saw his son, he said in his joy, " My 
love ! I promise to give you, for the boy, whatever you 
ask ! " 

But the queen kept the promise in reserve, to be used 
at some time when she should want it. And when her 
son was grown up, she said to the king, "Your majesty, 
when my son was born, granted me a boon. Now give 
me the kingdom for my son ! " 

The king said, " My two sons are glorious as flames of 
fire ! I can't give the kingdom to your child alone ! " 
And he refused her. 

But when she besought him again and again, he 
thought to himself, " This woman will surely be plotting 
some evil against the lads ! " And he sent for them, and 
said, " My boys ! when the Sun Prince was born, I 
granted a boon. And now his mother demands the 
kingdom for him ! I have no intention of giving it to 
him. But the very name of womankind is cruelty! 
She will be plotting some evil against you. Do you get 



6. ON TRUE DIVINITY. igj 

away into the forest ; and when I am dead, come back 
and reign in the city that is yours by right ! " So, 
weeping and lamenting, he kissed them on their fore- 
heads, and sent them forth. 

As they were going down out of the palace, after 
taking leave of their father, the Sun Prince himself, 
who was playing there in the courtyard, caught sight of 
them. And when he learnt how the matter stood, he 
thought to himself, "I, too, will go away with my 
brothers ! " And he departed with them accordingly. 

They went on till they entered the mountain region 
of Himalaya. There the Bodisat, leaving the path, sat 
down at the foot of a tree, and said to the Sun 
Prince : 

" Sun Prince, dear ! do you go to yonder pond ; and 
after bathing and drinking yourself, bring us, too, some 
water in the leaves of the lotus plants." 

Now that pond had been delivered over to a water- sprite 
by Vessavana (the King of the Fairies), who had said to 
him: 

" Thou art hereby granted as thy prey all those who go 
down into the water, save only those who know what is 
true divinity. But over such as go not down thou hast no 
power." 

So from that time forth, the water- sprite used to ask 
all those who went down into the water, what were the 
characteristic signs of divine beings, and if they did not 
know, he used to eat them up alive. 

Now Sun Prince went to the pond, and stepped down 
into it without any hesitation. Then the demon seized 
him, and demanded of him : 

" Do you know what is of divine nature ? " 



i&2 S.DEVA-DHAMMA JATAKA. 

" Oh, yes ! They call the Sun, and the Moon, Gods," 
was the reply. 

" You don't know what is of divine nature," said he, 
and carrying him off down into the water, he put him fast 
in his cave. 

But the Bodisat, when he found that he was so long in 
coming, sent the Moon Prince. Him, too, the demon 
seized and asked him as before : 

" Do you know what is of divine nature ? " 

" Yes, I do. The far-spreading sky is called divine." 1 

" You then don't know what is divine," said he ; and 
he took him, too, and put him in the same place. 

When he too delayed, the Bodisat thought to himself, 
" Some accident must have happened." He himself, 
therefore, went to the place, and saw the marks of the foot- 
steps where both the boys had gone down into the water. 
Then he knew that the pond must be haunted by a water- 
sprite ; and he stood fast, with his sword girded on, and 
his bow in his hand. 

But when the demon saw that the Bodisat was not 
going down into the water, he took to himself the form of 
a woodman, and said to the Bodisat : 

" Hallo, my friend ! you seem tired with your journey. 
Why don't you get down into the lake there ; and have 
a bath, and drink, and eat the edible stalks of the lotus 
plants, and pick the flowers, and so go on your way at 
your ease ? " 

And as soon as the Bodisat saw him, he knew that he 
was the demon, and he said, 

" It is you who have seized my brothers ! " 

" Yes, it is I," said he. 

1 The elder brother is more advanced in his theology. 



6.-01V TRUE DIVINITY. 183 

"What for, then?" 

" I have been granted all those who go down into this 
pond." 

"What? All!" 

" Well ; all save those who know what beings are 
divine. The rest are my prey." 

" But have you then any need of divine beings ? " 

"Yes, certainly." 

" If it be so, I will tell you who are divine." 

