[* JUN 27 1911 *] Divisioa BL (410 .Sit Section u THE SACRED HOOKS OF THE BUDDHISTS HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY SACRED BOOKS OF THE BUDDHISTS TRANSLATED BY VARIOUS ORIENTAL SCHOLARS AND EDITED BY ^jjjw of rtijccfc * JUN 27 1911 *) F. MAX MULLER \yv ._♦,—, A / ^ K£«/WL SEtt#- PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATRONAGE OP HIS MAJESTY CHULALANKARANA, KING OF SIAM VOL. I Bonbon HENRY FROWDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE AMEN CORNER, E.G. 1895 l^ OtLtrtl \_)oo\xs, /\ /\ THE GATAKAMALA OR GARLAND OF BIRTH-STORIES BV ARYA i'URA » &> m (* JUN27 1911 *J TRANSLATED FROM THE SANSKRIT J. S. SPEYER Bonbon HENRY FROWDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE AMEN CORNER, E.G. 1895 EDITORS PREFACE. After all the necessary preparations for the first and second series of the Sacred Books of the East, consisting in all of forty-nine volumes, with two volumes of General Index, had been completed, I still received several offers of translations of important texts which I felt reluctant to leave unpublished. As they were chiefly translations of Buddhist texts, I mentioned the fact to several of my Buddhist friends, and I was highly grati- fied when I was informed that H. M. the King of Siam, being desirous that the true teaching of the Buddha should become more widely known in Europe, had been graciously pleased to promise that material sup- port without which the publication of these translations would have been impossible. I therefore resolved to do what I could for helping to spread a more correct knowledge of the religion of Buddha : but after the first three volumes of this new Series of the Sacred Books of the Buddhists is published, it will mainly depend on the interest which the public may take in this work, whether it can be con- tinued or not. As long as my health allows me to do so I shall be quite willing to continue what has been a labour of love to me during many years of my life. It was not always an easy task. The constant correspondence with my fellow-workers has taxed my time and my strength far more than I expected. The difficulty was not only to select from the very large mass of Sacred Books those that seemed most important Vlll GATAKAMALA. and most likely to be useful for enabling us to gain a correct view of the great religions of the East, but to find scholars competent and willing to undertake the labour of translation. I can perfectly understand the unwillingness of most scholars to devote their time to mere translations. With every year the translation of such works as the Veda or the Avesta, instead of becoming easier, becomes really more perplexing and more difficult. Difficulties of which we formerly had no suspicion have been brought to light by the ever- increasing number of fresh students, and precautions have now to be taken against dangers the very existence of which was never dreamt of in former years. I do not exaggerate when I say that the translation of some of the hymns of the Veda, often clearly corrupt in the original, has become as difficult as the deciphering of hieroglyphic or cuneiform in- scriptions, where at all events the text may be depended on. What critical scholars like is to translate a verse here and a verse there, possibly a hymn or a whole chapter with various readings, critical notes and brilliant conjectures ; but to translate a whole book without shirking a single line is a task from which most of them recoil. Nor have the labours of those who have hitherto ventured on a more complete translation of the Rig-veda, such as Wilson, Grassmann, Ludwig and Griffith, been received as they ought to have been, with gratitude for what they have achieved, and with allowances for what they failed to achieve. I therefore remarked in the Preface to the first volume of this collection, p. xlii : ' Oriental scholars have been blamed for not having as yet supplied a want so generally felt, and so frequently expressed, as a complete, trustworthy, and readable translation of the principal Sacred Books of the Eastern Religions. The reasons, however, why hitherto they have shrunk from such an undertaking are clear enough. The difficulties in many cases of giving complete translations, and not selections only, are very great. There is still much work to be done for a critical restoration of the original texts, for an examination of their grammar and metres, and for determining the exact meaning of many words and passages. That kind of work is naturally far editor's preface. IX more attractive to scholars than a mere translation, particularly when they cannot but feel that, with the progress of our knowledge, many a passage which now seems clear and easy, may, on being re- examined, assume a new import. Thus while scholars who would be most competent to undertake a translation prefer to devote their time to more special researches, the work of a complete translation is deferred to the future, and historians are left under the impression that Oriental scholarship is still in so unsatisfactory a state as to make any reliance on translations of the Veda, the Avesta, or the Tao-te king extremely hazardous. ' It is clear, therefore, that a translation of the principal Sacred Books of the East can be carried out only at a certain sacrifice. Scholars must leave for a time their own special researches in order to render the general results already obtained accessible to the public at large. And even then, useful results can be achieved viribus unitis only/ My expectations, however, have not been deceived. My appeal was most generously responded to by the best Oriental scholars in England, France, Germany, Holland and America. Nor have these scholars, who were not afraid to come forward with translations which they knew to be far from final, had to regret their courage and their public spirit. The most competent judges have accepted what we had to offer in a grate- ful and indulgent spirit. There has only been one painful exception in the case of a scholar who has himself never ventured on the translation of a sacred text, and who seems to have imagined that he could render more useful service by finding fault with the translation of certain words and passages, or by suggesting an entirely different and, in his eyes, a far more excellent method of translation. All scholars know how easy it is to glean a few straws, and how laborious to mow a whole field. There are passages in every one of the Sacred Books, even in such care- fully edited texts as the Old and New Testaments, on which interpreters will always differ ; and we know how, after centuries of constant labour bestowed on those texts, the most learned and careful scholars have not been able to agree, or to avoid oversights in their Revised Version of the Bible. Could we expect anything different in the first attempts at translating the Sacred Books of other religions ? Valuable emenda- X GATAKAMAL\. tions, offered in a scholarlike spirit, would have been most gratefully accepted by myself and by my fellow- workers. But seldom, nay hardly ever, have emenda- tions been proposed that would essentially alter the textus receptus or throw new light on really obscure passages, while the offensive tone adopted by our critic made it impossible to answer him. As he is no longer among the living, I shall say no more. I feel bound, however, for the sake of those who do not know me, to correct one remark, as invidious as it was groundless, made by the same departed scholar, namely that I had received an excessive honorarium as Editor of the Sacred Books of the East, nay, as he expressed it, that I had levied tribute of my fellow- workers. The fact is that during all the years which I devoted to the superintending of the publication of the fifty volumes of the Sacred Books of the East, I have not had the smallest addition to my income. I was relieved by the University of Oxford from the duty of delivering my public lectures, so that I might devote my time to this large literary undertaking brought out by our Uni- versity Press. My labour, even the mere official cor- respondence with my many contributors, was certainly not less than that of delivering lectures which I had been in the habit of delivering for twenty-five years. My private lectures were continued all the same, and the publications of my pupils are there to show how ungrudgingly I gave them my time and my assistance in their literary labours. It is difficult to see of what interest such matters can be to other people, or with what object they are dragged before the public. I should have felt ashamed to notice such an accusation, if the accuser had not been a man whose scholarship deserved respect. I have never claimed any credit for the sacri- fices which I have made both in time and in money, for objects which were near and dear to my heart. It has been, as I said, a labour of love, and I shall always feel most grateful to the University of Oxford, and to my fellow-translators, for having enabled me to realise this long cherished plan of making the world better EDITOR S TREFACE. XI acquainted with the Sacred Books of the principal reli- gions of mankind, a work which has borne fruit already, and will, I hope, bear still richer fruit in the future. If the members of the principal religions of the world wish to understand one another, to bear with one another, and possibly to recognise certain great truths which, without being aware of it, they share in common with one another, the only solid and sound foundation for such a religious peace-movement will be supplied by a study of the Sacred Books of each religion. One such religious Peace-Congress has been held already in America. Preparations for another are now being made ; and it is certainly a sign of the times when we see Cardinal Gibbons, after conferring with Pope Leo XIII at Rome, assuring those who are organising this new Congress : ' The Pope will be with you, I know it. Write, agitate, and do not be timid 1 .' The c^atakamala, of which Prof. Speyer has given us an E no-fish translation in this volume, is a work well known to students of Buddhism. The edition of the Sanskrit text by Prof. Kern is not only an editio princeps, but the text as restored by him will probably remain the final text, and Prof. Speyer in translating has had but seldom to depart from it. Cataka has generally been translated by Birth-story or Tale of Anterior Births, and it would be difficult to find a better rendering. This class of stories is peculiar to Buddhism ; for although the idea that every man had passed through many existences before his birth on earth and will pass through many more after his death was, like most Buddhist theories, borrowed from the Brahmans, yet its employment for teaching the great lessons of morality seems to have been the work of Buddha and his pupils. In addition to this there was another theory, likewise Brahmanic in its origin, but again more fully developed for practical purposes by the Buddhists, that of Karma, a firm belief that an r 1 Le Pape sera avec vous, je le sais. Ecrivez, agisscz, ne soycz pas iimidcs. Revue de Paris, Sept. i, 1895, p. 136. Xll GATAKAMALA. unbroken chain of cause and effect binds all existences together. The great problems of the justice of the government of the world, of the earthly sufferings of the innocent, and the apparent happiness of the wicked, were to the Indian mind solved once for all by the firm conviction that what we experience here is the result of something that has happened before, that there is an unbroken heredity in the world, and that we not only benefit by, but also suffer from our ancestors. In order fully to understand the drift of the 6"atakas we must, however, bear in mind one more article of the Buddhist faith, namely that, though ordinary mortals remember nothing of their former existences beyond the fact that they did exist, which is involved in the very fact of their self- consciousness, highly en- lightened beings have the gift of recalling their former vicissitudes. It is well known that Pythagoras claimed the same gift of remembering his former lives, or at all events is reported to have claimed it. A Buddha is supposed to know whatever has happened to him in every existence through which he has passed : and it seems to have been the constant habit of the historical Buddha, Buddha .Sakya-muni, to explain to his disciples things that were happening by things that had happened countless ages before. Those lessons seem certainly to have impressed his hearers, after they once believed that what they had to suffer here on earth was not the result of mere chance, but the result of their own former deeds or of the deeds of their fellow-creatures, that they were in fact paying off a debt which they had contracted long ago. It was an equally impressive lesson that whatever good they might do on earth would be placed to their account in a future life, because the whole world was one large system in which nothing could ever be lost, though many of the links of the chain of cause and effect might escape human observation or recollection. The Buddha, in telling these stories of his former births or existences, speaks of himself, not exactly as the same individual, but rather as the enlightened one, EDITORS PREFACE. Xlll the Buddha as he existed at any and at every time ; and from a moral point of view, the enlightened meant the good, the perfect man. We must not suppose that his hearers were expected to believe, in our sense of the word, all the circumstances of his former existences as told by Buddha 6akya-muni. Even for an Indian imagination it would have been hard to accept them as matters of fact. A (Sataka was not much more than what a parable is with us, and as little as Christians' are expected to accept the story of Lazarus resting in Abraham's bosom as a matter of fact (though, I believe, the house of Dives is shown at Jerusalem) were the Buddhists bound to believe that Buddha as an indi- vidual or as an historical person, had formerly been a crow or a hare. The views of the Buddhists on the world and its temporary tenants, whether men, animals, or trees, are totally different from our own, though we know how even among ourselves the theories of heredity have led some philosophers to hold that we, or our ancestors, existed at one time in an animal, and why not in a vegetable or mineral state. It is difficult for us to enter fully into the Buddhist views of the world ; I would only warn my readers that they must not imagine that highly educated men among the Buddhists were so silly as to accept the cTatakas as ancient history. It would be more correct, I believe, to look upon these Birth-stories as homilies used for educational purposes and for inculcating the moral lessons of Buddhism. This is clearly implied in the remarks at the end of certain c7atakas, such as ' This story is also to be used when discoursing on the Buddha' (p. 148), or ' This story may be used with the object of showing the difficulty of finding companions for a religious life' (p. 172). We know that Christian divines also made use of popular stories for similar purposes. In India many of these stories must have existed long before the rise of Buddhism, as they exist even now, in the memory of the people. It is known how some of them reached Greece and Rome and the Western world XIV GATAKAMALA. through various well-ascertained channels *, and how they still supply our nurseries with the earliest lessons of morality, good sense, and good manners. It may be said that the lessons of morality inculcated in these homilies are too exaggerated to be of any practical usefulness. Still this modus doccndi is very common in Sacred Books, where we often find an extreme standard held up in the hope of producing an impression that may be useful in less extreme cases. To offer the other cheek to whosoever shall strike our right cheek, to give up our cloak to him who takes away our coat, to declare that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God, are all lessons which we also take cum grano salts. They ask for much in the hope that something may be given. That there is daneer too in this mode of teaching cannot be denied. We are told that Arya .Sura, in order to follow the example of Buddha in a former birth, threw himself in this life before a starving tigress to be devoured. Let us hope that this too was only a Cataka. When once a taste for these moralising stories had arisen, probably owing to Buddha's daily intercourse with the common people, their number grew most rapidly. The supply was unlimited, all that was re- quired was the moral application, the Hacc fabula docet. The Buddhists give their number as 550. The earliest are probably those which are found in different parts of the Buddhist Canon. In the Aariya-pi/aka there is a collection of thirty-five stories of the former lives of Buddha, in each of which he acquired one of the ten Paramitas or Great Perfections which fit a human being for Buddhahood 2 . A similar collection is found in the Buddhavawsa 3 , which contains an account of the life of the coming Buddha, the Bodhisat, in the various 1 Migration of Fables, in Chips from a German Workshop, vol. iv, p. 412. 2 See Buddhist Birth-stories, translated by Rhys Davids, p. Iv. 3 Some doubt attaches to the canonicity of the Aariya-pi/aka and the Buddhava77/sa (see Childers, s. v. Nikaya). EDITOR S PREFACE. XV characters which he filled during the periods of the twenty-four previous Buddhas. The 67ataka stories are therefore at least as old as the compilation of the Buddhist Canon at the Council of Vesali, about 377 B.C. * It was at that Council that the great schism took place, and that the ancient Canon was rearranged or disarranged. A mono- the books thus tampered with is mentioned the c7ataka-, which therefore must be considered as having existed, and formed part of the old Canon before the Council of Vesali. This is what the Dipavawsa (V, 32) says on the subject : ' The Bhikkhus of the Great Council settled a doctrine contrary (to the true Faith). Altering the original text they made another text. They transposed Suttas which belonged to one place (of the collection) to another place ; they destroyed the true meaning of the Faith, in the Vinaya and in the five collections (of the Suttas). . . . Rejecting single passages of the Suttas and of the proposed Vinaya, they composed other Suttas and another Vinaya which had (only) the appearance (of the genuine ones). Rejecting the following texts, viz. the Parivara, which is the abstract of the contents (of the Vinaya), the six sections of the Abhidhamma, the Pa/isambhida, the Niddesa, and some portions of the Gdtaka, they composed new ones.' Whatever else this may prove with regard to the way in which the ancient Canon was preserved, it shows at all events that Gatakas existed before the Vesali Council as an integral portion of the sacred Canon, and we learn at the same time that it was possible even then to compose new chapters of that canon, and probably also to add new c7ataka stories. Whether we possess the text of the t7ataka in exactly that form in which it existed previous to the Council of Vesali in 377 B.C. is another question. Strictly speaking we must be satisfied with the time of Vattagamani in whose reign, 88-76 B.C., writing for literary purposes seems to have become more general in India, and the Buddhist Canon was for the first time reduced to writing. What we possess is the Pali text of the 6ataka as 1 Dhammapada, p. xxx, S. B.F., vol. x. b XVI GATAKAMALA. it has been preserved in Ceylon. The tradition is that these 550 C7ataka stories, composed in Pali, were taken to Ceylon by Mahinda, about 250 B.C., that the commentary was there translated into Singhalese, and that the commentary was retranslated into Pali by Buddhaghosha, in the fifth century a. d. It is in this commentary alone that the text of the CTatakas has come down to us. This text has been edited by Dr. Fausboll. He has distinguished in his edition between three component elements, the tale, the frame, and the verbal interpretation. This text, of which the begin- ning was translated in 1880 by Prof. Rhys Davids, is now being translated by Mr. R. Chalmers, Mr. W. R. D. Rouse, Mr. H. T. Francis and Mr. R. A. Neil, and the first volume of their translation has appeared in 1895 under the able editorship of Professor Cowell. As Professor Speyer has explained, the 6"ataka- mala, the Garland of Birth-stories, which he has trans- lated, is a totally different work. It is a Sanskrit rendering of only thirty-four Catakas ascribed to Arya Sura.. While the Pali 6"ataka is written in the plainest prose style, the work of Arya .Sura has higher preten- sions, and is in fact a kind of kavya, a work of art. It was used by the Northern Buddhists, while the Pali 67ataka belongs to the Canon of the Southern Buddhists. The date of Arya .Sura is difficult to fix. Taranatha (p. 90) states that .Sura was known by many names, such as Asvaghosha, Matr//£e/a, Pitrz&efa, Durdarsha (sic),. Dharmika-subhuti, Mati/'itra. He also states that towards the end of his life Sura, was in correspondence with king Kanika (Kanishka ?), and that he began to write the hundred CTatakas illustrating Buddha's ac- quirement of the ten Paramitas (see p. xiv), but died when he had finished only thirty-four. It is certainly curious that our c^atakamala contains thirty-four Gatakas l . If therefore we could rely on Taranatha, 1 The same is also the number of Avadanas in the Bodhisattva- Avadana, and the stories seem to be the same as those of our Gataka- mala. — Rajendralal Mitra, Sanskrit Buddhist Literature, p. 49. editor's preface. xvii Arya 6ura, being identical with A^vaghosha, the author of the Buddha/'arita, would have lived in the first century of our era. He is mentioned as a great authority on metres (Taranatha, p. i8i), and he certainly handles his metres with great skill. But dates are always the weak point in the history of Indian Literature. Possibly the study of Tibetan Literature, and a knowledge of the authorities on which Taranatha relied, may throw more light hereafter on the date of ..Sura and Aj-vaghosha. F. Max Muller. Oxford, October, 1895. b 2 CONTENTS. Introduction ...... Introductory Stanzas ..... I. The Story of the Tigress II. The Story of the King of the -Sibis . III. The Story of the Small Portion of Gruel IV. The Story of the Head of a Guild . V. The Story of Avishahya, the Head of a G VI. The Story of the Hare . VII. The Story of Agastya VIII. The Story of Maitnbala . IX. The Story of Vi^vantara . X. The Story of the Sacrifice XI. The Story of -Sakra XII. The Story of the Brahman XIII. The Story of Unmadayanti XIV. The Story of Suparaga . XV. The Story of the Fish . XVI. The Story of the Quail's Young . XVII. The Story of the Jar XVIII. The Story of the Childless One XIX. The Story of the Lotus-Stalks XX. The Story of the Treasurer . XXI. The Story of Au^/abodhi . XXII. The Story of the Holy Swans XXIII. The Story of Mahabodhi XXIV. The Story of the Great Ape . PACE . xxi i 2 8 20 2 5 ruild . 3° 37 46 55 71 • 93 104 109 114 124 •34 ■ 138 r 4 i 148 154 164 172 181 200 . 218 XX GATAKAMALA. XXV. The Story of the Sarabha XXVI. The Story of the Ruru-Deer . XXVII. The Story of the Great Monkey XXVIII. The Story of Kshantivadin . XXIX. The Story of the Inhabitant of the Brahmaloka XXX. The Story of the Elephant . XXXI. The Story of Sutasoma . XXXII. The Story of Ayogn'ha . XXXIII. The Story of the Buffalo XXXIV. The Story of the Woodpecker Synoptical Table of the Correspondence between the Stanzas of the (ratakamala and the Scripture Verses of the Pal Gataka ......... Index ....... 227 2 34 244 2 53 268 281 291 3M 324 329 337 34i Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Trans- lations of the Sacred Books of the Buddhists . 