The Jatakas
Page 22
Now, at that time the Bodhisatta had been reborn in a family of beggars. He used to go to the banks of the river with the king’s retinue and, seeing the good fortune of the naga king, he came to desire it and, standing near him, performed acts of generosity and protected his sila, his virtue. Seven days after the naga king died he died too and took rebirth in his palatial dwelling upon the regal couch: his body was large and had the appearance of a wreath of jasmine flowers. When he saw it, he was filled with remorse. ‘With the outcome of the good things that I have done, lordship in the six heavens was laid up in store, like grain. But I have taken rebirth in an animal form!’ 13And he considered thoughts of death. Then a young naga lady, named Sumana, or Jasmine, saw him and thought to herself, ‘It must be that this magnificent being is Sakka, who has taken rebirth!’ She gave a sign to the rest of the naga women and they all went with various kinds of musical instruments in their hands and gave offerings to him. The naga realm seemed like the realm of Sakka and the thought of death subsided. He abandoned the body of a serpent and, decorated with every kind of adornment, sat on the couch. From that time on he lived with a great reputation and ruled the naga kingdom there. After some time though he became remorseful and thought, ‘What is this animal birth to me? If I keep the uposatha, I’ll be freed from this world and go in the paths of men. I’ll penetrate the truths and bring an end to suffering.’ From that time, he used to keep the day there in the palace but when the adorned naga maidens went after him, he broke his vows. So from then on he left the palace and went into the garden, but the women went after him there too and he still broke his keeping of the uposatha day. So he thought, ‘I’ll really have to get out of the naga realm and go into the human world to live, keeping the uposatha’. So from that time [456] onwards on uposatha days he left the naga realm and went not far from an outlying town on top of a termite heap near the main road. With the thought, ‘Let those who want my skin seize me, and those who want to have me as a dancing snake do so,’ he gave his body up into the mouth of generosity and, winding himself in coils, lay down, keeping the uposatha. Those who came and went on the main road saw him and stepped forward to make offerings of perfumes and suchlike. The inhabitants of the outlying village, regarding him as a naga king of great potency, constructed a pavilion over him, spread sand all around and paid homage to him with perfumes and suchlike. From that time on people had faith in the Great Being, paid homage to him and made their wishes for children. The Great Being kept the uposatha on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month and lay on top of the termite heap and, according to this method of practice, returned to the naga realm, having passed his time observing the days in this way.
Now, one day his chief wife Sumana said, ‘Sire, you go to the world of humans and keep the uposatha. But the world of humans is risky and filled with danger; what if some danger comes to you? Tell me a sign now by which we can know.’ The Great Being led her down to the shore of a lucky pool and said, ‘Dear lady, if anyone harms me by hitting me the water in this pool will become disturbed. If garuda birds seize me the water will evaporate, and if a snake charmer captures me the water will turn blood red.’ In this way, he told her three signs. On the fourteenth day he left the naga realm, made a resolve for the uposatha, and lay down on top of the termite heap. The termite heap shone with the radiance of his body: his body was white like a chain of silver and his head was like a bleached ball for playing. In this Jataka, the body of the Bodhisatta was the size of the beam of a plough, in the Bhuridatta Jataka the size of a thigh and in the Sankhapala Jataka the size of a single trough-shaped canoe. 14
At that time a certain youth from Varanasi went to Taxila to be near a teacher that was renowned in all the directions [457], from whom he had learnt a mantra with power over sense objects. While he was travelling home on the road, he saw the Great Being and thought, ‘I’ll capture this serpent, get him to dance in towns, villages and royal cities and amass some wealth.’ So he procured some divine herbs and, reciting the divine mantra, went up to him. From the moment he heard the divine spell the Great Being felt as if red-hot needles had entered in his ears and his head was as if wounded with the edge of a sword. He thought, ‘Who can this be?’ and, lifting his head up from inside the coils, he looked and saw the snake charmer and thought, ‘This is strong poison for me. If I become angry I’ll snort the air out of my nostrils and destroy his body as if it were a fistful of chaff. 15 Now, this would be making a breach of sila, so I won’t look at him.’ Shutting his eyes, he retracted his head inside his coils. The brahmin snake charmer ate a herb and, reciting the spell, spat upon the body of the Great Being. By virtue of the power of the herbs and the charm, wherever the spit touched him it was as if eruptions of blisters arose. He then seized the naga by the tail and stretched him out so that he was full length. Then he squeezed him with a stick forked like a goat’s cloven foot until he was weak, grabbed his head hard and crushed it. The Great Being opened his mouth and the man spat into it and by the power of the herb and charm broke his teeth so his mouth was filled with blood. The Great Being, through fear of breaking his virtue, bore such suffering patiently and did not open his eyes, even for one look. The Brahmin thought, ‘I’ll make the naga king weak!’ and from tail to head he trod on him as if crushing his bones to powder. Then he wrapped him in strips of cloth and rubbed him with a rope rubbing, then he caught him by the tail and beat him with a cloth beating. 