" Speak on then ; and I shall get to know who have the 
attributes which are divine." 

Then the Bodisat said, " I would teach you regarding 
this matter; but I am all unclean with my journey." 
And the water-sprite bathed the Bodisat, and provided 
him with food, and brought him water, and decked him 
with flowers, and anointed him with perfumes, and spread 
out for him a couch in a beautiful arbour. 

And the Bodisat seated himself there, and made the 
water- sprite sit at his feet, and said, "Give ear then 
attentively, and listen what divine nature is." And he 
uttered the verse 

The pure in heart who fear to sin, 
The good, kindly in word and deed 
These are the beings in the world, 
Whose nature should be called divine. 

And when the water- sprite heard that, his heart was 
touched, and he said to the Bodisat 

" 0, Wise Teacher, in you I place my trust. I will give 
you up one of your brothers. Which shall I bring ? " 

" Bring me the younger of the two." 



184 K.DEVA-DHAMMA JATAKA. 

"But, Teacher; you who know so well all about the 
divine nature, do you not act in accordance with it ? " 

" What do you mean ? " 

"That neglecting the elder, and telling me to bring 
the younger of the two, you pay not the honour that is 
due to seniority." 

" I both know, Demon, what divinity is, and I walk 
according to it. It is on that boy's account that we came 
to this forest : for it was for him that his mother begged 
the kingdom from our father, and our father being un- 
willing to grant that, sent us away to live in the forest, 
that we might be safe from danger. The lad himself 
came all the way along with us. Were I to say, 'An 
ogre has eaten him in the wilderness,' no one would believe 
it. Therefore it is that I, to avoid all blame, have told 
you to bring him" 

" Yerily thou hast spoken well, Teacher. Thou not 
only knowest what divinity is, but hast acted as a divinity 
would." 

And when he had thus magnified the Bodisat with 
believing heart, he brought forth both the brothers and 
gave them back to him. 

Then said the Bodisat to him, " Friend, it is by reason 
of evil deeds committed by you in some former birth, 
that you have been born as an ogre, living on the flesh 
of other beings. And now you still go on sinning. This 
thine iniquity will prevent thine ever escaping from re- 
birth in evil states. From henceforth, therefore, put 
away evil, and do good ! " 

With these words he succeeded in converting him. And 
the ogre being converted, the Bodisat continued to live 
there under his protection. And one day he saw by the 



6. ON TRUE DIVINITY. 185 

conjunction of the stars that his father was dead. So he 
took the water-sprite with him and returned to Benares, 
and took upon himself the kingdom. And he made Moon 
Prince his heir- apparent, and Sun Prince his commander- 
in-chief. And for the water-sprite he made a dwelling- 
place in a pleasant spot, and took care that he should be 
constantly provided with the best of garlands and flowers 
and food. And he himself ruled his kingdom in righteous- 
ness, until he passed away according to his deeds. 



The Teacher having finished this discourse spoke on 
the Four Truths. And when he had done, that monk 
entered the First Stage of the Path leading to Nirvana. 
And the Buddha having told the double story, made the 
connexion and summed up the Jataka by concluding, 
"The then water-sprite was the luxurious monk; the 
Sun Prince was Ananda ; the Moon Prince was Sariputta ; 
but the elder brother, the Prince Mahirjsasa, was I 
myself." 1 

1 The whole of this story, including the introduction, is found also, word 
for word, in the commentary on the ' Scripture Verses' (Fausboll, pp. 302- 
305) ; and the commentator adds that the Buddha then further uttered the 
141st verse of that collection : 

Not nakedness, not plaited hair, not dirt, 
Not fasting oft, nor lying on the ground ; 
Not dust and ashes, nor vigils hard and stern, 
Can purify that man who still is tossed 
Upon the waves of doubt ! 