347 INTRODUCTION The ' Garland of Birth-stories' belongs to the Canon of the Northern Buddhists. For the discovery of this work we are indebted to Mr. Brian H. Hodgson, who as early as lttitt mentioned it among the interesting specimens of Bauddha scriptures communicated to him by his old Patan monk, and also procured copies of it. One of these was deposited in the library of the college of Fort William, now belonging to the Bengal Asiatic Society, and was described, in 1N82, by Ra^endralala Mitra. Another was forwarded to the Paris library. Burnouf, who thoroughly studied other works belong- ing to the Sutra and Avadana classes, which form part of the Hodgson MSS. in Paris, seems to have had a merely superficial acquaintance with the CVatakamala, if we may judge from the terms with which he deals with it in his ' Introduction a l'his- toire du Bouddhisme indien.' p. 54 of the second edition : ' Je dis les livres, quoiqu'il n'en existe qu'un seul dans la liste nepalaise et dans la collection de M. Hodgson, qui portc et qui merite le titre de Djdtaka (naissance) ; e'est le volume intitule Djdtakamdld 011 la Guirlande des naissances, qui passe pour 1 un recit des diverses actions meritoires de (^akya anterieurement a 1 epoque ou il devint Buddha.' In fact, he has never given a summary, still less a detailed account of its contents. It was not until 1875 that M. Feer gave such an account in the Journal Asiatique, VIP Ser., t. 5, p. 413. Moreover, Burnouf s statement is not quite correct with respect to the Nepal list. Not one, but three CTataka works are named there 2 , the Gatakavadana (No. 32), the Gatakamala ( No. ^), and the Maha^atakamala (No. 34). Of these only one. indeed, is extant, viz. No. 33, our ' Garland of Birth-stories.' No. 34 may be the work, containing 550 or 565 Gatakas, spoken of by the Bauddha monk who imparted so much valuable I have spaced the words that prove my statement. See Hodgson, Essays on the Languages &c. of Nepal and Tibet, 1874, p. 37. XX11 GATAKAMALA. information to Hodgson \ or, perhaps, the original of the Tibetan collection of 101 tales, including also our c7atakamala, to which two Russian scholars, Serge d'Oldenburg and Ivanovski, have of late drawn the attention of the public-. As to No. 32, its title, (7atakavadana, allows the supposition that it is either a collection of 6atakas and avadanas, or that it contains 'great religious exploits ' (avadana) performed by the Bodhisattva, who afterwards became Buddha, the Lord. Nothing is more common than the use of both terms in a nearly synonymous manner. Our CTatakamala bears also the appella- tion of Bodhisattvavadanamala 3 . In translating Cataka by 'birth-story,' I comply with the general use and official interpretation of that term by the Buddhist Church. The original meaning must have been simply ' tale, story,' as Prof. Kern has demonstrated in his" History of Buddhism in India 4 .' Additional evidence of this statement may be drawn from the fact, that in several of the old and traditional headings of these stories the former part of the compound denotes not the Bodhisattva, but some other person of the tale, as Vyaghri^ataka, ' the Story of the Tigress,' or a thing, as Kum- bha^ataka, ' the Story of the Jar ; ' Bisa^ataka, ' the Story of the Lotus-stalks,' which are respectively Nos. I, XVII, and XIX of this collection ; or an action, as Silavimawsa(ka)- ^ataka, the common heading of Nos. 86, 290, 305, and 330 in Fausboll's Pali £ataka, Na/'/'a^ataka, ibid., No. 32, or a quality, as Silanisawsa^ataka, ibid., No. 190. Some time after M. Peer's compte-rendu of the Paris MS. was published two new MSS. of the 6"atakamala came to Europe. They belong to the valuable set of Sanskrit Buddhist works which Dr. Wright acquired for the Cambridge University Library, and are described by Prof. Cecil Bendall in his excellent Catalogue (1883). Prof. Kern was the first to appreciate the great literary merits of the eVatakamala, and soon planned an edition, availing himself of the two Cambridge MSS. (Add. 1328 and 1415) and the Paris one 5 . This editio princeps was published at the end of 1891 as the first volume of the Harvard Oriental Series of Prof. Lanman. It has everv right to bear the name of l princeps,' not only because Arya Sura's work has never been edited before, but on account of 1 See Hodgson, Essays, pp. 17 and 37. 2 See the paper of d'Uldenburg, translated by Dr. Wenzel in the Journ. Roy. As. Soc. of 1893, p. 304. 3 Also cp. the passage of the Avadanakalpalata, quoted infra, p. xxiii. 4 See I, p. 257 of the original (Dutch) edition. 5 Dr. d'Oldenburg mentions two more copies ; they are at St. Petersburg. See his paper in the Journ. Roy. As. Soc, p. 306. INTRODUCTION. XX111 the critical acumen and the untiring care of the editor, whose exertions have almost purged the text from the clerical errors and blunders which greatly encumber the Nepal manuscripts 1 . Thus, thanks to Prof. Kern, this masterpiece of Sanskrit Buddhist literature is now accessible to Sanskritists in an excellent edition. I have undertaken to translate it, as I con- sider it a most valuable document for the knowledge of Buddhism. Properly speaking, cTatakamaki is a class-name. It has been pointed out above that in the Northern Buddhist Canon several writings of that name have been made known, and though, so far as I know, this appellation does not occur in the book-titles of the Pali Tripi/aka, such texts as the Pali 6ataka and the K ariyapi/aka may have some right to be thus designated. That it is a generic appellation is made plain from Somendra's Introduction to the Avadanakalpalata of his father Kshemendra. It is said there, verses 7 and 2 '3> 13 a prose passage maybe corrected from the parallel prose of Gatakamala. (p. 98, 8 of the edition); divide the words thus, ku£Mito ,§ato aw^/akosam padaletva. On the other hand the Pali text is of use to correct a passage of iSura. XXII, 33 c we should read dharmo hy apa&ita/i samyag &c, cp. Fausb. V, 339- 22. INTRODUCTION. XXV11 a conclusion to the story, being preceded by evam or tatha, ' in this manner.' But, as a rule ', the epilogues are not limited to that simple repetition. They often contain more, the practical usefulness of the story thus told being enhanced by the addition of other moral lessons, which may be illustrated by it, or by pointing out different subjects of religious discourses, in connection with which our tale may be of use. Most of these epilogues, in my opinion, are posterior to Sura. Apart from the argument offered by some remarkable discrepancies in style and language and the monkish spirit pervading them,' I think it highly improbable that, after the author had put at the head and at the end of each G"ataka the moral maxim he desires to inculcate upon the minds of his readers by means of the account of a certain marvellous deed of the Bodhisattva, he should himself add different indications for other employ- ments to serve homiletical purposes. It is more likely that these accessories are of later origin, and were added when the discourses of vSura had gained so great a reputation as to be admitted to the Canon of Sacred Writings, and had come to be employed by the monks as a store of holy and edifying sermons for the purposes of religious instruction. On account of these considerations, I have bracketed in my translation such part of the epilogues as seemed to me later interpolations. Yet I did not think it advisable to omit them. They are not without importance in themselves. They allow us an insight into the interior of the monasteries and to witness the monks preparing for preaching. Moreover, some of them contain precious information about holy texts of the Northern Buddhists, which are either lost or have not yet been discovered. In the epilogue of VIII there is even a textual quotation ; likewise in that of XXX, where we find the words spoken by the Lord at the time of his Complete Extinction. As to XI, see my note on that epilogue. In XII and XXI similar sayings of holy books are hinted at. Concerning the person of the author and his time, nothing certain is known. That he was called Arya .Sura is told in the manuscripts, and is corroborated by Chinese tradition ; the Chinese translation of the G"atakamala, made between 960 and 1 1 27 A. D., bears Arya vSura on its title as the author's name (see Bunyiu Nanjio's Catalogue, No. 1 312). Tibetan tradition, too, knows Sura, as a famous teacher, and as the author of our collection of stories. Taranatha identifies him 1 With the exception of V and XV. In the conclusion of III and XIII the leading text is repeated, and then more fully developed ; in that of the ninth (Jataka it is repeated in an abridged form. XXV111 GATAKAMALA. with Ajvaghosha, and adds many more names by which the same great man should be known. It is, however, impossible that two works so entirely different in style and spirit as the Buddha/forita and the £atakamala should be ascribed to one and the same author. As to his time, Dr. d'Oldenburg observes that the terminus ante quern is the end of the 7th century A.D., since it seems that the Chinese traveller I-tsing speaks of our ' Garland of Birth- stories.' If No. 1349 of Bunyiu Nanjio's Catalogue of the Chinese Tripi/aka, being a Sutra on the fruits of Karma briefly explained by Arya Sura, is written by our author — and there seems to be no reasonable objection to this — Sura must have lived before 434A.D., when the latter work is said to have been translated into Chinese. This conclusion is supported by the purity and elegance of the language, which necessarily point to a period of a high standard of literary taste and a flourishing state of letters. Prof. Kern was induced by this reason to place Sura approximately in the century of Kalidasa and Varahamihira, but equally favourable circumstances may be supposed to have existed a couple of centuries earlier. I think, however, he is posterior to the author of the Buddha- £arita. For other questions concerning the £atakamala, which it would be too long to dwell upon here, I refer to Prof. Kerns preface and d'Oldenburg in Journ. Roy. As. Soc. 1893, pp. 306-309. Taranatha, the historian of Tibetan Buddhism, has preserved a legend which shows the high esteem in which the Gata- kamala stands with the followers of the Buddha's Law. ' Pon- dering on the Bodhisattva's gift of his own body to the tigress, he [viz. Sura] thought he could do the same, as it was not so very difficult. Once he, as in the tale, saw a tigress followed by her young, near starvation ; at first he could not resolve on the self-sacrifice, but, calling forth a stronger faith in the Buddha, and writing with his own blood a prayer of seventy Slokas, he first gave the tigers his blood to drink, and, when their bodies had taken a little force, offered himself 1 .' In this legend I recognise the sediment, so to speak, of the stream of emotion caused by the stimulating eloquence of that gifted Mahayanist preacher on the minds of his co-religionists. Any one who could compose discourses such as these must have been capable of himself performing the extraordinary exploits of a Bodhisattva. In fact, something of the religious enthusiasm of those ancient apostles of the Mahayana who 1 I quote the very words, with which Dr. Wenzel translates d'Oldenburg's quotation from the Russian. See Journ. Roy. As. Soc., 1. 1. p. 307. INTRODUCTION. XXIX brought the Saddharma to China and Tibet pervades the work of .Sura, and it is not difficult to understand that in the memory of posterity he should have been represented as a saint who professed the ethics of his religion, non disputaudi causa, as Cicero says of Cato, ut magna pars, scd ita vivendi. It was no easy task to translate a work of so refined a com- position, still less because there is no help to be had from any commentary. The Sanskrit text has none, and the Chinese commentary mentioned by Bunyiu Nanjio is not translated. Repeated and careful study of the original has led me to change a few passages of the translation I formerly published in the Bijdragen voor Taal-Land-en Volkenkunde van Ned. Indie, vols, viii and x of the fifth ' Volgreeks.' Moreover. I have adapted this, which may almost be styled a second edition, to the wants and the arrangements of the ' Sacred Books of the East.' J. S. Speyer. Groningen, April 16, 1S95. A _ A GATAKAMALA OR GARLAND OF BIRTH-STORIES BY ARYA .SURA. Om ! Adoration to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas ! Introductory Stanzas. i \ Grand and glorious, of inexhaustible praise and charm, comprising excellent virtues and thereby aus- picious, are the wonderful exploits which the Muni performed in previous births. Them will I devoutly worship with the handful of flowers of my poem. 2, 3. 'By those praiseworthy deeds the way is taught that is leading to Buddhahood ; they are the landmarks on that way. Further even the hard-hearted may be softened by them. The holy stories may also obtain a greater attractiveness.' So I considered, and for the benefit of men the attempt will be made to find a favourable audience for my own genius, by treating of the extraordinary facts of the Highest One in the world in a manner which is in accordance with the course of facts as recorded by Scripture and Tradition. 4. Him, whose beautiful practice of virtues, while acting for the sake of others, no one could imitate, though bent on self-interest; Him, the blaze of whose glory is involved in his true name of the All-Knowing One ; Him, the Incomparable One together with the Law and the Conorecration I venerate with bowed head. 1 The cipher on the left denotes the number of the stanza. The prose parts of the original are indicated by the absence of the cipher. 13 GATAKAMALA. I. The Story of the Tigress. Even in former births the Lord showed His innate, disinterested, and immense love towards all creatures, and identified himself with all beings. For this reason we ought to have the utmost faith in Buddha, the Lord. This will be instanced by the following great performance of the Lord in a previous birth, which has been celebrated by my guru, a venerator of the Three Jewels, an authority because of his thorough study of virtues, and beloved by his own guru by virtue of his religious practices. In the time that the Bodhisattva, who afterwards became our Lord, benefited the world by manifold outpourings of his compassion : gifts, kind words, succour, and similar blameless deeds of a wisdom-culti- vating mind, quite in accordance with the excessive engagements to which he had bound himself, he took his birth in a most eminent and mighty family of Brahmans, distinguished by the purity of their conduct owing to their attachment to their (religious) duties. Being purified by the ^"ata karma and the other sacra- ments in due order, he grew up and in a short time, owing to the innate quickness of his understanding, the excellent aid in his studies, his eagerness for learning and his zeal, he obtained the mastership in the eighteen branches of science and in all the arts (kalas) which were not incompatible with the custom of his family. 5. To the Brahmans he was (an authority) like the Holy Writ; to the Kshatriyas as venerable as a king; to the masses he appeared like the embodied Thousand- eyed One 1 ; to those who longed for knowledge he was a helpful father. In consequence of his prosperous destiny (the result of merits formerly earned), a large store of wealth, distinction, and fame fell to his share. But the Bodhisattva took no delight in such things. His thoughts had been purified by his constant study of 1 Viz. .Sakra, the Indra or Lord of the Devas. I. THE STORY OF THE TIGRESS. the Law, and he had become familiar with world- renunciation. 6. His former behaviour had wholly cleared his mind, he saw the many kinds of sin which beset (worldly) pleasures. So he shook off the householder's state, as if it were an illness, and retired to some plateau, which he adorned by his presence. 7. There, both by his detachment from the world and by his wisdom-brightened tranquillity, he con- founded, as it were, the people in the world, who by attachment to bad occupations are disinclined for the calmness of the wise. 8. His calmness full of friendliness spread about, it seems, and penetrated into the hearts of the ferocious animals so as to make them cease injuring one another and live like ascetics. 9. By dint of the pureness of his conduct, his self- control, his contentment, and his compassion, he was no less a friend even to the people in the world, who were unknown to him, than all creatures were friends to him. 10. As he wanted little, he did not know the art of hypocrisy, and he had abandoned the desire for gain, glory, and pleasures. So he caused even the deities to be propitious and worshipful towards him. 1 1 . On the other hand, those whose affection he had gained (in his former state) by his virtues, hearing of his ascetic life, left their families and their relations and went up to him as to the embodied Salvation, in order to become his disciples. 12. He taught his disciples, as best he could, good conduct (5ila), chastity, purification of the organs of sense, constant attentiveness, detachment from the world, and the concentration of the mind to the medi- tation on friendliness (maitri) and the rest 1 . Most of his numerous disciples attained perfection in consequence of his teaching, by which this holy road (to salvation) was established and people were put on 1 The four, or five, bh a van as or ' meditative rites' are meant. B 2 GATAKAMALA. the excellent path of world-renunciation. Now, the doors of evils being shut, as it were, but the ways of happiness widely opened like high roads, it once hap- pened that the Great-minded One (mahatman) was rambling along the shrubby caverns of the mountain well adapted to the practices of meditation (yoga), in order to enjoy at his ease this existing order of things. A^ita, his disciple at that time, accompanied him. 13-15. Now, below in a cavern of the mountain, he beheld a young tigress that could scarcely move from the place, her strength being exhausted by the labour of whelping. Her sunken eyes and her emaciated belly betokened her hunger, and she was regarding her own offspring as food, who thirsting for the milk of her udders, had come near her, trusting their mother and fearless ; but she brawled at them, as if they were strange to her, with prolonged harsh roarings. 16, 17. On seeing her, the Bodhisattva, though composed in mind, was shaken with compassion by the suffering of his fellow-creature, as the lord of the mountains (Meru) is by an earthquake. It is a wonder, how the compassionate, be their constancy ever so evident in the greatest sufferings of their own, are touched by the grief, however small, of another ! And his powerful pity made him utter, agitation made him repeat to his pupil, the following words manifesting his excellent nature : ' My dear, my dear,' he exclaimed, 18. 'Behold the worthlessness of Sawsara ! This animal seeks to feed on her very own young ones. Hunger causes her to transgress love's law. 19. 'Alas ! Fie upon the ferocity of self-love, that makes a mother wish to make her meal with the bodies of her own offspring ! 20. ' Who ought to foster the foe, whose name is self-love, by whom one may be compelled to actions like this ? ' Go, then, quickly and look about for some means of appeasing her hunger, that she may not injure her young ones and herself. I too shall endeavour to avert I. THE STORY OF THE TIGRESS. her from that rash act.' The disciple promised to do so, and went off in search of food. Yet the Bodhisattva had but used a pretext to turn him off. He considered thus : 21. 'Why should I search after meat from the body of another, whilst the whole of my own body is avail- able ? Not only is the getting of the meat in itself a matter of chance, but I should also lose the opportunity of doing my duty. ' Further, 22-24. 'This body being brute, frail, pithless, un- grateful, always impure, and a source of suffering, he is not wise who should not rejoice at its being spent for the benefit of another. There are but two things that make one disregard the orief of another : attachment to one's own pleasure and the absence of the power of helping. But I cannot have pleasure, whilst another grieves, and I have the power to help; why should I be indifferent ? And if, while being able to succour, I were to show indifference even to an evildoer im- mersed in grief, my mind, I suppose, would feel the remorse for an evil deed, burning like shrubs caught by a great fire. 25. 'Therefore, I will kill my miserable body by- casting it down into the precipice, and with my corpse I shall preserve the tigress from killing her young ones and the young ones from dying by the teeth of their mother. ' Even more, by so doing 26-29. ' I set an example to those who long for the good of the world ; I encourage the feeble ; I rejoice those who understand the meaning of charity ; 1 stimulate the virtuous ; I cause disappointment to the great hosts of Mara, but gladness to those who love the Buddha-virtues; I confound the people who are ab- sorbed in selfishness and subdued by egotism and lusts ; I o-ive a token of faith to the adherents of the most excellent of vehicles 1 , but I fill with astonishment 1 This best of vehicles (yanavara) is the Buddhayana, the GATAKAMALA. those who sneer at deeds of charity ; I clear the high- way to Heaven in a manner pleasing to the charitable among men ; and finally that wish I yearned for, " When may I have the opportunity of benefiting others with the offering of my own limbs ? " — I shall accomplish it now, and so acquire erelong Complete Wisdom. 30, 31. ' Verily, as surely as this determination does not proceed from ambition, nor from thirst of glory, nor is a means of gaining Heaven or royal dignity, as surely as I do not care even for supreme and ever- lasting bliss for myself, but for securing the benefit of others 1 : as surely may I gain by it the power of taking away and imparting for ever at the same time the world's sorrow and the world's happiness, just as the sun takes away darkness and imparts light ! 32. ' Whether I shall be remembered, when virtue is seen to be practised, or made conspicuous, when the tale of my exploit is told; in every way may I constantly benefit the world and promote its happiness ! ' 33. After so making up his mind, delighted at the thought that he was to destroy even his life for securing the benefit of others, to the amazement even of the calm minds of the deities — he gave up his body. The sound of the Bodhisattva's body falling clown stirred the curiosity and the anger of the tigress. She desisted from her disposition of making a slaughter of her whelps, and cast her eyes all around. As soon as she perceived the lifeless body of the Bodhisattva, she rushed hastily upon it and commenced to devour it. But his disciple, coming back without meat, as he had got none, not seeing his teacher, looked about for vehicle by which Buddhahood may be reached, or mahayana, for both appellations cover nearly the same ground. The other two are the 6"ravakayana and the Pratyekabuddhayana. See Dharmasa;«graha II, with the annotation of Kenjiu Kasawara. 1 Pararthasiddhi here and in st. 33 is a rather ambiguous term, as it may also convey this meaning : ' the attainment of the highest object.' Apparently this ambiguity is intentional. Cp. Story XXX, verse 17. I. THE STORY OF THE TIGRESS. him. Then he beheld that young tigress feeding on the lifeless body of the Bodhisattva. And the admira- tion of the extraordinary greatness of his performance driving back his emotions of sorrow and pain, he probably gave a fair utterance 1 to his veneration for his teacher's attachment to virtues by this monologue : 34-37. ' Oh, how merciful the Great-minded One was to people afflicted by distress ! How indifferent He was to His own welfare ! How He has brought to perfection the virtuous conduct of the pious, and dashed to pieces the splendid glory of their adver- saries! How He has displayed, clinging to virtues, His heroic, fearless, and immense love ! How His body, which was already precious for its virtues, has now forcibly been turned into a vessel of the highest veneration ! And although by His innate kindness He was as patient as Earth, how intolerant He was of the* suffering of others ! And how my own roughness of mind is evidenced by the contrast of this splendid act of heroism of His ! Verily, the creatures are not to be commiserated now, having got Him as their Protector, and Manmatha 2 , forsooth, is now sighing away, being disturbed and in dread of defeat. ' In every way, veneration be to that illustrious Great Being (mahasattva), of exuberant compassion, of boundless goodness, the refuge of all creatures, yea, that Bodhisattva for the sake of the creatures.' And he told the matter over to his fellow-disciples. 38. Then his disciples and also the Gandharvas, the Yakshas, the snakes, and the chiefs of the Devas, expressing by their countenance their admiration for his deed, covered the ground that held the treasure of his bones, with a profusion of wreaths, clothes, jewel ornaments, and sandal powder. 1 The text has jobhela, not ai-obhata, as might have been expected. - Manmatha, Kama, Kandarpa and the other names of the pod of sensual love and pleasure are common equivalents of Mara. Cp. BuddhaX-arita XIII, 2. 8 GATAKAMALA. So, then, even in former births the Lord showed His innate, disinterested, and immense love towards all creatures, and identified Himself with all creatures. For this reason we ought to have the utmost faith in Buddha, the Lord. [And also this is to be propounded: ' And having obtained this faith in Buddha the Lord, we ought to strive for feeling the highest gladness ; in this manner our faith will have its sanctuary.' — Likewise we must listen with attention to the preaching of the Law, since it has been brought to us by means of hundreds of difficult hardships 1 . — And in sermons on the subject of compassion, thus is to be said : ' in this manner compassion, moving us to act for the benefit of others, is productive of an exceedingly excellent nature V] The story of the tigress, which does not appear either in the Pali Gataka or in the Xariyapi/aka, is alluded to in the Bodhisattvava- danakalpalata of Kshemendra II, 108. There the Bodhisattva, on the occasion of a similar fact of self-denial and heroism in a later birth, says : ' Formerly, on seeing a hungry tigress preparing to eat her whelps, I gave her my body, in order to avert this, without hesitation.' And in the fifty-first pallava the story is narrated at length, verses 28-50. It differs in some points from ours. So does also the redaction of the Southern Buddhists, told by Spence Hardy, Manual, p. 94 of the 2nd ed. II. The Story of the King of the 6ibis. (Comp. the Pali Gataka, No. 499, Fausb. IV, 401-412 ; .ffariyapi/aka I, 8.) The preaching of the excellent Law must be listened to with attention. For it is by means of hundreds of difficult hardships that the Lord obtained this excellent Law for our sake. This is shown by the following. In the time, when this our Lord was still a Bodhi- sattva, in consequence of his possessing a store of 1 Dushkara^atasamudanitatvat, cp. Divyavadana, ed. Cowell, p. 490. 