16 The entire body of the Great Being was smeared with blood but he still bore the intense pain patiently. Recognizing the Great Being’s weakened state he made a basket out of creepers [458], put him down into it and took him to the outlying town. He made him perform in the middle of a great crowd: becoming blue and other colours, in positions circling the four directions, [making] small and large shapes: whatever the brahmin wished, the Great Being danced exactly for him, even making his hood seem like a hundred or a thousand hoods. The crowd were pleased and gave the snake charmer a lot of money so that in one day he made a thousand pieces and took requisites having the value of a thousand. At first the brahmin had thought that he would release the naga when he had made a thousand, but when he had taken the money he decided, ‘I’ve earned this wealth in what is just an outlying town. What a great amount I’ll earn if I go near the king and the king’s ministers!’ So he obtained a cart and a comfortable carriage, had the requisites put in the cart, sat in the comfortable carriage and, with a great following, had the Great Being dance through villages and towns. ‘I’ll let him go when I’ve got him to perform in Varanasi for King Uggasena,’ he thought. He killed frogs and gave them to the naga king. However, the naga king repeatedly refused to eat them, on the grounds that no creature should die on his account. Then he gave him honey and sweet corn but the Great Being did not eat them, thinking, ‘If I take this as a feeding place death will only come to me inside a basket.’ When a month had passed the brahmin arrived at Varanasi and had the naga perform at the villages outside the gates; he took a great deal of money. Then the king summoned him and ordered him to get the naga to perform for him. The brahmin said, ‘Very well, O king. I will get him to perform for you tomorrow, on the fifteenth day of the month’. The king had a drum beaten with the proclamation: ‘Tomorrow the naga king will dance in the palace courtyard; let a crowd gather together to see him!’ The next day he had the royal courtyard decorated and called for the brahmin. He brought the Great Being in a jewelled basket and set the basket down on a multi-coloured rug, which he laid out. The king came down from the palace and sat down upon a royal seat, surrounded by crowds of people. The brahmin took the Great Being out and made him dance. The crowd simply could not stand still on their own; they twirled thousands of pieces of cloth in applause and rained a shower of the seven kinds of jewels down over the Bodhisatta. A full month had passed since his capture, and for all that time he had taken no food.
[459] Now Sumana thought to herself, ‘My beloved husband has been away a long time; it is now a full month in which he has not r
eturned. What can the reason be for this?’ So she went to the lotus pond to look there and saw that it had the appearance of blood. Realizing that a snake charmer must have captured him, she left the naga realm, went to the termite heap, and saw the spot where the Great Being had been seized and tormented. In tears she went to the outlying town and, asking, heard the news. So she went to Varanasi and stood in the sky in the middle of the gathering in the royal courtyard, weeping. The Great Being, who had been dancing, saw her and was ashamed. He crept in the basket and lay there. At the moment when he had gone into the basket the king asked, ‘What is the reason for this?’ Looking round here and there he saw Sumana hovering in the sky and spoke the first verse:
1.‘Who is this who has come, who shines like lightning or the healing star? 17
Goddess or heavenly minstrel? I cannot think that you are human.’
Now the exchange between them is given in the verses:
2. ‘I am not a goddess, nor a heavenly musician, nor a human.
I am a naga girl, revered sir, and I have come here with a purpose.’
3. ‘You rage with a distracted mind. Streams of water flow from your eyes.
What loss have you had? What is it that you yearn for? Lady, tell me this!’
4. ‘He who is also called the snake of great power:
This one the people call a naga, O king.
A man caught him and is making his living from him.
So release him from bondage: he is my husband.’
5. ‘How did a creature of such strength and energy
come to fall into the hands of a travelling merchant?
Explain the meaning of this, naga girl.
How can I know that he is a naga that has been captured?’
6. [460] ‘The naga could reduce a city into ashes:
in this he is endowed with strength and energy.
But the naga reveres what is right
and therefore exerts himself and follows an ascetic path.’
The king asked, ‘But how did this man catch him?’ And then she explained:
7.‘On the fourteenth and fifteenth days, sire,
the naga king rests at the crossroads.
But the man caught him and is making his living from him.
So release him from bondage: he is my husband.’
And when she had said this she spoke two more verses, entreating him:
8. ‘Sixteen thousand women, who wear jewelled earring,
and who live in the water, go to him as a refuge.