The same verse occurs in the Chinese work translated by Mr. Beal (The 
' Dhammapada, etc.,' p. 96). Another verse of similar purport has been 
quoted above (p. 69), and a third will be found in Amagandha Sulta (Sutta 
Nipata, p. 168, verse 11). The same sentiment occurs in the Maha-Bharata, 
iii. 13445, translated in Muir's ' Metrical Translations from Sanskrit "Writers,' 
p. 75, and in the Northern Buddhist work Divyavadana (Burnouf, Introduc- 
tion a 1'Histoire du Bouddhisme Indien, p. 313). 

END OF THE STORY ABOUT TRUE DIVINITY. 



No. 9. 1 

MAKHA-DEVA JATAKA. 2 
The Story of Makha Deva. 

" These grey hairs" etc. This the Teacher told when 
at Jetavana, in reference to the Great Renunciation. The 
latter has been related above in the Nidana Katha. 3 

Now at that time the priests as they sat were magnify- 
ing the Renunciation of the One Mighty by Wisdom. 
Then the Teacher entered the assembly, and sat down in 
his place, and addressed the brethren, saying, " What is 
the subject on which you are talking as you sit here ? " 

" On no other subject, Lord ! but on your Renuncia- 
tion," said they. 

"Mendicants, not then only did the Successor of the 
Prophets renounce the world; formerly also he did the 
same." 

The monks asked him to explain how that was. Then 
the Blessed One made manifest an occurrence hidden by 
change of birth. 



Long ago, in Mithila, in the land of Videha, there was 
a king named Makha Deva, a righteous man, and ruling 

1 For Nos. 7 and 8, see respectively Bhaddasala Jataka, Book xii., and 
Sagvara Jataka, Book xi. 

2 Comp. the Makha-deva Sutta, No. 83 in the Majjhima Nikaya. 

3 See above, pp. 81-83. 



Q.THE STORY OF MAKHA DEVA. 187 

in righteousness. 1 Eighty-four thousand years he was a 
prince, as many he shared in the government, and as 
many he was sovereign. As such he had lived a long, 
long time, when one day he said to his barber, " My 
good barber, whenever you find grey hairs on my head, 
let me know." 

And after a long, long time had passed away, the 
barber one day found among the jet-black locks one grey 
hair ; and he told the king of it, saying, " There is a grey 
hair to be seen on your head, king ! " 

" Pull it out, then, friend, and put it in my hand ! " 
said he. 

So he tore it out with golden pincers, and placed it in 
the hand of the king. There were then eighty-four 
thousand years of the lifetime allotted to the king still 
to elapse. But, nevertheless, as he looked upon the grey 
hair he was deeply agitated, as if the King of Death had 
come nigh unto him, or as if he found himself inside a 
house on fire. 2 And he thought, " foolish Hakha 
Deva ! though grey hairs have come upon you, you yet 
have not been able to get rid of the frailties and passions 
which deprave men's hearts ! " 3 

As he thus meditated and meditated on the appearance 
of the grey hair, his heart burned within him, drops of 
perspiration rolled down from his body, and his very 
robes oppressed him and became unbearable. And he 
thought, "This very day I must leave the world and 
devote myself to a religious life ! " 

1 He is mentioned in the Mahuvansa, p. 8, in a list of the legendary kings 
of old. 

2 At p. 81, above, the same idea is put into the mouth of Gotama himself. 

3 Ime kilese. The use of the determinative pronoun implies that the king 
is meant to refer to the particular imperfections known as kilesa. They are 
acquisitiveness, ill-temper, dullness of perception, vanity, wrong views, douht, 
sloth, arrogance, want of self-respect, and want of respect for public opinion. 



1 88 S.MAKHA-DEVA JATAKA. 

Then lie gave to the barber a grant of a village whose 
revenue amounted to a hundred thousand. And he sent 
for his eldest son, and said to him, " My son ! grey hairs 
have appeared on my head. I am become an old man. 
I have done with all human hopes ; now I will seek 
heavenly things. It is time for me to abandon the world. 
Do you assume the sovereignty. I will embrace the 
religious life, and, dwelling in the garden called Makha 
Deva's Mango-park, I will train myself in the character- 
istics of those who are subdued in heart." 