2 Viz. as far as gathering merit, the consequence of good actions, improves our nature. II. THE STORY OF THE KING OF THE SIBIS. O. meritorious actions collected by a practice from time immemorial, he once was a king of the .Sibis. By his deference to the elders whom he was wont to honour from his very childhood, and by his attachment to a modest behaviour, he gained the affection of his subjects ; owing to his natural quickness of intellect, he enlarged his mind by learning many sciences ; he was distinguished by energy, discretion, majesty and power, and favoured by fortune. He ruled his subjects as if they were his own children. 1. The different sets of virtues, that accompany each member of the triad (of d harm a, art ha, and kama) all together gladly took their residence, it seems, with him ; and yet they did not lose any of their splendour in spite of the disturbance which might occur from their contrasts. 2. And felicity, that is like a mockery to those who have attained a high rank by wrong means, like a grievous calamity to the fool, like an intoxicating liquor to the feeble-minded — to him it was, as is indicated by its name, real happiness. 3. Noble-hearted, full of compassion, and wealthy, this best of kings rejoiced at seeing the faces of the mendicants beaming with satisfaction and joy at the attainment of the wished-for objects. Now this king, in accordance with his propensity for charity, had caused alms-halls, provided with every kind of utensils, goods, and grains, to be constructed in all parts of the town. In this way he poured out the rain of his gifts, not unlike a cloud of the Krz'ta Yuga. And he distributed them in such a manner, as well became the loftiness of his mind, supplying the wants of each according to his desire, with lovely deference and kind speed, whereby he enhanced the benefit of his gifts. He bestowed food and drink on those who were in need of food and drink ; likewise he dispensed couches, seats, dwellings, meals, perfumes, wreaths, silver, gold, &c, to those who wanted them. Then, the fame of the king's sublime munificence spreading abroad, people who lived in different regions and parts IO GATAKAMALA. of the world went to that country, with surprise and joy in their hearts. 4. The mendicants, when letting the whole world of men pass before their mind's eye, did not find in others an opportunity of putting forth their requests ; to him it was that they went up in crowds with glad faces, just as wild elephants go up to a great lake. The king, on the other hand, when beholding them, whose minds were rejoiced with the hope of gain, flocking together f r0 m all directions, though the out- • 1 • it ward appearance of that mendicant people in travelling dress was anything but handsome, — 5. Nevertheless he received them, as if they were friends come back from abroad, his eyes wide-opened with joy; he listened to their requests, as if good news were reported to him, and after giving, his contentment surpassed that of the recipients. 6. The voices of the beggars spread about the perfume of the fame of his munificence, and so abated the pride of the other kings. In a similar way, the scent of the juice that runs out of the temples of the scent-elephant in rut, being scattered by the wind, causes the bees to neglect the like fluid of the other elephants 1 . One day the king, making the tour of his alms-halls, noticed the very small number of supplicants staying there, in consequence of the wants of the mendicant people being supplied. When he considered this, he was uneasy, because his habit of almsgiving could not well proceed. 7. The indigent, when coming to him, quenched their thirst (for the desired boons), not he his (thirst for giving), when meeting with them. His passion for charity was so great, that no requester by the extent of his request could outdo his determination of giving. Then this thought arose within him : ' Oh, very blessed are those most excellent among the pious, to 1 In the original this simile is expressed by the rhetorical figure, called jlesha. II. THE STORY OF THE KING OF THE SIBIS. 1 I whom the mendicants utter their desires with confidence and without restraint, so as to ask even their limbs ! But to me, as if they were terrified by harsh words of refusal, they show only boldness in requesting my wealth.' 8. Now Earth, becoming aware of that exceedingly lofty thought, how her lord holding on to charity, had stopped the very attachment to his own flesh, trembled as a wife would, who loves her husband. The surface of the earth being shaken, Sumeru, the lord of mountains, radiant with the shine of its manifold gems, began to waver. vSakra, the Lord of the Devas (Devendra), inquiring into the cause of this wavering, understood that it was the sublime thought of that king which produced the shivering of Earth's surface ; and as he was taken up with amazement, he entered into this reflection : 9. ' How is this ? Does this king bear his mind so high and feel so great a rejoicing at giving away in charity as to conceive the thought of girding his reso- lution to give with the strong determination of parting with his own limbs ? •Well, I will try him.' Now the king, surrounded by his officials, was sitting (on his throne, in his hall) in the midst of the assembly. The usual summons by proclamation had been given, inviting anybody who was in need of anything ; stores of wealth, silver, gold, jewels, were being disclosed by the care of the treasurer; boxes filled to the top with various kinds of clothes, were being uncovered; various excel- lent carriages, the yokes of which enclosed the necks of different well-trained beasts of draught, were being made to advance ; and the mendicants were crowding in. Among them Sakra, the Lord of the Devas, having assumed the shape of an old and blind Brahman, drew the attention of the king. On him the king fixed his firm, placid, and mild looks expressive of compassion and friendliness, and he seemed with them to go to his encounter and to embrace him. The royal attendants requested him to say what he was wanting, but he I 2 G ATAKAMALA. drew near the king, and after uttering his hail and blessing, addressed him with these words : 10. ' A blind, old man I have come hither from afar begging thy eye, O highest of kings. For the purpose of ruling the world's regular course one eye may be sufficient, O lotus-eyed monarch.' Though the Bodhisattva experienced an extreme delight at his heart's desire beinor realised, a doubt arose within him as to whether the Brahman had really said so or, this thought being always present to his mind, himself had fancied so, and since he longed to hear the very sweet words of the eye being asked, he thus spoke to the eye-asker : ii. 'Who has instructed thee, illustrious Brahman, to come here and to ask from me one eye ? No one, it is said, will easily part with his eye. Who is he that thinks the contrary of me ? ' .Sakra, the Lord of the Devas in the disguise of a Brahman, knowing the intention of the king, answered: 12. 'It is .Sakra. His statue, instructing me to ask thee for thy eye, has caused me to come here. Now make real his opinion and my hope by giving me thy eye.' Hearing the name of .Sakra, the king thought: ' Surely, through divine power this Brahman shall regain his eyesight in this way,' and he spoke in a voice, the clear sound of which manifested his joy : 13. 'Brahman, I will fulfil thy wish, which has prompted thee to come here. Thou desirest one eye from me, I shall give thee both. 14. 'After I have adorned thy face with a pair of bright lotus-like eyes, go thy way, putting the by- standers first into doubt's swing as to thy identity, but soon amazing them by the certainty of it.' The king's counsellors, understanding that he had decided to part with his eyes, were perplexed and agitated, and sadness afflicted their minds. They said to the king : 15. 16. ' Majesty, Your too great fondness for charity makes you overlook that this is mismanagement lead- II. THE STORY OF THE KING OF THE SIBIS. 1 3 ing to evil. Be propitious, then, desist from your purpose ; do not give up your eyesight ! For the sake of one twice-born man you must not disregard all of us. Do not burn with the fire of sorrow your subjects, to whom you have hitherto ensured comfort and prosperity. 17, 18. 'Money, the source of opulence; brilliant o-ems ; milch cows ; carriages and trained beasts of draught ; vigorous elephants of graceful beauty ; dwellings fit for all seasons, resounding with the noise of the anklets 1 , and by their brightness surpassing the autumn-clouds : such are boons fit to be bestowed. Give those, and not your eyesight, O you who are the only eye of the world. ' Moreover, great king, you must but consider this : 19. 'How can the eye of one person be put in the face of another ? If, however, divine power may effect this, why should your eye be wanted for it ? ' Further, Your Majesty, 20. ' Of what use is eyesight to a poor man ? That he might witness the abundance of others ? Well then, give him money ; do not commit an act of rashness ! ' Then the kin^ addressed his ministers in soft and conciliating terms : 21. ' He who after promising to give, makes up his mind to withhold his gift, such a one puts on again the bond of cupidity which he had cast off before. 22. 'He who after promising to give, does not keep his promise, being driven from his resolution by avarice, should he not be held for the worst of men ? 23. ' He who, having strengthened the hope of the mendicants by engaging himself to give, pays them with the harsh disappointment of a refusal, for him there is no expiation. ' And with respect to your asserting " is divine 1 Not only the houses, therefore, are meant, but also the (female) attendance ; in other words, the epithet is indicative of the richness and magnificence of the habitations. 14 GATAKAMALA. power of itself not sufficient to restore the eyesight to that man ?" you should be taught thi^. 24. ' That different means are wanted to carry out purposes, is well known, indeed. For this reason even Destiny (Vidhi), though a deity, needs some means or other. ' Therefore, you must not exert yourselves to ob- struct my determination to accomplish an extraordinary deed of charity.' The ministers answered : ' We have only ventured to observe to Your Majesty that you ought to give away goods and grains and jewels, not your eye ; when saying this, we do not entice Your Majesty to wickedness.' The king said : 25. ' The very thing asked for must be given. A gift not wished for does not afford pleasure. Of what use is water to one carried off by the stream ? For this reason, I shall give to this man the object he requests.' After this, the first minister who more than the others had got into the intimate confidence of the king, overlooking, owing to his solicitude, the respect due to the king, spoke thus : ' Pray, do it not. 26. ' You are holding an empire, which is vying with the riches of .Sakra, to the attainment of which no one can aspire without a large amount of penance and meditation, and the possession of which may pave with numerous sacrifices the way to glory and Heaven; and you care not for it ! and you are willing to give away both your eyes ! With what aim do you wish so ? Where on earth has there been seen such a way of proceeding ? 27. ' By your sacrifices you have gained a place among the celestial gods, your fame is shining far and wide, your feet reflect the splendour ot the head- ornaments of the kings (your vassals) — what then is it that you long for to give up your eyesight ? ' But the king answered that minister in a gentle tone : 28. ' It is not the realm of the whole earth for which II. THE STORY OF THE KING OF THE SIBIS. 1 5 I am striving' in this manner, nor is it Heaven, nor final extinction, nor glory, but with the intention of becoming a Saviour of the World I now provide that this man's labour of asking be not fruitless.' Then the king ordered one eye of his, the lovely brightness of which appeared like a petal of a blue lotus, to be extirpated after the precepts of the physicians gradually and intact, and with the greatest gladness he had it handed over to the beggar, who asked it. Now .Sakra, the Lord of the Devas, by the power of magic produced an illusion of such a kind that the king and his bystanders saw that eye filling up the eye-hole of the old Brahman. When the king beheld the eye-asker in the possession of one unclosed eye, his heart expanded with the utmost delight, and he presented him with the other eye too. 29. The eyes being given away, the king's visage looked like a lotus-pond without lotuses, yet it bore the expression of satisfaction, not shared however by the citizens. On the other hand, the Brahman was seen with sound eyes 30. In the inner apartments of the palace as well as in the town, everywhere tears of sorrow moistened the ground. But 6akra was transported with admira- tion and satisfaction, seeing the king's unshaken in- tention of attaining Supreme Wisdom (Sambodhi). And in this state of mind he entered into this reflection : 31. 'What a constancy! What a goodness and a lonoincr for the £ood of the creatures ! Though I witnessed the fact, I can scarcely believe it. ' It is riot right, then, that this person of marvellous goodness should endure this great hardship for a long time. I will try to render him his eyesight by showing him the way for it.' Afterwards, when time had healed the wounds caused by the operation, and lessened and almost lulled the sorrow of the inhabitants of the palace, the town, and the country, it happened one day that the king, 1 6 GATAKAMALA. desirous of solitary retirement, was sitting- with crossed legs in his garden on the border of a pond of lotuses. That spot was beset by fair and fine trees bent down by the weight of their flowers ; swarms of bees were humming ; a gentle, fresh, and odoriferous wind was blowing agreeably. Suddenly 6akra, the Lord of the Devas, presented himself before the king. Being asked who he was, he answered : 32 a. 'I am .Sakra, the Lord of the Devas, I have come to you.' Thereupon the king welcomed him and said that he waited for his orders. After being thus complimented, he again addressed the king : 32 b. ' Choose some boon, holy prince (ra^arshi) ; say on what thou desirest.' Now the king being ever wont to give, and having never trodden the way of miserable begging, in con- formity with his astonishment and his lofty mind spoke to him : t ) t ) , 34. ' Great is my wealth, .Sakra, my army is large and strong ; my blindness, however, makes death welcome to me. It is impossible for me, after sup- plying the wants of the mendicants, to see their faces brightened by gladness and joy ; for this reason, O Indra, I love death now.' 6akra said : ' No more of that resolution ! Only virtuous persons come in such a state as thine. But this thou must tell me : 35. ' It is the mendicants who have caused thee to come in this state ; how is it that thy mind is occupied with them even now ? Say on ! do not hide the truth from me and thou mayst take the way to immediate cure V The king replied : ' Why dost thou insist upon my boasting myself? Hear, however, Lord of the Devas. 1 This way is the Act of Truth, as Hardy, Manual of Buddhism 2 , 197, calls it. In the Pali Gataka, Sakka invites the king to it in plain terms. Other instances of the sa/Makiriva, as it is styled in Pali, will occur in Stories XIV, XV, XVI. II. THE STORY OF THE KING OF THE 6IBIS. IJ 36. 'As surely as the supplicatory language of begging people both now and before is as pleasing to my ears as the sound of benedictions, so surely may one eye appear to me !' No sooner had the king pronounced these words than by the power of his firm veracity and his excellent store of meritorious actions one eye appeared to him, resembling a piece of a lotus-petal, encompassing a pupil like sapphire. Rejoiced at this miraculous appearance of his eye, the king again spoke to 6akra : 37. ' And as surely as, after giving away both eyes to him who asked but one, my mind knew no other feeling but the utmost delight, so surely may I obtain also the other eye !' The king had hardly finished, when there appeared to him another eye, the rival, as it were, of the first one. 38-40. Upon this the earth was shaken with its mountains ; the ocean flowed over its borders ; the drums of the celestials spontaneously uttered deep- toned and pleasing sounds ; the sky in all directions looked placid and lovely ; the sun shone with pure brightness as it does in autumn l ; a great number of various flowers, tinged by the sandal powder which was whirling around, fell down from heaven ; the celestials, including Apsarasas and Ga7*as, came to the spot, their eyes wide opened with amazement; there blew an agreeable wind of extreme loveliness ; glad- ness expanded in the minds of the creatures. 41-43. From all parts were heard voices of praise, uttered by crowds of beings endowed with great magic power. Filled with joy and admiration, they glorified the great exploit of the king in such exclamations : ' Oh, what loftiness ! what compas- sion ! see the purity of his heart, how great it is ! oh, how little he cares for his own pleasures! Hail to thee, renowned one, for thy constancy and valour ! 1 It was spring when the miracle happened, as is to be inferred from the flowers being mentioned above. C 1 8 GATAKAMALA. The world of creatures has recovered their protector in thee, of a truth, as the lustre of thy eye-lotuses has again expanded ! Surely, the stores of merit are solid treasures ! After a lonQ" time Righteousness has, indeed, obtained an immense victory ! ' Then .Sakra applauded him, ' Very well, very well ! ' and spoke again : 44, 45. ' Thy true feeling was not hidden from me, pure-hearted king ; so I have but rendered thee these eyes of thine. And by means of them thou wilt have the unencumbered power of seeing in all directions over one hundred of yo^anas, even beyond mountains.' Having said these words, .Sakra disappeared on the spot. Then the Bodhisattva, followed by his officials ', whose wide-opened and scarcely winking eyes indi- cated the astonishment that filled their minds, went up in procession to his capital. That town exhibited a festival attire, being adorned with hoisted flags and manifold banners, the citizens looking on and the Brahmans praising the monarch with hails and bene- dictions. When he had seated himself in his audience- hall, in the midst of a great crowd, made up of the ministers in the first place, of Brahmans and elders, townsmen and countrymen, all of whom had come to express their respectful congratulations ; he preached the Law r to them, taking for his text the account of his own experience. 46-48. ' Who in the world, then, should be slow in satisfying the wants of the mendicants with his wealth, who has beheld how I have obtained these eyes of mine, endowed with divine power, in consequence of charity-gathered merit ? In the circumference of one hundred of yo^anas I see everything, though hidden by many mountains, as distinctly as if it were 1 The sudden appearance of these officials and ministers is some- what strange here. The Pali C7ataka may account for it. ' At the same time, it is said there (IV, p. 411) that [the eyes] reappeared, the whole attendance of the king (sabba ra^-aparisa) was present by the power of Sakka.' II. THE STORY OF THE KING OF THE SIBIS. 1 9 near. What means of attaining bliss is superior to charity, distinguished by commiseration with others and modesty? since I, by giving away my human eyesight, have got already in this world a superhuman and divine vision. 49. ' Understanding this, ^ibis, make your riches fruitful by gifts and by spending 1 . This is the path leading to glory and future happiness both in this world and in the next. 50. 'Wealth is a contemptible thing, because it is pithless ; yet it has one virtue, that it can bs given away by him who aims at the welfare of the creatures ; for if given away, it becomes a treasure (nidhana), otherwise its ultimate object is only death (nidhana).' So, then, it is by means of hundreds of difficult hardships that the Lord obtained this excellent Law for our sake ; for this reason its preaching is to be heard with attention. [This story is also to be told on account of the high-mindedness of the Tathagata, just as the foregoing 2 . Likewise when discoursing of compassion, and when demonstrating the result of meri- torious actions appearing already in this world : ' in this manner the merit, gathered by good actions, shows already here (in this world) something like the blossom of its power, the charming flowers of increasing glory.'] In the list of the contents of the Avadanakalpalata which Somendra added to that poem of his father Kshemendra, I do not find our avadana, unless it should happen to be included in No. 91, which deals with a king of the *Sibis. But the edition which is being published in the Bibl. Indica is not yet so far advanced. For the rest, like the story of the tigress, it is alluded to in the second pallava, verse 108: ' And in my .S'ibi-birth I gave away both my eyes to a blind man, and with (the gift of) my body preserved a pigeon from the danger caused by a falcon.' 1 The purport of this royal precept may be illustrated by the cor- responding parts of the narrative in the Pali Gataka. The precept is there given twice, in prose and in verse, see Fausboll's Gataka IV, p. 411, 22, and p. 412, 7. 2 Viz. the story of the tigress. C 2 20 GATAKAMALA. III. The Story of the Small Portion of Gruel. (Comp. the Pali G&taka, No. 415, Fausb. III. 406-414 ; Divyavadana VII, p. 88, Cowell's ed. ; Kathasarits. XXVII, 79-105.) Any gift that proceeds from faith of the heart and is bestowed on a worthy recipient produces a great result ; there does not exist at all anything like a trifling gift of that nature, as will be taught by the following. In the time, when our Lord was still a Bodhisattva, he was a king of Ko.9ala. Though he displayed his royal virtues, such as energy, discretion, majesty, power, and the rest in an exceedingly high degree, the brilliancy of one virtue, his great felicity, surpassed the others. 1. His virtues, being embellished by his felicity, shone the more; as the moonbeams do, when autumn makes their splendour expand. 2. Fortune, who dwelt with him, distributed her wrath and favour to the other kings in such a manner, that she abandoned his enemies, however proud, but like an amorous woman cherished his vassals. 3. His righteousness, however, prevented his mind from doing ill ; so he did not oppress at all his adver- saries. But his dependents displayed their affection for him in such a degree, that Fortune would not stay with his foes. Now one day this king recollected his last previous existence. In consequence of remembering this he felt greatly moved. He bestowed still greater gifts in charity — the motive and essential cause of happiness — on .Srama^as and Brahmans, the wretched and the beggars ; he fostered unceasingly his obser- vance of good conduct (.rila) ; and he kept strictly the poshadha'-restrictions on sabbath-days. Moreover, as he was desirous of bringing his people into the way of salvation by magnifying the power of meritorious actions, he was in the habit of uttering with a believing 1 Poshadha in Buddhistic Sanskrit = Pali uposatha, which is of course the same word as Sanskrit upavasatha. A fuller form uposhadha occurs in the Avadanakalpalata, VI, 76. III. THE STORY OF THE SMALL PORTION OF GRUEL. 2 1 heart in his audience-hall as well as in the inner apart- ments of his palace these two stanzas, full of import : 4. ' Attending on Buddhas 1 by paying them honour, howsoever little, cannot produce a trifling fruit. This has been taught before only by words, now it may be seen. Look at the rich affluence of the fruit, produced by a small portion of saltless, dry, coarse, reddish- brown gruel. 