9. In accordance with what is right release him:
not with hasty violence, but with a village, a gold ornament, a hundred cows.
Let the snake go, with his body set free.
Let the one who wished only for merit be released from bondage!’
[461] And then the king spoke three verses:
10.‘In accordance with what is right I’ll release him:
not with hasty violence, but with a village, a gold ornament, a hundred cows.
Let the snake go, with his body set free.
Let the one who wished only for merit be released from bondage!
11. I’ll give a hundred gold ornaments, hunter, 18 and strong jewelled earrings,
and a four-cornered bed, shining regally with flax flowers.
12. And two wives that are your equal, and a bull and a hundred cows.
Let the snake go, with his body set free.
Let the one who wished only for merit be released from bondage!’
And the hunter replied:
13.‘Even without a gift, lord of men, but on your word,
let me release this snake from bondage.
Let the snake go, with his body set free.
Let the one who wished only for merit be released from bondage!’
When he had said this he took the Great Being out of the basket. The naga king came out and entered into a flower, abandoned his shape and, as if he had split the earth, emerged with the appearance of a young man, with body adorned, and stood there. Sumana came down from the sky and stood by him. The naga king stood paying respects to the king, making an anjali.
[462] In explanation the Teacher spoke two verses:
14. ‘Free, the Campeyyan naga said this to the king:
“I pay homage to you, king of Kasi, the one who brings prosperity to Kasi.
I hold out an anjali to you; I would see my own dwelling.
15. “They do indeed call it misplaced trust 19 for a human to place trust in a non-human.
But if you are asking me about this—then let me see your dwellings.’
And then the Great Being, having made the king trust him, made an oath and uttered two verses:
16. Even if the wind were to carry off a mountain,
the sun and earth were to fall to earth and all the rivers run against their stream,
I, O king, would not tell a lie.
17. The sky might burst, the ocean dry up,
the earth that bears all creatures and wealth might fall to pieces
and Mount Meru might pull up 20 its own roots, but
I, O king, would not tell a lie.’
When the Great Being spoke in this way, the king still did not have faith and said:
18.‘They do indeed call it misplaced trust for a human to place trust in a non-human.
But if you are asking me about this—then let me see your dwellings!’
The king spoke the verse again, adding, ‘You should recognize the excellent thing that I have done. It is up to me to find out whether [it is appropriate] to have faith in what is suitable, or what is not.’ Explaining this the king spoke another verse:
19.‘You are certainly large, extremely poisonous and of great brilliance;
you are also quick to anger.
It is because of me that you have been freed from bondage;
you should recognize those who have done this.’
So, to arouse faith in him, the Great Being made an oath, saying:
20. ‘Anyone who does not recognize a deed done on his behalf, like this,
should be cooked in a deep hell, should not take any pleasure
in his body and should go to his death imprisoned in a basket!’
The Great Being spoke this verse and the king, now confident in him, spoke his praise:
21. ‘May this be a true promise from you.
Be free from anger and not resentful.
And may all your naga tribe keep away from garudas
as men keep away from fire in the summer!’
The Great Being gave his praise in a verse:
22. ‘You show compassion on the tribe of nagas, lord of men,
like a mother on an only son who is very dear to her.
And so I, along with the tribe of nagas, will do a great service for you.’
[464] When he heard this the king wished to go to the naga realm and ordered the army to be made ready, saying:
23. ‘Let the well-trained Kambojan mules be yoked
to the cheerfully coloured royal chariots,
and the elephants with golden bridles too.
Let us go and see the dwelling places of nagas!’
Another verse was uttered by the Fully Awakened Buddha:
24. ‘Kettledrums, cymbals, little drums and conches were played for King Uggasena.
The king went, honoured and in great splendour, into the midst of the naga people.’
Just at the time of their departure from the city the Great Being, through his own power, made the naga realms visible, with the enclosing wall and the gate towers made of all kinds of jewels, and he created an approach road to the naga realm, made ready with decorations. The king, accompanied by his retinue, entered the naga realm by the road and saw the delightful, well-laid-out ground and palaces.
Explaining the matter the Teacher said:
25. ‘The one who brings prosperity to Kasi saw the ground heaped with gold
and the golden palaces set out with lapis lazul
i and crystal.
26. The king entered Campeyya’s dwelling, a palace,
which shone with the appearance of the sun and was as
brilliant as brass-like lightning. 21
27. He, the king of Kasi, looked round Campeyya’s dwelling, covered with various kinds of trees
and filled with many varieties of perfumes.
28. And as the king of Kasi entered Campeyya’s abode heavenly instruments played and naga girls danced.
29. [465] King Kasi, with a trusting mind,