His ministers, when he formed this intention, came to 
him and said, " What is the reason, king ! of your 
giving up the world ? " 

Then the king, taking the grey hair in his hand, 
uttered this verse 

These grey hairs that have come upon my head 
Are angel messengers appearing to me, 
Laying stern hands upon the evening of my life ! 
'Tis time I should devote myself to holy thought ! 

Having thus spoken, he laid down his sovranty that 
very day, and became a hermit ; and living in the 
Mango-grove of Makha Deva, of which he had spoken, he 
spent eighty-four thousand years in practising perfect 
goodwill towards all beings, and in constant devotion to 
meditation. And after he died he was born again in the 
Brahma heaven ; and when his allotted time there was 
exhausted, he became in Mithila a king called Nimi, and 
reunited his scattered family. 1 And after that he became a 

1 The whole story is given below, in the Nimi Jataka, Book xii. 



9. THE STORY OF MAKHA DEVA. igg 

hermit in that same Mango- grove, and practised perfect 
goodwill towards all beings, and again returned to the 
Brahma heaven. 



The Teacher, having thus discoursed on the subject 
that not then only, but formerly too, the Successor of the 
Buddhas had abandoned the world, proclaimed the Four 
Truths. Some entered the First Stage of the Path to 
Nirvana, some the Second, some the Third. And when 
the Blessed One had thus told the double story, he estab- 
lished the connexion, and summed up the Jataka as 
follows : " The barber of that time was Ananda, the 
prince was Rahula, but Makha Deva the king was I 
myself." 

END OF THE STORY OF MAKHA DEVA. 



No. 10. 

SUKHAYIHARI JATAKA. 
The Happy Life 

"He whom others guard not" etc. This the Teacher 
told while at the Anupiya Mango-grove, near the town of 
that name, ahout the Elder named Bhaddiya the Happy- 
minded. Bhaddiya the Happy-minded took the vows when 
the six young noblemen did so together with Upali. 1 Of 
these, Bhaddiya and Kimbila and Bhagu and TJpali became 
Arahats, Ananda entered the First Stage of the Road to 
Nirvana, Anuruddha attained to the Knowledge of the 
Past and the Present and the Future, and Devadatta 
acquired the power of Deep Meditation. The story of 
the six young noblemen, up to the events at Anupiya, 
will be related in the Khandahala Jataka. 

Now one day the venerable Bhaddiya called to mind 
how full of anxiety he had been when, as a king, caring 
for himself like a guardian angel, and surrounding him- 
self with every protection, he had lolled in his upper 
chamber on his royal couch : and now how free from 
anxiety he was, when, as an Arahat, he was wandering, 
here and there, in forests and waste places. And realizing 
this change, he uttered an exclamation of joy, " Oh, 
Happiness ! Happiness ! " 

1 See the Translator's ' Buddhism,' p. 65, and the authorities there quoted, 
to which add Culla Vagga, VII. i. 1-4. The name Bhaddiya means the Happy 
One, and the story has very probably arisen in explanation of the name. 



. THE HAPPY LIFE. 



191 



This the monks told the Blessed One, saying, " Bhad- 
diya is prophesying about Arahatship ! " l 

The Blessed One replied, " Mendicants ! not now only 
is Bhaddiya full of joy; he was so also in a former 
birth." 

The monks requested the Blessed One to explain how 
that was. Then the Blessed One made manifest an 
event hidden through change of birth. 



Long ago, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, 
the Bodisat became a wealthy Brahman of the north-west 
country. And perceiving the evils of worldly lusts, and 
the advantages of the religious life, he abandoned the 
world, and went to the Himalaya region, and adopted the 
life of a hermit, and practised the Eight Attainments. 
And the number of his disciples increased greatly, until 
he was attended by five hundred ascetics. 

In the rainy season he left the Himalayas, and attended 
by the body of ascetics, journeyed through the towns and 
villages till he came to Benares, and there took up his 
dwelling-place under the patronage of the king in the 
royal park. When he had there passed the four rainy 
months, he took leave of the king. But the king asked 
him to stop, saying, " You are old, Sir. Why go to the 
Himalayas ? Send your disciples there, but dwell here 
yourself ! " 

So the Bodisat gave the five hundred ascetics in charge 

1 The \vord translated " Happiness " is also a name of Arahatship or 
Nirvana (that is, perfect peace, goodness, and wisdom). 