5. l This mighty army of mine with its beautiful chariots and horses and its dark-blue masses of fierce elephants ; the sovereignty of the whole earth ; great wealth ; Fortune's favour ; my noble wife : behold the beauty of this store of fruit, produced by a small portion of coarse gruel.' Neither his ministers nor the worthiest among the Brahmans nor the foremost among the townsmen, though tormented with curiosity, ventured to question the king as to what he meant by these two stanzas which he was in the habit of reciting every moment. Now by the king's incessant repeating of them the queen also grew curious ; and as she felt less embarrassment in putting forth her request, one day, the opportunity of entering into conversation upon this subject pre- 1 The text has na Sugatapari/i'arya vidyate svalpikapi, the parallel passage in the Pali Gataka may serve as its commentary : Na kir' atthi anomadassisu Pari/iariya Buddhesu appika. In stanza 18 of this Gataka the purport of these words of the king is thus expressed: kshiwasraveshu na kritam tanu nama kim£it; therefore, kshiwasrava = Pali khi/zasavo, ' who has ex- tinguished his passions,' is here synonymous with buddha. Speaking properly, then, all wandering monks, who are earnestly performing their duties as such, may be styled ' buddhas,' cp. for instance, Suttanipata, Sammaparibba^aniyasutta, verse 12; in other terms, buddha may sometimes be an equivalent of muni. So it is used in chapter xiv of the Dhammapada; see the note of Prof. Max Miiller on verses 179 and 180 in Sacred Books, vol. x, p. 50, and the verses pointed out by Weber, Ind. Streifen, I, p. 147. It is also plain that the Pratyekabuddhas are considered to belong to the general class of the Buddhas. Though they are different from the Supreme Buddhas (Samyaksambuddha), they are nevertheless also sugatas or buddhas. Cp. Spence Hardy, Manual, pp. 37-39 ; Kern, Het Buddhisme, I, pp. 294-296. 2 2 GATAKAMALA. senting itself, she put this question in full audience to him : 6, 7. ' Verily, at all times, my lord, you are reciting, as if you were giving vent to the gladness which is within your heart. But my heart is troubled by curiosity at your speaking so. If my person is allowed to hear it, say on, then, what you mean by this utterance, sir. A secret is nowhere proclaimed in this manner ; there- fore, it must be a matter of public knowledge, and I may ask you about it.' Then the king cast a mild look of gladness on his queen, and with a smile-blooming face he spoke : 8, 9. ' When hearing this utterance of mine without perceiving its cause, it is not only you, that are excited by curiosity, but also the whole of my officials, my town, and my zenana are troubled and disturbed by the desire of knowing the meaning of it. Listen, then, to what I am going to say. 10. ' lust as one who awakes from sleep, I remember my existence, when I lived a servant in this very town. Although I was keeping good conduct, I earned a sorry livelihood by performing hired labour for people elevated only because of their wealth. 11. 'So one day I was about to begin my service for hire, that abode of toil, contempt, and sorrow, striving to support (my family) and fearing, lest I should lack the means of sustenance myself; when I saw four 6Yama«as with subdued senses, accompanied as it were by the bliss of monkhood, going about for alms. 12. 'After bowing to them with a mind softened by faith, I reverentially entertained them in my house with a small dish of gruel. Out of that sprout has sprung this tree of greatness, that the glitterings of the crest-jewels of other kings are now reflected in the dust on my feet. 13. 'Thinking of this, I recite these stanzas, my queen, and for this reason I find satisfaction in doing meritorious actions and receiving Arhats.' Then the queen's face expanded with gladness and III. THE STORY OF THE SMALL PORTION OF GRUEL. 2 3 surprise. She raised her eyes respectfully to the king, saying: 'Highly probable, indeed, is it that such very great prosperity is the fruit produced by meri- torious actions, since you, great king, being yourself a witness of the result of meritorious actions, are so anxious for (gathering) merit. For this very reason you are disinclined to evil actions, disposed to protect your subjects duly like a father, and intent on earning plenty of merit. 14. 'Shining with illustrious glory enhanced by charity, vanquisher of your rival kings waiting with bent heads for your orders, may you for a long time with a righteous management rule the earth up to its wind-wrinkled ocean-border ! ' The king said : ' Why should this not be ? my queen ! 15. 'In fact, I will endeavour to keep once more the path leading to salvation, of which I have noted the lovely marks. People will love giving, having heard the fruit of charity ; how should not I be liberal, having experienced it in myself?' Now the king, tenderly looking on his queen, beheld her shining with almost divine splendour, and desiring to know the reason of that brightness, said again : 16. 'Like the crescent amidst the stars you shine in the midst of the women. Say, what deed have you clone, my dear, having this very sweet result ? ' The queen replied : ' O yes, my lord, I too have some remembrance of my life in my former birth.' Now, as the king gently entreated her to tell it, she spoke : 17. 18. 'Like something experienced in my child- hood I recollect that being a slave, after giving with devotion to a Muni with extinguished passions the remnants of one dish, I fell asleep there, as it were, and arose from sleep here. By this wholesome action, my prince, I remember, I have obtained you for my lord, sharing you with the earth. What you said : "surely, no benefit given to holy persons who have extinguished their passions, can be a small one ' — - these very words were then spoken by that Muni.' 24 GATAKAMALA. Then the king, perceiving that the assembly was overcome by feelings of piety and amazement, and that the manifestation of the result of merit had roused in their minds a hieh esteem for meritorious actions, earnestly pressed on the audience something like this : 19. ' How is it possible, then, that anybody should not devote himself to performing meritorious actions by practising charity and good conduct, after seeing this large and splendid result of a good action however small ? No, that man is not even worth looking at, who inwrapt in the darkness of avarice, should decline to make himself renowned for his gifts, though being wealthy enough to do so. 20. ' If by abandoning in the right manner wealth, once necessarily to be left and so of no use at all, any good quality may be acquired : who, then, knowing the charm of virtues, would follow in this matter the path of selfishness? And different virtues, in truth, gladness, &c, being followed by good renown, are founded on charity. 21. 'Almseivinsf is a oreat treasure, indeed, a trea- sure which is always with us and is inaccessible to thieves and the rest 1 . Almsgiving cleanses the mind from the dirt of the sins of selfishness and cupidity ; it is an easy vehicle by which to relieve the fatigue of the travel through Sawsara; it is our best and constant friend, that seeks to procure manifold pleasure and comfort for us. 22. 'All is obtained by almsgiving, whatever may be wished for, whether it be abundance of riches or brilliant domination, or a residence in the city of the Devas, or beauty of the body. Who, considering this matter so, should not practise almsgiving ? 23. 'Almsgiving, it is said, constitutes the worth of riches; it is also called the essential cause .of domina- tions, the grand performance of piety. Even rags for 1 That is : to fire, water, seizure from the part of the king. Cp. Story V, stanza 8. IV. THE STORY OF THE HEAD OF A GUILD. 25 dress, given away by the simple-minded, are a well- bestowed gift.' The audience respectfully approved this persuasive discourse of the king, and felt inclined to the exercise of charity and the like. So any gift that proceeds from faith of the heart, and is bestowed on a worthy recipient, produces a great result ; there does not exist at all anything like a trifling gift of that nature. [For this reason, by giving with a faithful heart to the Congregation of the Holy 1 — that most excellent ground fit for (sowing) meritorious actions — one may obtain the utmost glad- ness, considering thus : ' such blessings, and even greater than these, may erelong occur to me too. J IV. The Story of the Head of a Guild. (Comp. the Pali Gataka, No. 40, Fausb. I, 231-234.) The pious wish to exercise almsgiving even in spite of imminent peril ; who, then, should not be charitable when safe ? This will be taught as follows. In the time, when our Lord was still a Bodhisattva, he was a head of a guild. In consequence of the excessive favour of his destiny, and owing to his own great activity, he had acquired a large estate. His fairness and integrity in commercial transactions pro- cured him the highest esteem among the people; he was born of an illustrious family ; he had acquainted himself with various branches of learning and art, and by them purified his mind. These qualities and his noble virtues caused him to be honoured by the king. As he was always keeping the precept of almsgiving, he shared his opulence with the people. 1. The mendicants loving him, praised his name far and wide, so as to fill all parts of the horizon with the high reputation of his prowess as an almsgiver. 1 Arvasawirhe. 26 GATAKAMALA. 2. With him, no one indigent was floating on the swing of doubt as to whether he would give or not. Trusting in this benefactor of renowned exploits, the mendicants were bold enough to put forth their wants freely. 3. And he, for his part, did not keep his wealth from them, neither for his own pleasures, nor striving to emulate others, nor overcome by avarice. It was impossible for him to see the suffering of the mendi- cants, and for this reason he avoided saying ' no ' to them. One day, at meal-time, when the Great Being had just bathed and anointed himself, and a complete dinner made up of various dishes of hard and soft food and the rest, dressed by skilled and excellent cooks, and so prepared as to please by their colour, smell, taste, touch, &c, was served up, a mendicant came near his house. It was a Pratyekabuddha, who by the fire of his knowledge had burned away all the fuel of innate evil passions, and now desired to increase the merit of the Bodhisattva. He placed himself in the gateway. 4. There he stood without apprehension, without agitation, looking firmly and quietly 1 to no greater distance before him than the length of a yoke 2 , in a quiet attitude, holding his lotus-white fingers clasped on his almsbowl. Now Mara, the Wicked One, could not bear the Bodhisattva to enjoy that bliss of almsgiving. In order to put an obstacle in his way, he created by magic between the Reverend and the threshold of the entrance-door a very deep hell measuring several fathoms in width. It offered a dreadful sight, accom- panied with terrible sounds ; tremulous flames were burning awfully within ; it contained many hundreds of men in great agony. 1 Read pranma instead of pra»ama°, an error of print of course. 2 Cp. Lalitavistara (Bibl. Ind.), p- 230 infra, BuddhaX-arita X, 13. IV. THE STORY OF THE HEAD OF A GUILD. 2"] In the meanwhile the Bodhisattva, seeing the Pra- tyekabuddha come in search of alms, said to his wife : ' My dear, go yourself and give an abundant portion of food to the holy man.' She said she would do so, and went off with excellent hard and soft food ; but beholding the hell near the gateway, she suddenly turned on her heels, terror-stricken and with bewildered looks. When her husband asked her what was the matter, she could hardly tell ; the sudden fright had almost barred her throat. As the Bodhisattva, how- ever, was uneasy at the thought that this holy man mierht turn back from his house without receiving his beeped meal, he did not heed what she told him, but takine the excellent hard and soft food, came himself, desiring to fill with it the almsbowl of the Great- Minded One. When he arrived near the gateway, he saw that most dreadful hell between. And whilst he considered what could be the meaning of this, Mara, the Wicked One, went out of the house-wall, and showing his divine and marvellous shape, stood in the air, and, as if he wished to do good to the Bodhisattva, spoke: 'Householder, this is the great hell, named Maharaurava. 5. ' Here is the abode — an abode, out of which it is difficult to escape — of those who, greedy of the prais- ing voices of the beggars, desire to give away wealth, indulging in the vicious passion for charity. In this hell they must stay for many thousands of autumns. 6. ' Material prosperity (artha) is the principal cause of the world's regular striving after the triad of objects. Whoso injures artha, injures righteousness (dharma) too 1 . How is it possible, then, that the injurer of righteousness by destroying material prosperity, should not stay in hell ? 1 The idea which underlies this assertion is often met with in Biahmanical literature. If practising dharma is the same thing as performing the sacrifices to the deities, material prosperity may be justly styled the foundation-ground or substratum of dharma ; for the right performance of sacrifices requires the possession of goods. 28 GATAKAMALA. 7. ' Thou hast sinned, being attached to charity and destroying thy wealth, which is the root of dharma. For this reason this flame-tongued hell, that looks like the face of Narakantaka 1 J has come to thy encounter in order to devour thee. 8. ' Well then, desist from giving, lest thou imme- diately fall down and share the fate of those alms- givers, who shrink away from pain and are weeping piteously. 9. ' The recipients, on the other hand, who have ceased, from the bad custom of giving, obtain the rank of Devas. Therefore, desist from thy effort for charity, which obstructs the way to Heaven, and rather apply thyself to restraint V The Bodhisattva, however, knew him : ' Surely, this is an attempt of the Evil One to thwart my alms- giving.' And understanding so, he made, in truth, a vigorous reply, yet in accordance with his firm attachment to virtue, without breaking modesty and kindness of words. He spoke thus to him : 10-12. ' It is with respect to my welfare, that thou hast had the kindness to show me the path of the pious. Indeed, it is most proper for divine beings to show by their actions their skill in feeling compassion for others. Nevertheless, it would have been wise to use that way of stopping the illness before its appear- ance, or immediately after its first symptoms. For if a sickness have already made progress 3 by the fault of bad treatment, the desire for cure will but tend to calamity. So this passion of mine for charity has already spread, I fear, beyond the compass of medical 1 See Vishwupurawa IV, chapter xxix (Wilson, p. 581). 2 The Evil One uses ambiguous expressions purposely. The worthy recipients of the gifts are indeed on the way that leads to salvation ; and the ' restraint ' sawyama he recommends, may imply the meaning of the self-restraint of the monks. The Bodhisattva in his well-turned answer takes care to keep the same ambiguous word (see stanza 15, sawyamayishyatapi). 3 The reading prayamam, proposed by Prof. Kern in the various readings of his edition, is undoubtedly right. Cp. pp. 78, 2; 96, 23; 111,16; 171,15; 182,3; 238, 1 1 of his edition. TV. THE STORY OF THE HEAD OF A GUILD. 2Q. cure, inasmuch as my mind will never shrink from almsgiving, notwithstanding thy well-wishing counsel. IT,, 14. 'As for what thou saidst about unrighteous- ness arising from charity and wealth being the principal cause of righteousness, my weak human understanding cannot grasp how wealth without charity can be called the path of virtue. Why, tell me, please, at what time is it that wealth produces virtue ? whether when laid up as a treasure, or when robbed violently by thieves, or when sunk away to the bottom of the sea, or when having become fuel for fire ? 15, 16. 'Further, thou saidst, "the giver goes to hell and the receiver to the celestial abodes." Speak- ing so, however, thou hast increased my longing for works of charity, though endeavouring to restrain me. Yea, may that word of thine be fulfilled, and those who beg from me rise to heaven ! For it is not as a means of procuring my own happiness that I give in charity, but 1 love charity that I may do good to the world.' Then Mara, the Wicked One, once more addressed the Bodhisattva, speaking earnestly as though he were a wcll-meaninor friend. i 7. ' Decide thyself, whether I have spoken for thy good or idle talk, and afterwards go as thou desirest. Thou shalt remember me with high regard — either happy or remorseful.' The Bodhisattva said : ' Sir, thou must excuse me. 18. 'I will fall of my own accord into this fiercely blazing hell headlong, a prey to the flames, that will lick at me, rather than at the due time of honouring the mendicants, who show me their affection by request- ing from me, incur the guilt of neglecting them.' After so speaking, the Bodhisattva — relying on the power of his destiny and knowing that almsgiving cannot at any rate entail evil — stepped forth across the hell without heeding his family and his attendants, who were eager to withhold him ; his mind was not overcome by terror, and his desire of giving was still increased. 3<3 GATAKAMALA. 19. Then, owing to the power of his merit, in the midst of the hell a lotus sprang up, not rooted in mud like other lotuses 1 . With its row of stamen- teeth 2 it seemed to laugh contemptuously at Mara. And with the aid of the lotus, produced out of the large amount of his merit, the Bodhisattva having reached the Pratyekabuddha, filled his bowl with food, while his heart was expanding with gladness and joy. 20. The monk, in order to show his satisfaction, rose into the air. There he displayed his splendour, raining and flaming with as great a majesty as a cloud from which appear flashes of lightning. 21. Mara, on the other hand, seeing his design overturned, was in low spirits and lost accordingly his splendour. He dared no longer look in the face of the Bodhisattva, and soon he disappeared with his hell. Why has this been taught ? (For this purpose) : in this manner the pious wish to exercise almsgiving even in spite of imminent peril ; who, then, should not be charitable when safe ? [Further this too is to be propounded : ' the virtuous cannot be induced even by fear to take the wrong way.'] V. The Story of Avishahva, the Head of a Guild. (Comp. the Pali £ataka, No. 340, Fausb. Ill, 128-132.) 3 The virtuous do not allow themselves to be deficient in the virtue of charity either from respect to the loss of their fortune, or from the prospect of riches, as will be taught in the following. 1 In the original there is a pun, paraka^a, 'originating in mud, born from mud,' being a common word for ' lotus.' 2 Instead of danti° I read danta°. 3 In the Pali redaction the story is told of the se///n Visayha, not Avisayha, in consequence, it seems, of the misinterpretation of the first pada of the first gatha in this story; that line should be read adasi danani pure 'visayha. Likewise in the Nidanakatha (Fausb. I, p. 45, 1. 14) we must read ^andakumarakale 'vishah- vase///zikale. THE STORY OF AVISIIAUYA. In the time, when our Lord was yet a Bodhisattva, he was the head of a guild, born of an illustrious family. He possessed many virtues: liberality, modesty, morals, sacred learning, spiritual knowledge ', humility, &c. His affluent riches made him appear another K libera. He spent them by admitting everybody as his guest and practising charity like an everlasting sacrifice (sattra). In short, he was the best of almsgivers and lived for the good of mankind. On account of his being invincible by vices, selfishness, and the rest, he was known under the name of Avishahya (that is, ' the Invincible One '). i. The sight of the mendicants had the same effect on him, as he had on the mendicants. On both sides it was a principal cause of gladness, since it destroyed the uncertainty as to the attainment of the object wished for. 2. When requested to give, he was not capable of saying 'no.' His great compassion had left no room in his heart for attachment to wealth. 3. His joy rose to the highest pitch, when mendi- cants carried away the best things out of his house. For he knew those so-called goods to be the source of violent and heavy calamities, and therefore to cause dissatisfaction in a short time and without any apparent reason. 4. As a rule, indeed, riches, being joined with covetousness, may be called caravans on the road towards wretchedness. With him, on the contrary, they conduced to the bliss of both himself and others ; his goods appeared to be what is signified by their name. So then, that Great Being 1 bestowed large oifts on the mendicant people all around, and satisfied them wholly, giving to each according to his desire and generously, and adorning his bounty by paying a pious 1 The 'sacred learning' is jruta, knowledge of Vaidik texts. &c, the 'spiritual knowledge,' gfi an a, to be learnt from the Upanishads, the philosophical Darjanas and the like. 32 GATAKAMALA. respect to the requesters. When J>akra, the Lord of the Devas, heard of his lofty munificence, he was transported with amazement ; and wishing- to try the firmness of his resolution, he caused the every-day provisions of money, grains, jewels, clothes to dis- appear day after day ; ' perhaps, so he thought, his apprehension at least of the loss of his goods may entice him -to self-interest.' Nevertheless, the Great Being remained intent on the virtue of charity. 5. As often as his goods disappeared, like water- drops hit by the sun-darts, so often did he order them to be fetched again from his house, as if it were on fire, and continued his large gifts. *Sakra, the Lord of the Devas, understanding the Great Being to be bent as intently as ever on deeds of charity, although his riches always went on decreasing, his amazement crew. Now he concealed the whole of his wealth in one night, except a coil of rope and a sickle. When the Bodhisattva, as usual, awoke at daybreak, he nowhere saw his household goods, neither furniture, nor money, nor grains, nor clothes, nor even his attendants. His house looked quite empty, desolate, and sad, as if it were plundered by Rakshasas ; in short, it offered an afflicting aspect. Then he began to reflect upon the matter ; and searching about, he found nothing left but that coil of rope and that sickle. And he considered thus : ' Perhaps somebody, not accustomed to begging, but wont to get his livelihood by his own energy, has in this manner shown a favour to my house. In that case, my goods are well spent. If, however, by the fault of my destiny, some person whom my high rank has made envious, has caused them to run away with- out being of use to any one, it is a great pity. 6. ' The fickleness of Fortune's friendship was known to me long before ; but that the indigent have come to grief by it, on this account my heart aches. 7. 'When coming to my empty house, how will they feel, my mendicants, who for a long time were accustomed to the enjoyment of my gifts and my V. THE STORY OF AVISHAHYA. 33 hospitality ? Will they not be like thirsty people coming to a dried-up pond ? ' Nevertheless, the Bodhisattva did not yield to the feeling of affliction and sadness, but kept the constancy of his mind, and though, being in this condition, he was not capable of asking others, not even his inti- mates, as he never had followed the course of eettine his livelihood by begging. Moreover, since he ex- perienced himself that it is hard to beg, his com- passion for the begging people became still greater. Then that High-minded One, still with the disposition to earn, from those who lived by begging their food, kind words of welcome and the like, took that coil of rope and that sickle, and went out to weed grass day after day. With the little money he earned by selling the grass, he attended to the wants of the mendicants. But .Sakra, the Lord of the Devas, seeing his im- perturbable calmness and his devotion to almsgiving even in a state of extreme poverty, was filled not only with astonishment, but also with admiration. Showing his wonderful celestial body, he stood in the air and spoke to the Great Being to dissuade him from giving: 'Householder, 8-10. ' Neither thieves have robbed thee of thy wealth, nor water, nor fire, nor princes. It is thy own largesses, that have brought thee into this condition, which alarms thy friends. For this reason I tell thee for thy own good : restrain thy passionate love of charity. Though being as poor as thou art now, if thou dost not give, thou mayst recover thy former beautiful riches. By constant consuming of however little at a time, possessions fade ; by gathering ant-hills become high. For him who sees this, the only way of increas- ing his property is self-restraint.' The Bodhisattva, however, displayed hishigh-minded- ness and his constant practice of charity, when he answered 6akra in this manner : 11. 'A gentleman (arya), however distressed, will scarcely do anything ignoble (an arya), O thou Thousand-eyed One! Never let such wealth be mine, D 34 GATAKAMALA. O .Sakra, to obtain which I should have to live as a miser. 12, 13. 'Who, thinking himself to belong to an honest family, would strike with the clear-sky thunder- bolt of his refusal the wretched men who desire to find a remedy for their misery by death-like begging? Is it possible, then, that such a one as I am, should accept any jewel, or wealth, or even the realm among the Celestials, and not use it for the purpose of gladden- ing the faces of the beggars, grown pale by the pain of asking ? 14. 'Such receiving as would only tend to increase the vice of selfishness, not to strengthen the propensity to give away, must be entirely abandoned by such as me ; for it is a calamity in disguise. 15. 'Wealth is as fickle as a flash of lightning; it may come to every one, and it is the cause of many calamities ; but almsgiving is a source of happiness. This being so, how may a nobleman cling to selfish- ness ? 16. 'Therefore, .Sakra, thou hast shown me thy good nature, I thank thee also for thy commiseration and well-wishing words ; yet my heart is too much accustomed to the gladness caused by deeds of charity. How, then, can it take delight in the wrong way ? 17. 'Do not, however, bend thy mind to anger on this account, I pray thee ! Indeed, it is impossible to assault the hostile fortress of my native character with small forces.' .Sakra spoke : ' Householder, what thou describest is the line of conduct for a wealthy man, whose treasury and granary are full to the top, for whom manifold and abundant work is well-performed (by his servants), who has assured his future, and has gained domi- nation among men, but that conduct does not suit thy condition. See, 18-20. 'Thou must, before all, through honest business either carried on by exerting thy own sagacity, or by following the traditional line of trade of thy family, in so far as it be compatible with thy fame, V. THE STORY OF AVISHAHYA. 35 gather riches surpassing, like the sun, the splendour of thy rivals ; then on proper occasions, display thy opulence to the people, and rejoice by it thy relations and friends. Afterwards, having obtained due honour even from the part of the king and enjoying Fortune's favour, like the embrace of a loving sweetheart, if then there may arise in thee the inclination for charity or worldly pleasures, nobody will blame thee. But the sole love of charity without means makes a man come to calamity and resemble a bird desiring to rise in the air with wings not yet full-grown. 21. ' Therefore, thou must acquire wealth by practis- ing restraint and pursuing humble aims, and mean- while give up the longing for almsgiving. And what meanness can there be in this after all, if thou dost not give, possessing nothing ? ' The Bodhisattva replied : ' Pray, thy Highness must not urge me. 22, 23. 'Even he who cares more for his own interest than for the benefit of others, ought to give in charity, not caring for riches. For great opulence affords him no such gladness, as is caused by the satisfaction he enjoys by subduing covetousness with charitable deeds. Add to this, that mere riches do not lead to Heaven, but charity alone is sufficient to obtain a holy reputation ; further, that riches are an impediment to the subduing of selfishness and the other vices. Who, then, should not observe charity ? 24. ' He, however, who in order to protect the creatures surrounded by old age and death, desires to give away his very self in alms, moved by compassion ; he whom the sufferings of others forbid to enjoy the relish of pleasures ; say, of what use will be to him the very great bliss, possessed by thee ? ' Hear also this, Lord of the Devas. 25. 'The duration of our life is as uncertain as the prosperity of our wealth. Thus reflecting, we must not care for riches, when getting a mendicant. 26. 'If one carriage has beaten a track on the ground, a second goes by that track with some confi- d 2 36 GATAKAMALA. dence, and so on. For this reason I will not spurn this first good road, nor prefer conducting my carriage on the wrong path. 27. 'And should I once more come to great wealth, it shall to a certainty enrapture the minds of the mendicants ; and for the present, even in this con- dition, I will give alms according to my means. And may I never be careless in keeping my vow of charity, .Sakra ! ' On. these words .5akra, the Lord of the Devas, being wholly propitiated, exclaimed with praise : ' Excellent, excellent,' and looking at him with admiration and kindness, spoke : 28, 29. ' (Other) people run after riches by every trade, be it low and rough and prejudicial to their reputation, not minding danger, since they are at- tached to their own pleasures and misguided by their inconsiderateness. Thou, on the contrary, dost not mind the loss of thy wealth, nor the deficiency of thy pleasures, nor my temptation ; keeping thy mind firmly intent on promoting the welfare of others, thou hast manifested the greatness of thy excellent nature ! 30. ' Ah ! how thy heart shines with the lustre of exceeding loftiness, and how it has wiped off entirely the darkness of selfish feelings, that even after the loss of thy riches the hope for recovering them cannot spoil it by bringing about reduction of its charitable- ness ! 31. 'Yet, since thou sufferest at the suffering of others, and moved by compassion strivest for the good of the world, it is no wonder after all, that I have not been able to deter thee from almsgiving. As little is the Snow-bright Mountain shaken by the wind. 32. ' But it is in order to enhance thy fame by trial, that I have hidden that wealth of thine. Not otherwise than by trial can a gem, though beautiful, reach the great value of a renowned jewel. 2,^. 'Well then, pour thy gifts down on the mendi- cants, satisfy them as a great rain-cloud fills the pools. By my favour thou shalt never experience the loss of VI. THE STORY OF THE HARE. 37 thy wealth, and thou must forgive me my behaviour towards thee.' After praising him so, *Sakra restored his large estate to him, and obtained his pardon, then he disappeared on the spot. In this manner, then, the virtuous do not allow themselves to be deficient in the virtue of chanty either through regard to the loss of their fortune, or through the prospect of riches. VI. The Story of the Hare. (Comp. the Pali Gataka, No. 316, Fausb. Ill, 51-56 ; A'ariyapi/aka I, 10; Avadana-rataka in Feer's transl. Ann. du Musee Guimet, XVIII, 142 \) The practice of charity according to their power by the Great-minded, even when in the state of beasts, is a demonstrated fact ; who then, being a man, should not be charitable ? This is taught by the following. In some inhabited region of a forest there was a spot frequented by ascetics. It was beset with thickets made up of lovely creepers, grasses, and trees ; abounding in flowers and fruits ; adorned on its boundary with a river, the stream of which was as blue and as pure as lapis lazuli; its ground, covered with a carpet of tender grass, was soft to the touch and handsome to look at. There the Bodhisattva lived a hare. 1. In consequence of his goodness, his splendid figure, his superior strength, and his great vigour, not suspected by the small animals nor fearing others, he behaved like the king of animals in that part of the forest. 2. Satisfying his wants with blades of grass, he bore 1 In the Avadanakalpalata the hare that gave up his body is No. 104. It is much akin to the version of the Avadana^ataka, as I ascertained from the two Cambridge MSS. of the Avadanakalpalata. 38 GATAKAMALA. the handsome appearance of a Muni. For the ascetic's skin he wore his own, his bark-garment was the hairs of his body. 3. As everything he did in thought, speech, and action was purified by his friendliness, most of the animals given to wickedness were like his pupils and friends 1 . But more especially he had caught the hearts of an otter, a jackal, and an ape. They became his com- panions, attracted by the love and respect which his eminent virtues inspired in them. Like relations whose affection is founded on mutual relationship, like friends whose friendship has grown by the compliance to each other's wishes, they passed their time rejoicing together. Opposed to the nature of the brutes, they showed compassion to living beings, and their cupidity being extinguished, they forgot to practise theft. By this behaviour and by their having regard to good re- nown conformably to (the precepts of) righteousness (dharma), by their keen understanding and, owing to this, by their close observance of religious obligations in the manner approved by the pious, they roused even the surprise of the deities. 4, 5. If out of the two lines of conduct — that which complies with pleasures and checks virtue, and that which is in accordance with virtue and obstructs pleasures — a man applies himself to the virtuous side, he is already illustrious, how much more a being that has the shape of a beast ! But among them, he who bore the figure of a hare and was their teacher, was so pious, he esteemed the practice of compassion for others so highly, and his excellent native character was accompanied by such a set of virtues, that their renown reached even the world of the Devas. One day at evening-time, the Great-minded One 1 The text is slightly corrupt here. The MSS. have °sukha//, the printed text c mukha^, but in the various readings the editor again adopts the reading of the MSS. But now Prof. Kern tells me he should rather suppose that the original reading was c sakha//, which suits the sense better. VI. THE STORY OF THE HARE. 39 was in the company of his friends, who had come to him to hear him preach the Law and reverentially sat down at his feet. The moon, then being; at a great distance from the sun, showed its orb almost full and resembling by its bright beauty a silver mirror without handle. When the Bodhisattva beheld it showing its disc not fully rounded on one side l , and considered that it was the moon of the fourteenth of the bright half, that had risen, he said to his comrades : 6. ' See ! The moon by the beauty of its almost complete orb is announcing with a laughing face as it were the holyday of sabbath (poshadha) to the pious. ' Surely, to-morrow is the fifteenth. Ye must perform accordingly the religious duties which are prescribed for the sabbath, and not satisfy the want of sustaining your body before honouring some guest at the time appearing with excellent food obtained in a rig;ht manner. Ye must consider thus : 7, 8. ' Every union has separation at its end, of high rank the conclusion is dreary downfall ; life is as frail and fickle as a flash of lightning. It is for this very reason, that ye must be upon your guard against carelessness (in the fulfilment of your duties), and also endeavour to increase your merit by charity, which has good conduct (si la) for its ornament. Meritorious actions, indeed, are the strongest support for the creatures moving round in the troublesome succession of births. 9, 10. ' That the moon by its lovely brightness outdoes the lustre of the host of stars, that the sun's splendour overpowers the (other) luminaries, is due to the sublimity of the qualities produced by merit. It is also by the power of their merit that mighty kings cause presumptuous high officials and princes to bear, like excellent horses, willingly and with abated pride the yoke of their command. 1 Instead of ishatpar-yvapavr/ttabimbaw, the reading of the MSS., I think we should read c apakmtabimba;«. In the evening before full-moon's day the disc of the moon is not completely round, presenting one side so as to seem a little flattened. 4-0 GATAKAMALA. ii. 'But if they are devoid of merit, misfortune goes after them, be they ever moving about on the road of political wisdom (niti) 1 . For that unhappi- ness, being rebuffed by the excess of merit, hovers, as if moved by wrath, round the possessors of demerit. 12. 'Leave then that path of demerit; suffering is underlying it, and it is connected with dishonour. But merit being the illustrious source and instrument of happiness, ye must keep your mind intent on all opportunities of gathering it.' The others, after listening to his teaching, said amen, and saluting him with respect circumambulated him from left to right, then they went off each to his dwelling. When his comrades were not far off, the Great-minded One entered upon this reflection : 13-15. 'They are able to honour with some food or other the guest that may happen to arrive, but I am here in a pitiful condition. It is in no way possible to present a guest with the very bitter blades of grass I cut off with my teeth. Alas ! how helpless I am ! My powerlessness afflicts me. Of what use, then, is life to me, since a guest that ouoht to be a matter of joy to me, must in this manner become a matter of sorrow ! ' On what occasion, then, may this worthless body, which is not even able to attend on a guest, be given up so as to conduce to the profit of anybody ? ' When his reflection had come to that point, the Great-minded One recovered his keenness of thought. ' Well ! 16. 'The property which will suit the purpose of honouring any guest is easy to be got ; for it is in my power ; it is unobjectionable ; it belongs to none but me ; indeed, it is the property of my body. ' Why, then, should I be in trouble ? 1 The political wisdom, which aims at attaining worldly ends by worldly means, and makes morals subordinate to self-interest, is taught in such books as Kamandaki's Nituastra, *Sukra's Nitisara, in the PawX'atantra and the Hitopadeja. It is considered sinful by Buddhistic lore. The Gatakamala. often reproves it, see for instance, IX, 10; XXIII. 51. VI. THE STORY OF THE HARE. 4 1 17. 'Yes, I have found proper food for my guest; now, my heart, abandon thy grief and thy sadness ! With this vile body of mine I will practise hospitality and satisfy the want of my guest.' Havino- thus resolved, the Great Beinq- felt an extreme delight as though he had obtained a very great gain, and remained there (in his dwelling, waiting for some guest). 18. Now, when that sublime reflection had presented itself to the Great Being's mind, the Celestials mani- fested their propitiousness and their power. 19-21. Earth shook with her mountains, as if from joy, nor was her garment, the Ocean, quiet 1 ; divine drums resounded in the sky ; the regions of the horizon were ornamented with a placid sheen ; all around clouds of a pleasant aspect, which were girded with lightnings and gave forth prolonged soft rattlings of thunder, strewed on him a shower of flowers falling close together, so as to spread the pollen through the air by their contact. The god of wind, too, showed him his esteem ; blowing steadily he bore to him the fragrant flower-dust from various trees, as if out of gladness he presented him with gauzy veils, bearing them up and so disarranging the figures interwoven in them. As the deities, rejoiced and astonished, were praising everywhere the marvellous resolution of the Great Being, .Sakra, the Lord of the Devas, became aware of it ; and curiosity and surprise overtaking his mind, he was desirous of knowing the truth about his disposition. On the next day at noon-tide, when the sun, ascending in the midst of the sky, darts his sharpest beams ; when the horizon, clothed in a net of trembling rays of light and veiled with the outburst of radiant heat, does not suffer itself to be looked upon ; when shadows are con- tracting ; when the interior of the woods resounds with the loud shrieks of the cicadae ; when birds cease to 1 Read babhuvanibhr/ta°. Cp. supra, II, 38, and Bodhisattva- vadanakalpalata II, 52. 42 GATAKAMALA. show themselves and the vigour of travelling- people is exhausted by heat and fatigue : in that time of the day, then, Sakra, the chief (adhipati) of the Devas having assumed the figure of a Brahman, cried out not far from the spot where the four animals were living. He wept and wailed aloud, like one who has lost his way, and as one worn out with hunger and thirst, weariness and sorrow. 22. 'Alone and astray, having lost my caravan, I am roaming through the deep forest, exhausted by hunger and lassitude. Help me, ye pious! 23. ' Not knowing the right way nor the wrong, having lost my faculty of orientation, wandering at random, alone in this wilderness, I suffer from heat, from thirst, from fatigue. Who will rejoice me by friendly words of hospitality ? ' The Great Beings, touched in their heart and alarmed by the sound of his piteous outcries for help, quickly went to that spot, and beholding him who offered the miserable appearance of a traveller gone astray, approached him and in a respectful manner spoke to him these words of comfort : 24. 25. 'Be no more disturbed, thinking thou art astray in the wilderness ; with us thou art altogether as if thou wert with thine own disciples. Therefore, grant us the favour of accepting to-day our attendance, gentle sir ; to-morrow thou mayst go thy way accord- ing to thy wish.' Then the otter, understanding from his silence that he accepted the invitation, went off hastily ; joy and agitation quickened his pace. He came back with seven rohita-fishes, which he offered him, saying: 26. ' These seven fishes I found on the dry ground, where they were lying motionless, as if asleep through lassitude ; either they have been left there by fisher- men who forgot them, or they have jumped upon the shore through fear. Feed on them, and stay here.' Then the jackal also brought to him such food as he happened to have at that time, and after bowing reverentially, he spoke with deference thus : VI. THE STORY OF THE HARE. 43 27. ' Here, traveller, is one lizard and a vessel of sour milk, left by somebody ; grant me the benefit of thy enjoying them, and take thy abode in this forest this night, 6 thou who art an abode of virtues ! ' *So speaking he handed them over to him with an extreme gladness of mind. Then the monkey drew near. He brought mango- fruits, ripe and consequently distinguished by their softness, their strong orange colour, as if they were dyed with red orpiment, their very red stalk-ends, and their roundness ; and performing the reverence of the a;^ali, he spoke: 28. ' Ripe mangos, delicious water, shadow refreshing like the pleasure of good society, these things, O best of those who know the brahma, I have for thee. Enjoy them, and stay this night here.' Then the hare approached, and as soon as he had made his reverence, he bade him accept the offer of his own body. Thus he spoke, looking up to him with great regard : 29. 'A hare, who has grown up in the forest, has no beans nor sesamum seeds nor grains of rice to offer, but prepare this body of mine with fire, and having fed upon it stay over this night in this hermitage. 30. ' On the holiday of a mendicant's arrival every one provides him with whatever of his goods may be a means of supplying his wants. But my wealth is limited to my body ; take it, then, this whole of my possessions.' .Sakra answered : 31. 'How is it possible that anybody like me should kill another living being? And how much less a beino- like thee, who hast shown friendship to me ? ' The hare said : ' Verily, this becomes well a Brah- man, inclined to compassion. Well then, thou must grant me at least the favour of resting here in this place ; in the mean while 1 think I shall find in some way or other the means of showing my favour to thee. Now 6akra, the Lord of the Devas, understanding A A 44 GATAKAMALA his intention, created by magic a heap of charcoal burning without smoke ; this mass had the colour of purified gold, very thin flames shot forth out of it, and a multitude of sparks were scattered about. The hare, who was looking around on all sides, perceived that fire. On seeing it, he said, rejoiced, to .Sakra : ' I have found that means of showing: thee my favour. Thou, then, must fulfil the hope with which I give thee this boon, and enjoy my body. See, great Brahman, 32. ' It is my duty to give in charity, and my heart is inclined to do so, and in a person like thee I have met with a worthy guest ; such an opportunity for giving cannot be easily obtained. Let then my charity not be useless, inasmuch as it depends on thee.' So saying the Great-minded One persuaded him, and after showing him by his salutation his esteem, his respect, and his hospitable mind — 33. Then, with the utmost gladness, like one desirous of wealth on suddenly beholding a treasure, he threw himself in that blazing fire, as the supreme ha;?zsa plunges into a pond with laughing lotuses. When the chief of the Devas saw this deed, he was affected with the highest admiration. Reassuming his own shape, he praised the Great Being with words both agreeable to the mind and the ears and preceded by a shower of celestial flowers. Then with his delicate hands of a rich lustre, like that of the petal of the white lotus, and embellished with their fingers resplendent like jewel ornaments, he took him up him- self and showed him to the Celestials. ' Behold, ye Devas, inhabitants of the celestial residence, behold and rejoice at this astonishing deed, this heroic exploit of this Great Being. 34. 'Oh, how he has given away his body without hesitation to-day, to be charitable to his guest ! But the fickle-minded 1 are not even able to give up, with- 1 Strength of mind, constancy, earnestness, wisdom and virtue are all VI. THE STORY OF THE HARE. 45 out trembling, faded flowers, the remainder of a sacrifice. 35. 'What a contrast between the animal species, which he belongs to, and the loftiness of his self- sacrifice, the sharpness of his mind! Indeed, he confounds all such as are slow in striving for meritorious actions, deities as well as men. 36. ' Oh, how his mind is impregnated with the fragrance of a constant practice of virtues! How he loves good conduct, as he manifested by his sublime deed ! ' Then, in order to glorify that extraordinary fact, and having in view the good of the world, .5akra adorned with the image of the hare as a distinctive mark both peaks on the top of the belvederes — one on his most excellent palace Vai c ^ayanta and the other on Sudharma, the hall of the Devas — and likewise the disc of the moon. 37. 38. At full-moon even now that image of the hare (^a^a) appears in the moon's disc in the sky, as a reflected image shines in a silver mirror. From that time onward A'andra (the Moon), named also the Ornament of the Night and the Cause of the Brilliancy of the Night-waterlilies, is famous in the world as the Hare-marked (^asahka). And the others, the otter, the jackal, and the ape, disappeared thereafter (from the earth) and arrived in the world of the Devas, thanks to their possessing such a holy friend. So then the practice of charity according to their power by Great Beings, even when in the state of beasts, is a demonstrated fact ; who, then, being a man, should not be charitable ? [Moreover, this too is to be propounded : ' Even beasts are honoured by the pious for their attachment to virtues ; for this reason one must be intent on virtues.] implied by the Buddhistic term dhira; its opposite, adhira, denotes therefore those who possess the opposed qualities, the ' fickle-minded.' 46 GATAKAMALA. VII. The Story of Agastya. (Comp. the Pali Gataka, No. 480, Fausb. IV, 236-242 ; and A^ariya- pi/aka I, 1.) A heroic practice of liberality is an ornament even to ascetics, how much more to householders ; as is taught by the following. In the time, when our Lord, still being a Bodhisattva, was moving on his road through Sawsara for the good of the world, he was born of an illustrious family of Brahmans, which being distinguished by great purity of conduct might pass for an ornament of the earth. His birth enhanced the lustre of this family in the same way as the moon rising in autumn with full and spotless orb, beautifies the firmament. He had in due order obtained the different sacraments ordained by the sacred texts and the tradition : ^atakarma and the rest; he had studied the Vedas with their Arigas and the whole ritual, and the fame of his learning filled the world of men. By the large gifts which he received, begging from charitable people who were lovers of virtues, he amassed considerable wealth. 1. Like a big cloud showering over the fields, he gladdened with his wealth his relations, his friends, his clients, his guests, his teachers, in short the dis- tressed as well as those who are to be honoured. 2. Owing to his grand munificence, the bright glory which he had obtained by his learning shone the more. So the complete beauty of the moon's full disc is still augmented with loveliness, when autumn makes it shine brightly. Yet the Great-minded One soon understood that the state of a householder is a source of sorrow, and affords but meagre comfort ; for by its close con- nection with wrong business, it is thronged with noxious qualities, it is the abode of carelessness (about religious duties), it is a troublesome state, being connected with occupations for gathering wealth and VI f. THE STORY OF AGASTYA. guarding- it, it affords a scope for hundreds of arrows made up of calamities and evil habits obstructive of tranquillity, and is accompanied with toil, inasmuch as it implies the necessity of accomplishing numberless tasks. On the other hand, he became convinced that renunciation of the world brings about comfort by its freedom from those evils, that it is a state favourable to the performance of religious duties, and that it may be called the proper basis for undertaking the religious practices required for salvation. So casting away, as if it were a straw, that great abun- dance of wealth which he had obtained without trouble, and which must have possessed charms for him because of the high regard which he enjoyed among the people, he gave himself up to the observance of the discipline and the self-restraint of world-renouncing ascetics. But also, after his leaving the world — owing to his celebrated fame, the remembrance of former inter- course, the respect for his virtues, and the tranquillity by which he was distinguished — the Great Being was frequented as before by people longing for salvation, whose affection he had gained by the multitude of his virtues. Yet, disliking that contact with house- holders, as prejudicial to the happiness that arises from entire detachment from the world, and an obstacle to throwing away the bonds by which he had held to it, he repaired to the island of Kara, aspiring to solitude. That island is situated in the Southern Ocean. Its outskirts are moistened by the play of the wanton waves, which moved by the wind have the blue colour of pieces of sapphire ; white sand covers its ground; various trees, the branches of which are adorned with twigs, flowers and fruits, enhance its beauty ; near its shore there is a lake of pure water. This lovely country he embellished with the splendour of his hermitage. 