192 W.SUKHAVIHARI JATAKA. 

to his senior pupil, and sent him away, saying, "You 
shall go and live with these men in the Himalayas. I 
will stay here." 

Now the senior pupil was a royal devotee who* had 
abandoned a mighty kingdom for the religious life ; and 
having gone through the course of meditation preparatory 
thereto, had acquired the eight kinds of spiritual insight. 
As he was living in the Himalaya region with the 
ascetics, he one day conceived a desire to see his teacher, 
and said to the ascetics, " Do you live on quietly here ; I 
am just going to pay my respects to our teacher, and shall 
be back soon." 

Then he went to the place where his teacher was, 
saluted him, and offered him friendly greeting ; and 
spreading a mat on the floor, lay down by his side. 

Just then the king also went to the park to see the 
teacher, and saluting him, took his seat respectfully on 
one side. Though the disciple saw the king, he did not 
get up, but lying there just as he was broke forth into a 
chant of joy, " Oh, Happiness ! Oh, Happiness ! " 

The king, displeased that the ascetic, on seeing him, had 
not arisen, said to the Bodisat, " Sir, this ascetic must 
have enjoyed himself to his heart's content. He lies 
there, quite at his ease, singing a song ! " 

" Great king ! This ascetic was once a king like you. 
He is thinking, ' Formerly, as a layman, even when en- 
joying royal splendour, and guarded by many men with 
arms in their hands, I had no such joy as this,' and he 
utters this exclamation of joy in reference to the joys of 
meditation, and to the happiness of the religious life." 

And having thus spoken, the Bodisat further uttered 
this verse in order to instruct the king in righteousness 



IQ.THE HAPPY LIFE. 



'93 



He who needs no others to defend him, 
He who has not others to defend, 
He it is who lives at ease, king ! 
Untroubled he with yearnings or with lusts. 

"When the king had listened to this discourse, he was 
satisfied again; and taking leave, he returned to the 
palace. And the disciple, too, took his leave, and re- 
turned to the Himalaya region. But the Bodisat dwelt 
there in continued meditation till he died, and he was 
then reborn in the Brahma heaven. 



When the Teacher had preached this discourse, and told 
the two stories, he established the connexion, and summed 
up the Jataka as follows : " The pupil of that time was 
Bhaddiya the Elder, but the Master of the company of 
disciples was I myself." 1 

END OF THE STORY ON A HAPPY LIFE. 

1 This story is founded on the similar story told of Bhaddhiya (the same 
Bhaddiya as the one mentioned in the Introductory Story) in the Culla Vagga, 
VII. i. 5, 6. The next story but one (the Banyan Deer) is one of those 
illustrated in the Bharhut sculptures. Both must therefore belong to the 
very earliest period in Buddhist history. 



13 



CHAPTER II. SILAYAGGA. 



No. 11. 
LAKKHANA JATAKA. 

The Story of ' Beauty.' 

"The. advantage is to the good." This the Master told 
while at the Bambu-grove near Rajagaha, about Deva- 
datta. 1 For on one occasion, when Deva-datta asked for 
the Five Rules, 2 and could not get what he wanted, he 
made a schism in the Order, and taking four hundred of 
the mendicants with him, went and dwelt at the rock 
called Gaya-sisa. 

Afterwards the minds of these mendicants became open 
to conviction. And the Master, knowing it, said to his 
two chief disciples, " Sariputta ! those five hundred pupils 
of yours adopted the heresy of Deva-datta, and went away 
with him, but now their minds have become open to con- 
viction. Do you go there with a number of the brethren, 
and preach to them, and instruct them in the Fruits of 
the Path of Holiness, and bring them back with you ! " 

1 " The story of Deva-datta," adds a gloss, " as far as his appointment as 
Abhimara, will be related in the Khandahula Jataka, as fa