3. There he lived, manifesting the lustre of his heavy penance by the emaciation of his body, as the crescent appears in the sky, joining great loveliness to a small size. 48 GATAKAMALA. 4. That this man living in the forest, absorbed in vows and penances, and whose modest actions and sensations attested his tranquillity of mind, was a Muni, even the wild quadrupeds and birds of the forest did understand, even their small intellect became aware of it, and they imitated his behaviour. While staying in the grove of penance, the Great- minded One, being in the habit of giving, continued also honouring the guests that happened to arrive, with such roots and fruits as he had just gathered, with fresh water and such hearty and kind words of welcome and blessings as are appropriate to ascetics, and himself lived on as much of his forest-produced food as his guests had left, strictly limiting his meals to the sustenance of his body. Now, the glory of his excessive penance having spread about, .Sakra, the Lord of the Devas, touched by it, desired to prove his constancy. In that part of the forest where the Great Being dwelt, he caused to disappear successively all roots and fruits fit for the food of ascetics. But the Bodhisattva, absorbed in medita- tion and being accustomed to the feeling of contentment, insensible to the perplexing influence of stupefaction, and indifferent concerning his food and his body, did not direct his thoughts to the cause of that disappearance 1 . And having dressed young leaves on the fire, he accomplished with these the action of taking his meal, without any feeling of discontent, nor longing for a better meal, but calm as ever he went on living in the same way. 5. The livelihood of those who in earnest practise continence is nowhere difficult to be obtained. Say, where are not found grass and leaves and ponds ? Yet .Sakra, the Lord of the Devas, though his astonishment increased, in consequence of the Bodhi- sattva's behaviour in that situation, and his high opinion of his virtues grew stronger, resorted to another 1 For, if he had, he would have discovered it, owing to the transcendent power he had obtained by his penance. VII. THE STORY OF AGASTYA. 49 trial. Like the wind at summer-time he stripped of their leaves the whole number of trees, shrubs and grasses, that were in that grove. Then the Bodhisattva, taking such fallen leaves as were still fresh, and boiling them in water, lived on them without feeling any uneasiness ; rejoiced by the happiness of meditation, he stayed there as if he had feasted upon ambrosia. 6. Modesty in the learned, disinterestedness in the wealthy, and contentment in the ascetics : each of these splendid virtues is the highest treasure of each of the in 1 Now that very marvellous constancy of his content- ment increased the surprise of 6akra, and as if he were angry on account of it, having assumed the shape of a Brahman, that he might be a guest, of course, he appeared before the eyes of the Great Being, when at the time prescribed by his vow, after performing the Agnihotra-sacrifice and repeating his prayers, he was just looking about for some guest. And the Bodhi- sattva rejoiced went to meet him, and welcoming him and addressing kind words to him, invited him to take his meal by announcing to him that it was meal- time. Understanding by his silence that he accepted, the Great-minded One, 7. Manifesting by his expanding eyes and his bloom- ing face the gladness he experienced in practising charity, and rejoicing his guest with gentle words both pleasant to the mind and to the ears, entertained him with the whole of his boiled leaves, which he had had so much trouble to procure, and himself was satisfied with joy alone. And even so he entered his home of meditation 2 , and passed that day and night in the very ecstacy of gladness. Now 6akra reappeared to him in the same 1 Instead of guwajobhavidhi// para// I read "nidhi^ para//, com}), p. 51, I. 11 of the edited text gu//abhyasanidher udarata. 8 In other words, his hut. Both Pali redactions mention here his pawwasala, ' hut of leaves.' E 50 GATAKAMALA. manner the next day at the time destined for (the accomplishment of) his vow (of hospitality). So he did also on the third, fourth, and fifth day. And the other received him as his guest in the same way, and with still more joy. 8. No suffering, indeed, not even peril of life, is able to compel the virtuous to a miserable infringement of their love for giving, a love fostered by their practice of commiseration. Then .5akra, whose mind was overcome by the utmost amazement, knowing him to be enabled by his excess of penance to get into the possession of (his own) brilliant realm of the gods \ if he did but ask for it, began to feel uneasy, and fear arose within him. Having assumed the wonderful beauty of his own celestial shape, he questioned him as to the purpose for which he performed his penance. 9, 10. 'Say, on what hast thou set thy hopes, that they could impel thee to leave thy beloved relations, who shed tears at thy departure, thy household and posses- sions that had been a source of happiness to thee, and to resort to this toilsome life of penance ? For it is not for a trifling motive that the wise despise enjoy- ments easily obtained, and afflict their relations with grief, leaving them to go to the penance-forest destruc- tive of pleasures. 11. 'If thou thinkest it may be told me, please, satisfy my curiosity. What may be the object of thy wishes, the penetration into the excellent qualities of which fascinated to this point a mind like thine ? ' The Bodhisattva replied : ' Hearken, sir, what I am exerting myself for. 12. ' Repeated births tend to great sorrow; so do calamitous old age and illnesses, those dismal 1 This fear of the Lord of the Devas rests on the belief in the transcendent power of penance, which enables great ascetics to aspire even to that dignity. .Sakra, afraid of human tapas and trying to prevent its earning by every means, is a well-known figure in Indian mythology. VII. THE STORY OF AGASTVA. 5 I plagues ; and the necessity of death is a disturbance to the mind. From those evils I am resolved to save the creatures.' Then 6akra, the Lord of the Devas, understanding that it was not his own celestial splendour that was claimed by the Bodhisattva, was set at rest, and as he was very pleased with that well-said sentence, he honoured it by exclaiming 'Very well!' and requested him to accept some boon. 13. 'Ascetic, Ka^yapa 1 , for this right and well-said sentence I give thee some boon ; choose then what thou desirest.' The Bodhisattva, being not at all desirous of pleasures and rejoicings connected with existence, and thinking it painful even to ask for anything, since he had attained the state of contentment, said to Sakra : 14. 'If thou wishest to give me some boon, that may please me, I ask the foremost of the Devas this boon, 15. 'May that fire of covetousness, which after obtaining a beloved wife, children, power, riches more abundant than had been longed for, still goes on heating the mind of men never to be satisfied — may that fire never enter my heart ! ' The propensity to contentment declared by this well- turned saying delighted 6akra in a still higher degree. He praised the Bodhisattva again, saying : ' Excellent, excellent ! ' and once more he urged him to choose some boon. 16. ' Muni, also for this right and well-said sentence I offer thee gladly as a present in return a second boon. Then the Bodhisattva, in order to show him the difficulty of getting rid entirely of the innate evil passions 2 , preached him the Law once more under the guise of asking a boon, 1 In the metrical part of the Pali redaction of this story in the Gataka, Akiiti (=Agastya) is likewise called Kassapa and addressed by that name. 2 Viz. the klcras, cp. Dharmasa/wgraha LXVII with Kenjiu Kasawara's explanatory noie on p. 49 and the literature quoted there. E 2 52 GATAKAMALA. 17. 'If thou givest me some boon, thou Vasava, abode of excellent qualities, then I ask thee another boon, and no mean one, Lord of the Devas. 18. 'May that fire of hatred, subdued by which the creatures come to x loss of wealth, loss of caste and of good reputation, as if they were vanquished by a hostile attack — may that fire be far from me ! ' On hearing this, 6akra, the chief of the Devas. highly admiring him, praised him : ' Excellent, ex- cellent ! ' and again he said : 19. ' Justly Fame, like a loving woman, attends upon those who have renounced the world. Well, accept some other boon from me for this well-said sentence.' Then the Bodhisattva, induced by his hostility to innate evil passions to blame the intercourse with such creatures as are not free from those passions, under the guise of accepting the boon 2 , said this : 20. ' May I never hear a fool, nor get the sight of such a one, nor speak to such a one, nor endure the annoyance and the pain of staying with such a one ! This is the boon I ask thee for.' .Sakra spoke : 21. 22. 'What dost thou say? Anybody being in distress is most deserving of the commiseration of the pious. Now, foolishness being the root of calamities, is held to be the vilest condition. How is this that thou, though compassionate, abhorrest the sight of a fool, a person especially fit for commiseration ? ' The Bodhisattva answered : ' Because there is no help for him, sir. Do but consider this : 23. ' If a fool were at any rate curable by treatment, how would anybody like me be wanting in effort to brino- about his eood ? ' But such a one, thou must understand, can derive no profit at all from medical treatment. 1 In order to correct the fault against the metre in the first pada of this stanza, I think we should read arthad api bhraw-ram avapnuvanii. 2 Instead of vrati, which is here almost meaningless, Prof. Kern suggests vriti = vara. VII. THE STORY OF AGASTYA. 53 24, 25. 'He follows the wrong course of conduct, as if it were the right one, and desires to put also his neighbour in that way, and not having- been accustomed to a decent and upright behaviour, be- comes even angry when admonished for his good. Now, then, to such a person, who burns with the infatua- tion of self-conceit, thinking himself wise, whose harsh- anger is provoked by those who speak for his good, and whose impetuousness has not been softened because of the deficiency of his moral education — say, what means does there exist to bring profit to him ? 26. ' For this reason, then, O most excellent of the Devas, because there is no help for him, not even in the power of the compassionate, I do not want to see a fool, since he is the most unfit object.' On hearing this, 6akra praised him, exclaiming 'Very well ! very well ! ' and charmed by his right sayings, spoke again : 27. 'The invaluable jewels of well-said sentences cannot be rewarded by any equivalent. But as a hand- ful of flowers to worship thee, I gladly offer thee some boon for these too.' Then the Bodhisattva, in order to show that the virtuous are welcome in every circumstance, spoke : 28. ' May I see a wise man, and hear a wise man, dwell with such a one, 6akra, and converse with such a one ! This boon, best of the Devas, do grant me.' ^Sakra said : ' Thou seemest, indeed, to be a warm partisan of the wise. Why, tell me then, 29. ' What have the wise done for thee ? Say, Kas- yapa, what is the reason that thou showest this rather foolish greediness for the sight of a wise man ? ' Then the Bodhisattva, in order to show him the magnanimity of the virtuous, spoke: 'Hearken, sir, for what reason my mind longs for the sight of a wise man. 30. 31. ' He walks in the path of virtue himself, and brings also others into that way, and words said for his good, even if they be harsh, do not rouse his impatience. Being adorned by uprightness and decency, 54 GATAKAMALA. it is always possible to make him accept what is said for his good. For this reason my mind, adhering to virtue, is inclined to the partisan of virtue.' Then .5akra praised him, exclaiming : ' Well said ! very excellent ! ' and with still increased satisfaction again summoned him to ask some boon. 32, 33. 'Surely, thou hast already obtained every- thing, since thou art wholly satisfied, yet thou shouldst take some boon from me, considering it as a means of gratifying me. For a favour offered out of reverence, from abundance of power, and with the hope of affording a benefit, becomes a cause of great pain, if not accepted.' Then the Bodhisattva, seeing his utmost desire for doing good, and wishing to please him and to benefit him, answered so as to declare to him the superiority of the strong desire of almsgiving. 34. ' May thy food, which is free from destruction and corruption, thy mind, which is lovely because of its practice of charity, and mendicants adorned by the pureness of their good conduct, be mine ! This most blessed boon I ask.' .Sakra said : ' Thy Reverence is a mine of jewels of well-said sentences. Further, 35. ' Not only will everything thou hast requested be accomplished, but on account of this well-said sentence I give thee some other boon.' The Bodhisattva said : 36. ' If thou wilt give me a boon which incloses the highest favour for me, O most excellent of all Celestials, do not come to me again in this thy blazing splendour. For this boon I ask the destroyer of the Daityas.' Upon this ^akra was somewhat irritated, and highly astonished he thus spoke to him : ' Do not speak so, sir. 37. 'By every kind of ritual: prayers, vows, sacri- fices, with penances and toilsome exertions, people on earth seek to obtain the sight of me. But thou dost not desire so. For what reason then ? I came up to thee, wishing to bestow my boons on thee.' The Bodhisattva said : ' Do not yield to thy anger. I will pacify Thy Highness, king of the Devas. It is VIII. THE STORY OF MAITRIBALA. 55 not for want of courtesy, that I ask so, nor is it a deed of irreverence, nor do I aim at showing lack of devotion towards Thy Majesty. Not at all, but, 38. ' Contemplating thy superhuman wonderful shape, which though shining gently, is still blazing with brilli- ancy, I fear the sight of thee, however mildly shining, lest it should cause any want of strictness in the ful- filment of my penance.' Then .5akra bowed to him, circumambulated him from left to right, and disappeared on the spot. And lo, at daybreak the Bodhisattva perceived plenty of divine food and drink, brought thither by the power of 6akra, and many hundreds of Pratyekabuddhas called by the invitation of 6akra, also many angels (deva- putras) high girded, ready to wait on them. 39. Supplying in this way with food and drink the wants of those most holy sages, the Muni obtained a sublime joy; and he delighted in living after the manner suitable for ascetics, in performing his boundless vow of meditation (dhyana), and in tranquillity. In this manner, then, a heroic practice of liberality is an ornament even in ascetics, how much more in householders. [So considering, a virtuous man must adorn himself with heroic constancy of giving. This (story) must also be adduced, when treating of the gladness caused to a liberal and charitable man ; when blaming covetousness, hatred, infatuation, and foolishness; when preaching on the virtue of the intercourse with a pious friend, or on contentment. Likewise in discourses on the magnanimity of the Tathagata : ' So our Lord was an inexhaustible mine of jewels of excellent sayings, when still in his former existences, how much more so was he after attaining Complete Wisdom.'] VIII. The Story of Maitribala. Being afflicted by the sufferings of others, the in- tensely compassionate do not mind their own pleasure. This will be taught as follows. 56 GATAKAMALA. At the time when the Bodhisattva, always having in view his purpose of saving the creatures, had fixed upon (the exercise of the paramita of) compassion, as became his high-mindedness, and was always in- creasing in matchless virtues — charity, humility, self- restraint, tenderness, and the like, suitable for the benefit of the world, he was, it is said, a king kind- hearted towards all creatures, named Maitribala 1 . i, 2. This king felt the weal and the woe of his subjects as his own, and being skilled in the art of protecting them, he handled both his sword and his law in accordance with this feeling. Yet his sword was only an ornament to him, since the (other) kings waited for his orders, respectfully bowing their head- crests ; his law, on the contrary, showed itself most openly in the measures he took for promoting the welfare of his people. 3. He dealt out punishments and rewards without infringing righteousness. In consequence of his good- ness of heart and his political wisdom, he inquired into his subjects like a father. So he ruled with righteousness, and while directing his veracity, his liberality, his tranquillity, his wisdom, and his other virtues to conduce to the welfare of others, he increased his store of exceedingly lofty actions, which are the due requisites for the attainment of Buddhahood. Now one day, five Yakshas, whom for some offence or other (Kubera) the Lord of the Yakshas had exiled from his dominions, came to his realm. These goblins were O t £'oharas [that is, vigour- bereaving spirits], skilled in the art of killing others". When they saw the kingdom exhibiting the aspect of the utmost prosperity, and became aware that the absence of every kind of calamity made the people 1 This name signifies, ' he whose strength is kindness,' cp. stanza 14. The edition has here Maitrabalo, by a misprint, it seems. 2 It is likely, those Yakshas were thought to possess the power of causing consumptive diseases ; consumption is called in Sanskrit yakshma or ra^ayakshma. In the Divyavadana (295, 6) a rakshasa o^ohara/z is mentioned. VIII. THE STORY OF MAITRII1ALA. 57 rejoiced, satisfied, thriving, and in the habit of having merriment and manifold festivals, the desire of taking away the vigour from the inhabitants of that region arose within them. 4. But, though they did their usual work with the greatest effort, they were still not able to take away the vigour of the inhabitants of that country. 5. The power of that king was so excessive that his very intention of shielding proved the highest pro- tection. For this reason those Yakshas were power- less to take away the vigour of his subjects. And as they were not able to debilitate any one, living in that kingdom, however much they exerted themselves, they deliberated among themselves and said : ' How may this be, sirs ? 6. ' They do not possess such superiorities of learn- ing, penance, or magic as to enable them to obstruct our power, and yet all of us are reduced to impotency, so as to bear our appellation (of O^oharas) in vain.' And they assumed the shape of men of the Brahman class, and going about, they saw a certain cowherd of those who live in the forest-region, who was sitting upon a grass-plot at the foot of a shady tree. He had shoes on his feet, and on his head he wore a garland, made of flowers and opening buds of forest-trees. His stick and his hatchet he had laid on the earth on his right. He was alone and occupied with twisting a rope, diverting himself meanwhile with singing and humming. Him they approached and imitating human voice ', they said to him : ' Well, friend, thou who art charged with guarding the cows, how is it that staying thus alone in this lonely forest where no man is to be seen, thou are not afraid ? ' And he, looking at them, spoke: ' Of what should I be afraid?' The Yakshas said : 'Hast thou never before heard that such goblins as Yakshas, Rakshasas, or Pisa/'as are cruel by nature ? 1 In the original the Yakshas utter some inarticulate sounds before succeeding in speaking Sanskrit. 58 GATAKAMALA. 7, 8. 'If men are in company and endowed with learning, penance, and svastyayana-charms \ even then, be they never so brave and contemptuous of fear, they will but narrowly escape those Rakshasas who feed on the flesh and fat of men. How, then, is it that thou art not afraid of them, thou who stayest without any comrade amidst these solitary, remote, and frightful forests ?' On hearing this, the cowherd laughed heartily, and said to them : 9, 10. ' Well, the people of this country are pro- tected by a mighty svastyayana, so that even the Lord of the Devas himself has no power over them, how much less the flesh-eating goblins. So it happens that I wander fearless through the wilderness as if I stayed at home, at night as if it were day, and alone as if I were in a crowd.' Upon this the Yakshas became very curious, and said to him respectfully, as if to encourage him : ' Why, you must tell us, gentle sir, you must tell us, of what kind this extraordinary svastyayana of yours is.' He answered them, laughing once more : ' Hear, then, of what kind this very wonderful excellent svastya- yana of ours is. 11. ' It is he whose broad breast is equal to a plate of the Golden Mountain (Meru), he whose face dis- plays the lovely beauty of the spotless moon in autumn, he whose long and full arms are like golden clubs, he who has the eyes of a bull and the gait of a bull. In short, it is our kingr ' Of this kind our excellent svastyayana is. And after saying these words, looking with resentment and astonishment in the face of the Yakshas, he continued : ' Ah ! this is rather a wonder, is not it ? 12. 'So renowned is the power of our king, and it has not come to your hearing ! How has this hap- pened ? Or have you perhaps heard of it, but clis- 1 Viz. spells and charms, effective of bliss and happiness and obstructive of the contrary. VIII. THE STORY OF MAITRIBALA. 59 trusting the excessive marvel of that fame, not minded it ? 13. 'I suppose, the people of the country, from whence you have come hither, are either disinclined to search after virtue or indifferent about it ; it may also be that, the store of their good fortune 1 being exhausted, the great renown of our king has shunned them. 'At all events, for you there is still some remnant of eood fortune, since you are come here from such a savage country. The Yakshas said : ' Gentle sir, tell us, of what nature is this power of that king, that spirits are by no means able to hurt the inhabitants of his realm ?' The cowherd replied : ' Our monarch has obtained this power through his high-mindedness. See, noble Brahmans. 14. ' On friendliness does his strength rest, not on his motley-bannered army, which he keeps only to comply with custom. He knows no anger, nor does he speak harsh words. He protects his land in the proper manner. Righteousness is the rule of his actions, not political wisdom, that base science. His wealth serves to honour the virtuous. And endowed with those marvellous qualities, still he does not take unto himself either the wealth of the wicked, or pride. ' Such and many, many more virtues are to be found in our master. For this reason no calamities have the power to hurt the inhabitants of his realm. But how little is the information you may get from me ! If you are curious to learn the excellent qualities of our king, it would rather be suitable for you to enter the capital. There you will behold the people in their every-day life ; you will see how firm they stand in the (moral) bounds of the aryas, loving each the peculiar duties proper to him ; how merry and thriving they are, in consequence of a constant abundance ot 1 Every one's good fortune is the result of his merit, and lasts until that store of good actions is exhausted. 6o GATAKAMALA. food and uninterrupted welfare ; how splendidly they are dressed, yet not presumptuously ; how kind they are to worthy strangers who come to them as guests ; how enraptured they are with the virtues of their king, the praises of whose glory they never cease to proclaim with gladness, as if they were utterirfg some auspicious and evil-averting charm. When be- holding all this, you will obtain the standard for measuring the multitude of virtues possessed by our lord. And if you once begin to feel something like reverence for his virtues, you will witness them, for you will not fail to feel the desire for getting the sight of him.' The Yakshas, being already moved with anger against the king on account of his obstructing the manifestation of their power, were in no way softened by this affectionate and well-deserved eulogy of his virtues. 15. Verily, as a rule the mind of fools 1 becomes inflamed the more by the praise of the object which has excited their fervent wrath. Now considering that king's love of charity and wishing to do harm to him, they approached him at the time of his audience, and asked him for a meal. The king rejoiced, ordered his officers who stood in charge of such matters : ' Go and quickly present the Brahmans with a delicious meal.' The Yakshas, however, were not ready to accept the meal served to them, though it might have suited the royal table, but spurning it, as tigers would green grass, said they did not feed on such dishes. On hearing which, the king went to them saying : ' But what sort of repast will agree with your digestion, that something of the kind may be fetched ?' The Yakshas answered : 1 In the original they are not called bala, as above, Story VII, stanza 22, but by the nearly synonymous term of man da. Slill there may be a slight difference between both appellations. Bala meant at the outset 'child, childish, ignorant;' manda, 'slow, feeble, sick, dull, lazy.' Cp. Suttanipata, verses 666, 728, 820, and 1051. VIII. THE STORY OF MAITRIBALA. 6 1 1 6. ' Raw human flelsh, freshly cut off and still warm, and human blood, O lotus-eyed monarch, is the food and drink of Yakshas, O you who are strict in keeping" your engagements.' Alter which, they reassumed their own disfigured and frightful features, exhibiting their mouths rendered ferocious by large teeth, their eyes fierce and red, flaming and squinting, their flat noses, wide-opened and misshapen. Their hair and beard had the tawny colour of flames, and their complexion was as dark as clouds bio- with rain. Looking at them, the king- knew them to be goblins 1 , not men, and understood that for that reason they did not like the food and drink served by his orders. 17. And according to his compassionate nature and his pure-heartedness, the pity of the monarch towards them increased by this reflection. Absorbed with commiseration and pitying those Yakshas, he entered surely upon this thought : 18. 19. ' For a merciful man such food and drink is not only hard to be found, but it were also to be searched for day after day. Oh, the immense grief it would cause him ! A cruel man may be either able to get it for them, or not. If not able, his effort would have no other effect than that of mere de- struction ; if able, what can be more miserable than such a one constantly exercising that evil practice ? 20. ' These Yakshas, on the other hand, who live on food of that kind, with hearts. wicked and pitiless, are destroying their own happiness every day. When will their sufferings ever end ? ' This being so, how is it possible for me to procure 1 Lit. ' to be Pua^as/ apparently a general term. The different classes of goblins, Yakshas, Rakshasas, Pi«Uas, are often confounded ; in stanza 27 the general appellation is Rakshasas. In Story IX, verse 66. yaksha and puva/'a are used promiscuously in the sense of ' ogre.' In the sixth story of the Pali G&taka (translated by Rhys Davids in his Birth Stories, p. 180) the water-sprite is sometimes called rakkhaso, sometimes yakkho. 62 GATAKAMALA. such food for them ? Not even for one single day could I injure others and destroy life. 21. ' Indeed, I do not remember having ever sad- dened the faces of those who came to me as sup- plicants, and bereaved them of splendour by the disappointment of their hopes, so as to make them appear like lotuses withered by the winter-wind. ' But, why muse any longer ? I have found what I will do. 22, 23. 'I will give them lumps of solid and fat flesh and draughts of blood taken from my own body. What way, if not this, can be more suitable for me to supply the wants of those beggars seeking their relief from my side ? For the flesh of animals who have died a natural death is cold and bloodless, and of course does not please them ; and their hunger is great and attested by their afflicted figures. ' On the one hand, how may I take flesh out of the body of any other living being ? On the other, how may I suffer them who have resorted to me, to draw off in this manner, with countenances languishing and eyes sunken in consequence of their hunger and thirst, and still more sick with grief because of the fruitless- ness of their request on which they had founded their hopes ? It is, therefore, the right time to act in this way. 24. ' Like a malignant ulcer, this body is always sick and an abode of pain. Now I will return it that grief by availing myself of it for the accomplishment of an extraordinary performance of surpassing love- liness.' Having so resolved, the Great-minded One, whose eyes and face received increase of splendour by the outburst of his gladness, spoke thus to the Yakshas, pointing out his body to them : 25. ' If this flesh and blood, which I bear only for the good of the creatures, were now to be disposed of with the object of entertaining guests, I would deem this a good fortune for myself and of great con- sequence.' VIII. THE STORY OF MAITRIBALA. 6 J The Yakshas, though knowing the determination of the kine, could not believe it ; so marvellous did it appear to them. And they said to him : 26. ' After the mendicant has unveiled his suffering by wretched asking, from that very moment it is the <>iver alone who oui>ht to know what should be done in the case. The king, understanding that they assented, was much rejoiced, and ordered his physicians to be sent for, to have his veins opened. Now the royal minis- ters, understanding his determination to offer his own flesh and blood, became agitated, irritated, and per- plexed by it, and prompted by their affection, spoke emphatically to this purport : ' We pray Your Majesty not to give way to your excessive love of charity in such a degree as to disregard the consequences of your actions, whether they are to be good or evil to your loyal and devoted subjects. Your Majesty cannot be ignorant of the nature of the evil spirits. 27. ' Goblins, you know, rejoice in whatsoever may tend to the mishap of your subjects, most illustrious lord. They get satisfied by a livelihood necessitating injury to others. Such is the nature of that class of beings, benevolent master. 28. ' You, Your Majesty, not minding your own pleasures, sustain the toilsome burden of royalty ex- clusively for the happiness of your people. Cease, therefore, from this determination of offering your flesh and blood ; it is a wrong action. 29. ' These goblins have no power over your people, Your Majesty, no doubt, as long as your strength protects your subjects. So being obstructed in their cleverness in bringing about mischief, they seek the calamity of the inhabitants of this country by means of an adroit scheme. 30. ' In fact, the Celestials are pleased with fat, suet, and the like, offered to them in the fire at sacrifices, and these goblins should not like Your Majesty's food, that is excellent and pure, being carefully prepared ! 'Surely, Your Royal Majesty is not obliged to 64 GATAKAMALA. communicate your designs to such as we. Notwith- standing this, the attachment to our duty forbids us to show in this matter our usual obedience. Can it be called a righteous action of Your Majesty to throw your whole people into calamity for the sake of those five ? Moreover, for what reason do you make us feel to this degree your want of affection ? How else could it happen that our flesh and blood, which we are employing in the service of our master, have remained unnoticed by you, but you form the desire of offering your own, while our bodies are entire and available ?' Then the king spoke to those ministers : 31. 'Being requested in distinct terms, how may anybody like me say " I have not," when having, or " I will not give," speaking falsely ? 32. ' Since I pass for your leader in matters of righteousness, if I myself should walk in the wrong path, what would be the condition of my subjects, who are ready to follow the example of my behaviour ? 33. ' Therefore, it is with regard to my very subjects that I will have the strength of my body taken out of it. Besides, if I were to be faint-hearted, subdued by self-love, what power should I have to promote the welfare of my people ? ' As to the words of love and respect which you have spoken, words full of affection and cordial sympathy, when you asked why I showed such want of affection, wishing to offer my own limbs even now, while your flesh and blood are intact and available, I will convince you by argument. Surely, do not think that by want of trust I mean to close up the path in which you could show your affection towards me, or that suspicion has created an impenetrable thicket across it. Yet, 34. ' The proper time for friends to conceive the desire of succouring their friend is this, when his wealth has either diminished gradually, or has been destroyed by the disfavour of his destiny; but it would not befit the poor acting thus towards a wealthy man. 35. 'Now, my limbs are available. They are big, VIII. THE STORY OF MAITRtBALA. solid, fleshy. Them I do sustain for die sake of supplicants. This being so, it would be unfit even for you to conceive such a desire. 36. 'I am not capable of bearing the pain of strangers, how then can you suppose I should bear your suffering ? Therefore, I wish to offer my own flesh. It is I, whom they ask, not you. 'Well, then, though attachment to my person gave you the courage to put obstacles in the way of my righteous behaviour, do not oppose my determination any longer. Verily, Your Lordships are not in the habit of dealing in the proper manner with my mendi- cants. Besides, you should also consider this. 37. ' He who prohibits any one wishing for his own sake to give in charity food or the like, say, by what appellation is he to be called, a pious man or an im- pious one ? How much less can there be any doubt about this in the case of a gift of this character ? 'Why then insist any longer ? Do but examine the matter duly, and you will keep your thoughts from the wrong path, as befits those who occupy a minister- ship in my service. In fact, sympathetic words of ap- proval would now become Your Lordships more than these anxious looks. Why do I say so ? 38. 39- ' Beggars, wanting money and goods, objects of various employment, are to be found every day, are they not ? but mendicants like these cannot be obtained even by propitiating deities. Now considering the frailness of my body and that it is an abode of woe, it would be meanness of mind, I think, even to hesitate at the time of the appearance of such uncommon mendicants ; but miserable self-love would be here the deepest darkness. ' Pray, do not withhold me, then, My Lords.' Having so persuaded his council, he sent for the physicians, and after having five veins in his body opened by them, he spoke to the Yakshas : 40. ' Deign to assist me in this pious performance and to procure for me the highest gladness by accepting this bounty.' F 66 GATAKAMALA. They assented and began to drink, intercepting with the hollow of their joint hands the king's blood, the dark colour of which resembled fragrant red sandal. 41. While allowing the nocturnal monsters to drink the blood from his wounds, the monarch shone as if his body were of gold, and he had the appearance of Mount Meru covered with rain-clouds hanging down by their weight, and tinged with the hue of the twilight. 42. In consequence of the high degree of his gladness, of his magnanimous forbearance, and also of his cor- poreal strength, his body did not fade, nor did his mind faint, and the flowing blood did not lessen. The Yakshas, having quenched their intense thirst, said to the kino- that it was enoug-h. o o 43. Considering that he had now disposed of his body, that always ungrateful object and abode of many pains, so as to turn it into a means of honouring mendi- cants, his satisfaction grew no less when they ceased. Then the king, the serenity of whose countenance was enhanced by his expanding joy, took a sharp sword. It had a spotless bluish blade, not unlike a petal of the blue lotus, and a beautiful hilt shining with brilliancy by the lustre of the jewels which adorned it. With it he cut pieces of flesh out of his body and presented the Yakshas with them. 44. And the joy he experienced by giving did not leave room for the sense of pain caused by cutting, and prevented his mind again and again from being im- mersed in sorrow. 45. So the pain, pushing on at each stroke of the sharp sword, but driven far back again by his gladness, was slow in penetrating his mind, as if it were tired by the trouble of being; urged to and fro. 46. And he was feeling a sense of gladness alone, whilst he satisfied the nocturnal goblins with pieces of his flesh, to such an extent that the cruel hearts of those very beings unclosed themselves to softness. 47. He who, moved by love of the Law or by com- passion, abandons his own dear body for the benefit of others, such a man may be able to regenerate the hearts VIII. THE STORY OF MAITRIBALA. 67 of men burnt by the fire of hatred, changing it into the gold of tenderness and faith \ The Yakshas, beholding the monarch, who, though intent on cutting out his own flesh, was yet as calm as ever, and exhibited an unshaken serenity of countenance and dauntless intrepidity against the pain caused by the work of his sword, became affected with the utmost tenderness and admiration. 48. ' Oh, it is a wonder ! oh, it is a miracle ! Can it be true, or is it perhaps a phantasm ? ' Such thoughts arose in their ecstatic minds ; and the wrath they had fostered against the king was crushed, and they began to proclaim their faith by veneration and praise of his deed. ' No more, no more, Your Majesty,' they exclaimed ; ' cease injuring your own body ! This marvellous per- formance of yours, by which you win the hearts of all mendicants, has satisfied us.' So with great agitation, and respectfully bowing their heads, they bade the king stop ; after which, they looked up to him with great regard, uplifting their faces moistened with tears of faithful contrition, and continued 49. ' Justly people are prompted by devoutness to proclaim everywhere your glory. J ustly .Sri, disdaining the lotus-pond, loves to reside with you. Verily, if Heaven, though protected by .Sakra's sovereignty, does not feel something like jealousy, when it looks down on this earth, guarded by your heroism — Heaven, for- sooth, is deceived. 'Why use many words ? Mankind is happy, indeed, being under the protection of such a person as you ; but we, we are utterly distressed at having approved of your suffering. Yet, we hope that applying to such a being as you are, may prove a means of salvation for us, be we ever so wicked as we are. Thus hoping, we put this question to you. 1 'Tender-heartedness' or 'softness of mind' and 'faith in the Buddha' are expressed by the one word prasada. I have as a rule translated it according to the conception prevailing, but there is equiva- lence here. F 2 68 GATAKAMALA. 50. 'What is that exceedingly marvellous rank for which you long, acting in this way without regard to your royal happiness, that beloved state which you possess at your ease ? 51. 'Is it the sovereignty of the whole earth you covet by means of this penance, or is it the rank of Kubera or that of Indra, or entire deliverance and absorption into the Brahma ? 52. 'Be it what it may, the goal you are striving after cannot be very far from this strong determination. If we are allowed to hear it, you would please us by telling it, sir.' The king spoke : ' Hear then, for what I am exerting myself. 53-55. 'An illustrious high rank depends on exist- ence, it is to be obtained by effort, and may be easily lost. It cannot give the pleasure of satisfaction, much less tend to serenity of mind. For this reason, I do not desire even the brilliancy of the Lord of the Devas, how much less, that of a king of the earth. Nor would my heart become content, if I were to succeed in destroying the suffering of myself alone 1 . I rather regard those helpless creatures, distressed by toil and sufferings because of the violent calamities and vices to which they are liable. For their sakes, may I by means of this my meritorious action attain All-knowing- ness, and vanquishing the evil passions, my enemies, may I save the creatures from the Ocean of Existence, that rough sea with its billows of old age, sickness and death ! ' On hearing this, the Yakshas, the hairs on whose bodies bristled in consequence of the intense joy of faith, bowed to the king, and said : ' This performance of yours is consistent with your extraordinary deter- mination. Accordingly we venture to express our con- viction concerning it : the designs of such persons as you will be accomplished after a short time. 1 This is said in answer to the question whether he aimed at absorption into Brahma [or 'into the Brahma,' the Sanskrit word being brahmabhuyaj. VIII. THE STORY OF MAITRIBALA. 69 56, 57. 'No doubt, all your exertions tend to the salvation of all creatures ; yet deign to take a special care of us, pray do not forget us at that time l . And now forgive us what we have done from ignorance, causing you to be thus tortured : we did not understand even our own interest. 58. ' Further, we beg you to show us your favour by giving us some injunction which we may follow. Do it with the same confidence, as you would to your own officials.' Upon which the king, knowing them to be converted and to have lost their hard-heartedness, spoke in this manner: 'Do not be in trouble without reason. It is no torment, in fact it is a benefit you have conferred on me. Moreover, 59. ' The path of righteousness (dharma) being thus (difficult), how should I ever forget my companions on that road, when once I shall have attained Supreme Wisdom (bod hi) ? My first teaching of the Lore of Liberation shall be to you ; to you I shall impart of that ambrosia first. 60. 'And if you now intend to do what may be agreeable to me, you must avoid like poison these sins : doing harm to others, coveting the goods or wives of others, speaking evil, and drinking intoxicating liquors.' The Yakshas promised to do so, and having bowed to him and circumambulated him from left to right, disappeared on the spot. But when the Great Being had made up his mind to give away his own flesh and blood, at that very time 61. 62. Earth trembled in many places and caused the Golden Mountain to waver, in consequence of which concussion the drums on that mountain began to sound and the trees to cast off their flowers. These spread about in the sky, and moved by the wind appeared like a cloud ; at one place, like a flight of birds, they 1 Viz. ' at the time of your All-knowingness, when you will have reached Buddhahood.' JO GATAKAMALA. resembled a canopy; at another they bore the appear- ance of a well-arranged garland. They fell down together on all sides of the place where the king was. 63. The great Ocean, as if he intended to prevent the monarch, showed his excitement and agitation by the increased commotion and noise of his waves, and his figure expressed great vigour as if he were ready to march l . 64, 65. Then the Chief of the Devas became agitated by those phenomena ; and discovering by reflection the cause of them, and being filled with apprehension at the sufferings to which the king ex- posed himself, hastily came to the royal residence, where he found every one perplexed with sorrow and fear, except the king. On beholding the calmness of his countenance, though he was in so miserable a con- dition, .Sakra was affected with the utmost amazement. He approached the monarch, and impelled by gladness and joy, he eulogised his performance in his lovely voice. 66. ' Oh, thou hast reached the summit of pious behaviour ! oh, the loftiness of thy treasure which is the practice of virtue ! oh, how charmingly clever is thy mind in showing thy favour to others ! Verily, being given to thee, Earth has obtained a protector ! ' After so praising him, 6akra, the Lord of the Devas, applied excellent herbs, fit to heal wounds immediately, which herbs were partly divine, partly such as are used by men. So he put a stop to his pains, and made his body as it was before. In return for which the king honoured him by kind attendance in a courteous and reverent manner. Then .Sakra went back to his own abode. In this way, then, the intensely compassionate do not mind their own pleasure, being afflicted by the 1 Viz. to relieve the king. In this simile the Ocean is represented as an auxiliary prince who raises his army to the succour of his ally. IX. THE STORY OF VISVANTARA. 7 1 sufferings of others ; [who, then, ought not to set aside the attachment to anything so mean as wealth ? Thus ought to be said when stimulating the zeal of charitable people. Likewise, when explaining the virtue of compassion ; when glorifying the Tathagata ; also on the subject of listening with attention to the preaching of the Law. Moreover, the words said by the Lord : ' Monks, these Five have done much, indeed,' will be explained by their being connected with this story. For they were the five Yakshas of that time. To them the Lord imparted the first of the ambrosia of the Law, just as he had promised.] The story of Maitribala is not met with in the Aariyapi/aka nor in the five volumes of the Pali Cataka, which have appeared up to date ; it will probably be found in the part not yet published. Something like it is told in the ninety-first pallava of Kshemendra's Avadanakalpalata. There a king of the £ibis gives up his flesh and blood in order to obtain a sukta or well-said sentence 1 . This tale, however, is not yet printed, nor may we expect it soon to be so. But in another part of that poem, already published, I have met with the story of king Mam/iiWa, which bears in many respects a striking resemblance to ours. See 3, 56 foil. IX. The Story of Vlsvantara. The mean-spirited are not even capable of approving the behaviour of the Bodhisattva, how much less can they act after it. This will be taught by the following. Once the ^Sibis were ruled by a king named Saw^aya, who performed his royal duties in the right manner. Having entirely subdued his organs of sense, and possessing in a high degree the virtues of valour, discretion, and modesty, he was victorious and mighty. Thanks to the constant and strict observance he paid to the elders, he had mastered the essential contents of the three Vedas (trayi) and of metaphysics. His good administration of justice was praised by his 1 Somendra in his introductory jlokas describes the ninety-first story thus: svamawsas/'/kpradanena yah S\b\h suktam agrahit (s\. 36). 72 GATAKAMALA. affectionate subjects, who loved the exercise of their different trades and duties, and enjoyed the benefits of security and peace. i. By the progress of his virtues he had gained the affection of Royal Felicity, who, like an honest woman, was faithful to him, not to be thought of by the other monarchs ; just as a den kept by a lion is inaccessible to other animals. 2. All such men as spent their labours in any kind of penance, science or art, used to come up to him, and if they proved their merit, they obtained distinguished honour from him. Next to him in dignity, but not his inferior by a famous set of virtues, his son Vi^vantara held the rank of heir-apparent. ?. Though a youth, he possessed the lovely placidity of mind proper to old age ; though he was full of ardour, his natural disposition was inclined to forbearance ; though learned, he was free from the conceit of know- ledge ; though mighty and illustrious, he was void of pride. 4. As the extent 2 of his virtue was conspicuous in all regions and his fame penetrated the three worlds, there was no room for the feeble and trifling reputa- tions of others ; it seemed as if they did not venture to show themselves. 5. He could not endure the proud prevalence of calamities and other causes of sufferines among- man- kind. It was against these foes that he waged war and fought in battle, shooting from his large bow of compassion numberless arrows which had the form of gifts of charity. So he was wont to fill day after day the mendicants who happened to come to him with the utmost gladness by his bounties, given without difficulty, surpassing the objects asked for, and the more lovely, as they were bestowed with deference and kind words. But on the 1 I suppose the reading of the MSS. dr/sh/aprayamasu to be right. IX. THE STORY OF VLSVANTARA. 73 knotdays 1 , as he was distinguished by his strict obser- vance of the restrictions and the quiet of the sabbath, after bathing his head and putting on a white linen dress, he mounted his excellent, well-trained, swift, and vigorous elephant, who (by his colour and size) might be com- pared to a peak of the Snow-mountain, whose face was adorned with the tracks of the juice flowing in rutting- time, and on whose body auspicious marks were found. Sitting, then, on the back of that far-famed scent- elephant 2 and royal vehicle, he was in the habit of making the round of his alms-halls, which he had established in all parts of the town to be like refresh- ing wells for the mendicants. So going about, he experienced an excessive gladness. 6. No opulence, in truth, within doors procures to a charitable man such rejoicing, as it produces when transferred to the mendicants. Now his very great practice of charity being pro- claimed everywhere by the rejoiced mendicants, some neighbouring kino- who had heard of it, considering that it would be possible to deceive the young prince by means of his passion for almsgiving, directed some Brahmans, his emissaries, to rob him of that excellent elephant. Accordingly one day, when Vi.rvantara was inspecting his alms-halls, manifesting his gladness of mind by the enhanced beauty of his countenance, the said Brahmans placed themselves in his way, uttering benedictions with their uplifted and outstretched right hands. He stopped his excellent elephant, and asked them respectfully the reason of their coming ; they had but to express their want, he said. The Brahmans spoke : 7, 8. ' Both the excellent qualities of this elephant of thine, who has so graceful a gait, and thy heroic love of charity make us like beggars. Present us with this (white) elephant, who is like a peak of the Kailasa 1 Viz. the sabbath-days. 2 Cp. stanza 6 of Story II. 74 GATAKAMALA. mountain, and thou wilt fill the world with astonish- ment.' The Bodhisattva being thus addressed, was filled with sincere joy and entered upon this reflection : 1 Truly, after a long- time I now see mendicants re- questing a grand boon. But, after all, what may be the want of such a lord of elephants to these Brahmans? No doubt, this must be a miserable trick of some kino- whose mind is troubled with covetousness, jealousy, and hatred. 9. ' Yet that prince, who, not minding either his reputation or the precepts of righteousness, is eager, as it were, to promote my good 1 , must not be saddened by disappointment.' Having thus considered, the Great-minded One alighted from the back of that excellent elephant and stood before them with uplifted golden pitcher ; then he pronounced (the solemn formula) ' Accept.' 10. After which, though knowing that the science of politics follows the path of Righteousness (dharma) only as far as it may agree with material interest (artha), he gave away his foremost elephant. His attachment to Righteousness did not allow him to be frightened by the lie of political wisdom. 1 1. Having given away that lord of elephants, who, adorned with the lovely golden lattice-seat on his back, resembled a massy cloud of autumn, radiant with a flash of lightning 2 , the royal prince obtained the utmost delight — but the citizens were stricken with consternation, for they were adherents of political wisdom. In fact, when the ^Sibis heard of the gift of that lord of elephants, anger and wrath penetrated them, and the eldest of the Brahmans, the ministers, the warriors, 1 Inasmuch as his covetousness affords to the Bodhisattva an occasion of performing an extraordinary deed of charity. Compare a similar argument in Story XXXIII, stanza 15. 2 In the Pali redaction which is the source of Spence Hardy's narration of our tale, it is said that this white elephant had the power of causing rain. IX. THE STORY OF VLSVANTARA. 75 and the chiefs of the townsmen, making hubbub went into the presence of king Sa?/^ r aya. Owing to their agitation, resentment, and anger, they neglected the restraint imposed on them by the respect due to their monarch, and spoke: 'Why do you overlook in this manner, Your Majesty, the fortune of your kingdom being carried off ? Your Majesty ought not to overlook that in this way you are fostering the misfortune ot your realm.' When the king, alarmed, asked them what they meant by this, they replied : ' Why, are you not aware of what has happened, Your Majesty ? 12, 13. 'That splendid animal, whose face, being- fragrant with the scent of the flowing juice, intoxicates crowds of humming bees hovering about, and likewise impregnates the cherishing wind with its perfume, so as to induce him to wipe off gladly and easily the smell caught from the fluid of other haughty elephants ; that war-elephant, whose brilliant vigour subdued the strength and the power of your enemies, and abated their pride even unto the motionlessness of sleep — see, that embodied victory has been given away by Vis- vantara and is now being carried off abroad. 14. ' Kine, gold, clothes, eatables, such are the goods fit to give to Brahmans, but parting with our foremost elephant, the pledge of glorious victory, is an excess of charity, and goes too far. 15. 'How should success and might ever join this prince who acts up to this point contrary to the maxims of policy? In this matter forbearance from your side is out of place, Your Majesty, lest he should before long afford matter of rejoicing to your enemies.' On hearing this, the king, who loved his son, was not very kindly disposed towards them ; but sub- mitting to necessity, he told them hastily, they were right ; after which he tried to appease the iSlbis. ' I know,' he said, ' that VLrvantara indulges in his disproportionate passion for charity so as to neglect for it the rules of political wisdom, which behaviour is not suitable for a person appointed to the royal charge. But as he has resigned his own elephant, as if it were 76 GATAKAMALA. phlegm, who will bring back that animal ? Neverthe- less, I shall take such measures that Visvantara will know a limit in his almsgiving. This may suffice to appease your anger.' The .Sibis answered : ' No, Your Majesty, this will not do. Vbvantara is no person to be brought to reason in this matter by a simple censure.' Samgaya spoke : ' But what else can I do ? 16. 'He is averse to sinful actions, only his attachment to virtuous practices is turning into a kind of passion. Why, should you then deem imprisonment or death inflicted on my own son to be the due requital for that elephant ? ' Therefore, desist from your wrath ! Henceforward I will prevent Visvantara irom such actions.' Notwithstanding this, the .Sib is persisted in their anger and said : 17, 18. 'Who would be pleased, O king, with the pain of death, or prison, or flogging pronounced upon your son ? But being devoted to his religious duties, Vuvantara is not fit to be a bearer of the troublesome burden of royalty, because of his tenderness of heart and his compassion. Let the throne be occupied by such princes, as have obtained renown for their martial qualities and are skilled in the art of giving its due to each of the three members of the trivarga; but your son, who in consequence of his love of Righteousness (dharma), does not heed Policy (nay a), is a proper person to dwell in a penance-grove. 19. 'Surely, if princes commit faults of bad policy, the results of those faults fall on their subjects 1 . They are however bearable for them, after all, as is taught by experience ; not so for the kings themselves, the very roots of whose power they undermine. 20. ' Why, then, here say much ? Not capable of conniving at a state of things which must lead to your 1 This Indian parallel to the Horatian verse quidquid deli rant reges, plectuntur Achivi, runs thus in the original: phalanti kama/ra vasudhadipanaw durnitidoshas tadupa^riteshu. IX. THE STORY OF VLSVANTARA. J J ruin, the .Sibis have taken this resolution. The royal prince must withdraw to Mount Vahka, the residence of the Siddhas ; there he may exert his penance.' Being- so addressed for his good in very harsh terms by those dignitaries, who moved by affection and love spoke frankly, foreseeing the calamities to be expected from bad policy, the king was ashamed of the wrath of the chiefs of his people, and with downcast eyes, overwhelmed by the sorrowful thought of a separation from his son, he heaved a deep, woeful sigh, and said to the .Sibis : ' If this is your peremptory decision, allow him, at least, the delay of one day and night. To- morrow at day-break Vi.rvantara shall accomplish your desire.' This answer satisfied the .Sibis. Then the king said to his chamberlain : 'Go and tell Vi.svantara what has happened.' The chamberlain said he would do so, and, his face bathed in tears, went to VLsvantara, who was at that moment in his own palace. Over- whelmed by his sorrow, he threw himself at the feet of the prince, weeping aloud. Then Vi^vantara anxiously inquired after the health of the royal family ; the other said in a voice rather indistinct by affliction: ' O, the royal family is well.' ' But why are you thus excited, then ? ' Visvantara replied. Being so asked once more, the chamberlain whose throat was choked with tears, uttered slowly and in a faltering tone these words, interrupting and disturbing them by his sobs : 21. 'Brusquely disregarding the royal command, though it was declared to them in gentle terms, the .5 ibis, moved by anger, order you to be banished from the kingdom, my prince.' VLsvantara said : ' Me .... the -Sibis .... order to be banished, moved by anger ! What you say is out of all reason. 22. ' Never did I take delight in leaving the path of discipline, and 1 detest carelessness about my duties. What evil action of mine, unknown to me, makes the .Sibis angry with me ? ' The chamberlain said : £ They are offended at your exceeding loftiness of mind. 78 GATAKAMALA. 23, 24. ' Your satisfaction was pure by the disin- terested feeling you experienced, but that of those mendicants was troubled by cupidity. When you gave away that foremost of elephants, O most noble prince, wrath put the Slb'is out of patience and caused them to transgress the limits of their duty. They are furious against you. You must go, indeed, the way of those who live as ascetics.' At this moment the Bodhisattva displayed both his deeply-rooted affection for the mendicants which his continuous practice of compassion had firmly estab- lished, and his grand, immense patience. He said : ' The nature of the Sib'is is fickle, and they cannot understand mine, it seems. 25. ' The objects of sense being outside of ourselves, it is superfluous to say that I would give away my eyes or my head 1 . For the benefit of the creatures I support this body, how much more the possession of clothes and vehicles. 26. ' Me, wanting to honour the requests of the mendicants, if need be, with my own limbs, the Sib'is believe to restrain from charity by fear ! So consider- ing, they do but unfold their foolish fickleness of mind. 27. ' Let all ^Sibis kill me or banish me, I shall not desist from charity for that reason. With this mind I am ready to set out for the penance-grove.' After this, the Bodhisattva said to his wife, who had turned pale while hearing the sad news: 'Your High- ness has heard the resolution of the .Sibis.' Madri 2 replied : ' I have.' Vrrvantara said : 28. ' Now make a deposit, fair-eyed one, of all your 1 The Bodhisattva is said to have given away his eyes in one ot his existences (Story II). The gift of his head is related in some ^-ataka, not found in this selection of Arya Sura. It occurs in Kshemendra's Avadanakalpalata, pallava the fifth. 2 It is plain that Sura supposes the story of Vuvantara to be known to his readers. Neither the name of Vi^vantara's wife nor even the fact of his being married has been told before. IX. THE STORY OF VLSVANTARA. 79 property, taking what you have got from my part as well as from your father's side 1 .' Madri answered : ' Where shall I lay the deposit, my prince ? ' Vlsvantara spoke : 29, 30. ' You must always give in charity to people of good conduct, embellishing your bounty by kind observance. Goods deposited in this manner are im- perishable and follow us after death. Be a loving daughter to your parents-in-law, a careful mother to our children. Continue in pious conduct, beware of inadvertence ; but do not mourn for my absence, will you ? ' Upon this, Madri, avoiding what might impair the firmness of mind of her husband, suppressed the deep sorrow that put her heart to anguish, and said with feigned calmness : 31, 32. ' It is not right, Your Majesty, that you should go to the forest alone. I too will go with you where you must go, my lord. When attending on you, even death will be a festival to me ; but living without you I deem worse than death. ' Nor do I think the forest-life to be unpleasant at all. Do but consider it well. 33. ' Removed from wicked people, haunted by deer, resounding with the warbling of manifold birds, the penance-groves with their rivulets and trees, both intact, with their grass-plots which have the loveliness of inlaid lapis lazuli floors, are by far more pleasing than our artificial ofardens. ' Indeed, my prince, 34. ' When beholding these children neatly dressed and adorned with garlands, playing in the wild shrubs, you will not think of your royalty. 35. ' The water-carrying brooks, overhung by natural bowers of perpetually renewed beauty, varying accord- ing to the succession of the seasons, will delight you in the forest. 1 On this stridhana, or ' wife's property,' see the paper of Jolly in the Suzungsber. der bair. Akad. der Wiss., 1876. 8o GATAKAMALA. 36, 37. ' The melodious music of the songs of birds longing for the pleasure of love, the dances of the peacocks whom Lasciviousness has taught that art, the sweet and praised buzzing of the honey-seeking bees : they make together a forest-concert that will rejoice your mind. 38, 39. ' Further, the rocks overspread at night with the silk garment of moonlight ; the soft-stroking forest wind impregnated with the scent of flowering trees ; the murmuring noise of the rivulets, pushing their waters over moving gravel so as to imitate the sound of a number of rattling female ornaments — all this will gladden your mind in the forest.' This entreaty of his well-beloved wife filled him with a great desire to set out for the forest. Therefore he prepared to bestow great largesses on the mendicant people. But in the king's palace the news of the banish- ment pronounced upon Vi.wantara caused great alarm and violent lamentations. Likewise the mendicants, agitated by sorrow and grief, became almost beside themselves, or behaved as if they were intoxicated or mad, and uttered many and various' lamentations of this kind : 40. 'How is it that Earth does not feel ashamed, permitting the hatchets to hew down that shady tree, her foster-child, the giver of such sweet fruits? It is now plain she has been deprived of consciousness.' 41. ' If no one will prevent those who are about to destroy that well of cold, pure, and sweet water, then in truth the guardians of the world-quarters are falsely named so, or they are absent, or they are nothing but a mere sound.' 42. ' Oh ! Indeed Injustice is awake and Righteous- ness either asleep or dead, since prince Visvantara is banished from his rei^n.' 43. ' Who possesses such a refined skill in occasioning distress, as to have the cruelty to aim at starving us, the guiltless, who obtain a scanty livelihood by begging ? ' IX. THE STORY OF VLSVANTARA. 8 1 The Boclhisattva then gave away his wealth. He bestowed on the mendicants the contents of his treasury, rilled to the very top with precious stones, gold, and silver, of the value of many hundred thousands ; his magazines and granaries, containing stores of manifold goods and grains ; all his other property, consisting of slaves of both sexes, beasts of draught, carriages, garments and the like. The whole of this he dis- tributed according to the merit of the recipients. This being done, he paid his respectful homage to his father and mother, taking leave of them, who were overwhelmed with sadness and grief. Then he mounted his royal chariot with his wife and children. He left the capital, while a great body of people uttered lamentations, the streets being as noisy as on a holiday; nor did he succeed without difficulty in making the crowd turn back, who followed him out of affection, shedding tears of sorrow. Then himself taking- the reins, he drove in the direction of Mount Varika. And without the least agitation of mind he passed along the environs of the capital, crowned with charm- ing gardens and groves, and approached the forest, betokened by the gradually increasing rareness of shady trees and of human beings, the sight of flocks of antelopes running at a far distance, and the chirping of crickets. Now by chance some Brahmans came to meet him, who begged from him the horses that were drawing- his chariot. 44. And he, though on a journey of many yq^anas without attendants, and burdened with his wife, gave away to these Brahmans his four horses, being rejoiced at this opportunity of giving, and not caring for the future. Now, when the Boclhisattva was about to put himself under the yoke, and was fastening the girth tightly round his waist, there appeared four young Yakshas, under the form of red deer. Like well-trained excellent horses they put their shoulders under the yoke them- selves. On seeing them, the Bodhisattva said to Madri, who stared at them with joy and surprise : G 82 GATAKAMALA. 45. ' Behold the extraordinary might of the penance- groves honoured by the residence of ascetics. Their kindness towards guests has in this degree taken root in the breast of the foremost of deer.' Madri replied : 46. 'This is rather your superhuman power, I sup- pose. The practice of virtue by the pious, however deeply rooted, is not the same with respect to every- body. 47. 'When the beautiful reflection of the stars in the water is surpassed by the laughing lustre of the night- waterlilies, the cause thereof is to be found in the beams which the Moon-Lrod sends down as if out of curiosity 1 .' While they were going on, so speaking to each other kind words of affection, see, another Brahman came near, and asked the Bodhisattva for his royal chariot. 48. And the Bodhisattva, as he was indifferent to his own comfort, but to the beggars a loving kinsman, fulfilled the wish of that Brahman. He gladly caused his family to alight from the chariot,' presented the Brahman with it, and taking 6"alin, his boy, in his arms, he continued his way on foot. Madri, she too free from sadness, took the girl, Kr/sh/za^ina, in her arms and marched after him. 49. The trees, stretching out to him their branches adorned at their ends with charming fruits, invited him, as it were, to enjoy their hospitality, and paying- homage to his merit-obtained dignity, bowed to him like obedient disciples, when they got sight of him. 50. And, where he longed for water, in those very places lotus-ponds appeared to his eyes, covered on their surface with the white and reddish-brown pollen fallen down from the anthers of the lotuses shaken by the wing-movements of the swans. 51. The clouds overspread him with a beautiful 1 The white waterlilies (kumuda) are said to open at moonrise. The connection between these flowers and the moon is a common- place in Indian poetry. IX. THE STORY OF VLSVANTAUA. 8,} canopy ; there blew an agreeable and odoriferous wind; and his path was shortened by Yakshas not enduring his labour and fatigue. In this manner the Bodhisattva with his wife and chil- dren experienced the pleasure and the delight of a walk, without feeling the sensation of weariness, just as if he were in some park, and at last he perceived Mount Varika. Being showed the way by some foresters, he went up to the penance-forest which was on that mountain. This forest was beset with manifold charm- ing and smooth-barked, excellent trees, with their orna- ments of twigs, flowers, and fruits ; birds exulting with lust made it resound with their various notes ; groups of dancing peacocks enhanced its beauty; many kinds of deer lived in it. It was encircled as with a girdle by a river of pure, blue water, and the wind was agreeable there, carrying red flower-dust. In this grove stood a desert hut of leaves, lovely to behold, and pleasing in every season. Vi^vakarman himself had built it by the orders of 6akra. There the Bodhisattva took up his residence. 52. Attended by his beloved wife, enjoying the artless and sweet talk of his children, not thinking of the cares of royalty, like one who is staying in his gardens, he practised in that grove strong penance for half a year. One day, when the princess had gone to seek roots and fruits, and the prince watching the children kept himself within the borders of the hermitage, there arrived a Brahman, whose feet and ankles were stiff with the dust of the journey, and whose eyes and cheeks were sunken by toil ; he was bearing over his shoulder a wooden club, from which his waterpot hung clown. His wife had despatched him with the pressing errand, to go and search after some attendance. When the Bodhisattva saw a mendicant coming up to him after a long time, his heart rejoiced, and his countenance began to beam. He went to meet him, and welcomed him with kind words. After the usual complimentary conversation he told him to enter the hermitage, G 2 84 GATAKAMALA. where he entertained him with the honour due to a guest. Then he asked him the object of his coming. And the Brahman, who through fondness for his wife had banished virtue and shame and was but eager to receive his boon, said in truth something like this : 53. 'Where a light is and an even road, there it is easy for men to go. But in this world the darkness of selfishness prevails to such a degree that no other men would support my words of request. 54. ' Thy brilliant renown of heroic almsgiving has penetrated everywhere. For this reason I have undertaken this labour of beeping: from thee. Give me both thy children to be my attendants.' Being so addressed, the Bodhisattva, that Great Being, 55. As he was in the habit of cheerfully giving to mendicants and had never learnt to say no, bravely said that he would oive even both his darlings. ' Bless thee ! But what art thou still waiting for ? Thus speaking the Brahman urged the Great Being. Now the children, having heard their father saying he would give them away, became afflicted, and their eyes filled with tears. His affection for them agitated him, and made his heart sink. So the Bodhisattva spoke : 56, 57. ' They are thine, being given by me to thee. But their mother is not at home. She went out to the forest in search of roots and fruits ; she will come back at evening-time. Let their mother see them, neatly dressed as they are now and bearing wreaths, and kiss x them (farew T ell). Rest this night here ; to-morrow thou shalt carry them away.' The Brahman said : ' Thy Reverence ought not to urge me. 58. ' A metaphorical name of womankind is " beau- 1 The literal translation is ' to smell at.' This old and traditional manner of caressing is prescribed in the ritual-books, see for instance, Ajvalayanag/v'byasutra I, 15, 9; Paraskara I, 18; Gobhila II, 8, 22 and 25. IX. THE STORY OF VISVANTARA. 85 tiful charmers l ," thou knowest. She might prove a hindrance to the fulfilment of thy promise. Therefore I do not like staying- here.' The Bodhisattva said : ' Do not think of that. My wife will not obstruct the fulfilment of my promise. She is in fact the companion of my pious practice 2 . But do as pleases Thy Reverence. Yet, great Brahman, thou shouldst consider this : 59-61. 'How should these children satisfy thy wants by slavework ? They are very young and weak and have never been accustomed to such kind of occupation. But the king of .Sibi, their grandfather, seeing - them fallen into this state of bondage, will doubtlessly give thee as much money as thou desirest to redeem them. Well, for this reason I pray thee, take them to his realm. When acting thus, thou wilt get the possession of great wealth and at the same time of righteousness.' 'No' (said the Brahman), 'I do not venture to come to this king with an offer which would excite his anger ; he would be unapproachable like a snake. 62. ' He would have the children torn from me by force, perhaps he would also inflict punishment on me. I shall bring them rather to my Brahmawi that they may attend on her.' Upon this the Bodhisattva said nothing but : ' Then as thou likest,' without finishing the sentence. He instructed the little ones with persuasive words how they had to act in accordance with their new condition of servants ; after which he took the waterpot, bending 1 I have tried to render approximately the ambiguousness of the original. Women are designated, says the Brahman, by the appel- lation of varaa/i. Now vaina means 'beautiful,' but pronounced with a different accent vama, it is a word signifying 'left, contrary, opposite.' - Vwvantara uses here the solemn appellation of sahadharma£ari»i ( = ' housewife ') with its full meaning. The formula sahobhau /*a- rata»z dharmam is uttered in the fourth or Pra^apatya form of marriage. Manu III, 30. 86 GATAKAMALA. it over the outstretched hand of the Brahman, greedy to accept the ratification of the gift. 63. Yielding to his effort, the water poured down from the pot, and at the same time tears fell with- out effort from his eyes resembling dark red lotus- petals. Overjoyed with his success, agitated by his excite- ment, and hastening to carry off the children of the Bodhisattva, the Brahman uttered a short phrase of benediction, and telling the children with a harsh voice of command to go out, he prepared to make them leave the hermitage. They, however, could not bear the too intense grief of separation, their hearts shrunk together and they embraced the feet of their father. Bathed in tears, they exclaimed : 64. ' Mother is out of doors, while you are about to give us away. Do not give us away before we have bidden adieu to mother too.' Now the Brahman reflected : ' The mother will return erelong, or it is likely that his paternal love will make him repent.' Thus considering, he tied their hands like a bundle of lotuses with a creeper, and as they were reluctant and looked back at their father, he began to drag those young and delicate children along with him, threatening them. At this moment K/7sh^a