by Andy Rotman
881Divy 535.2–3, vṛttir dīyatāṃ kim apriyākhyāyino vṛttir dīyata ity ayaṃ sa kālaḥ. This is a little obscure. Tatelman (2005: 375) offers this translation: “Then let my wages be paid.” “Why have we been paying you the wages of an announcer of ill tidings all this time?” Also possible is the following: “[Previously the king said,] ‘Give him a job.’ [And you said,] ‘Why is this bearer of bad news to be given a job?’ Well now is that time.”
882Following Vaidya (Divy-V 459.10), read kāryaṃ nivedayeti.Divy 535.4, kāryo nivedayati(sic ms. E; ms. A, niveyata; ms. B., niveyate; ms. C, nivedeti; ms. D, nivedayet). Tatelman (2005: 375) offers this translation: “Tell us what to do.” Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), following the Tibetan (178a6; 191a3), reads ko ’nyofor kāryo. That is, “who else will inform him?”
883Following Vaidya (Divy-V 459.14) and Skilling (2014: 503n12), read tūlamasiḥ.Divy 535.10, tūlam asiḥ. Here “ink” (masi) is a much better reading than “sword” (asi).
884Again read tūlamasiḥ.Divy 535.20–21, tūlam asiḥ.
885Divy 536.1–2, sa teṣāṃ lekhāṃ lekhayitvā. Or perhaps, reading against the Tibetan (178b8; 191b5), “He had them sign their names to it.”
886Following the Tibetan (178b8; 191b5) and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), add rājñaḥ. Divy 536.3 (omitted).
887Divy 536.11, apahṛtaḥ. Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), to make it agree with the subject, emends to apahṛtam.
888Following Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), read tad gatam etat. Divy 536.11–12, tad gatam | etat. Cf. Divy 272.22–23.
889Divy 536.16–17, ekena tāvad ahaṃ rājñā daśa diśo viśrānto ’yaṃ ca dvitīyaḥ. This idiom is tricky. Tatelman (2005: 381) offers this translation: “Until now, by only one king in the ten directions have I been pacified—and this is the second.” Cf. the Tibetan (179a5; 192a2–3).
890Divy 536.18, sa kaṇṭhe ’siṃ baddhvā. Or perhaps, “He tied his sword in supplication around his neck.”
891As Waldschmidt (1973: 383n4) observes, “The method of informing somebody of remarkable events through a painted sequence of scenes is repeatedly used in Indian art and literature.” Cf. Granoff 2000.
892Following the Tibetan (179b1; 192a7) and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), read rūpyamāṇaḥ. Divy 537.1, ruṣyamāṇah (mss., rupya-).
893Following Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), read sthāpitā. Divy 537.23, sthāpitaḥ.
894Divy 537.23, rājñaḥ saptame divase śoko vigataḥ| sa vigataśokaḥ. This might also refer to the observance of a mourning period. Thus, “For seven days the king observed a period of grief, and then his grief departed.”
895Divy 537.24–25, yathāvṛttaṃ niveditam. This could also mean, “Yogāndharāyaṇa informed him of what he had done,” but this doesn’t fit well with what follows. Cf. the Tibetan (180a2; 192b6–193a1). My thanks to J. R. Joshi for his thoughts on this passage.
896Following the Tibetan (180a2; 193a1). The king’s logic seems to be that with his two principal wives dead, he should now leave behind mundane affairs and become a monk. It is for just this reason, it seems, that his chief minister Yogāndharāyaṇa had his wife Anupamā imprisoned rather than killed. He doesn’t want the king to renounce. Divy 537.25–27, mākandikena (mss., -dike) śyāmāvatī praghātitā, tvayāpy anupamayā saparivārayā sārdhaṃ mayā pravrajitavyaṃ jātam iti. This is corrupt. Perhaps, “Mākandika killed Śyāmāvatī, and you likewise [killed Anupamā]. Otherwise I would have gone forth as monk, together with Anupamā and her retinue.” Tatelman (2005: 385), quite creatively, offers this translation: “Splendid! Mākandika caused Śyāmavatī’s death, although you and I should send Anupamā, together with her retinue, into exile.”
897Divy 538.5, navaśavāyā arthe. More literally, “about the recently deceased” or “about a fresh corpse.” This makes little sense in context, so I read creatively. J. R. Joshi (personal communication) suggests that, following the Pāli compound manguracchavī (“golden complexion”), there might have been a Middle Indic compound navachavī (“fresh complexion”), and that navachaviyāya could have produced the mis-Sanskritized form navaśavāyāḥ. Cf. Divy 537.29–30, amlānaśarīrā, and Divy 541.9, amlānagātrī. Or, perhaps, emend to navaśarīrā. Furthermore, following the Chinese version of the text, Waldschmidt (1973: 384) notes: “The king believes that a lover must have befriended her. She denies this and requests him to ask trustworthy Buddha for the explanation of her good looks” (emphasis added).
898Considering that the Sanskrit here is a little obscure, Hiraoka (2007: ii, 456n334) translates from the Tibetan. The Tibetan (180a6–7; 193a4–5) reads as follows:
“Do you have faith in the Blessed One?”
“Well, I met him.”
“At that time you called him ‘the ascetic Gautama.’ But now it seems you call him ‘Blessed One.’ I will not ask the Blessed One for someone like you who is so crass, but I will ask him for Śyāmāvatī’s sake.”
With that said, the king went before the Blessed One.
899Read udakabhrameṇa.Divy 538.10, anukrameṇa(mss., -brahameṇa).See note 872.
900Following Divy 282.11–18 (modified accordingly). Divy 538.12, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).
901Following Divy 282.27–28. Divy 538.15–16, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).
902Following Divy 133.8–9, 192.7–8, 313.14, etc., the Tibetan (181a3–4; 194a3), and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), read jvalanatapana-. Divy 539.3, tapana-.
903Read tāpi. Divy 539.8, tāni(sic mss.).
904Read -udakabhrameṇa.Divy 539.20, -anukrameṇa(mss., -bhrameṇa).
905Following Divy 55.9–12 (modified accordingly). Divy 529.22, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).
906Following Divy 54.2–10 (modified accordingly). Divy 539.29, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).
907Following Divy 282.26–28. Divy 540.2, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).
908The Tibetan (182a6; 195a6) translates this as gzungs byed.
909Following Divy 283.2. Divy 540.8, “and so on in its entirety as before” (iti vistaraḥ pūrvavad yāvat).
910Following the Tibetan (182b1–6; 195b1–5). Divy 540.12, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).
911Following the Tibetan (182b6; 195b6) and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), read bhaviṣyati. Divy 540.12, vinyasya.
912Read māpitā. Divy 540.14, māpitāḥ. Cf. Divy 59.20.
913Following the Tibetan (182b7–8; 195b7). Divy 540.14, “and so on as before” (pūrvavat). Cf. Divy 59.21, yūpasya paricārako vyavasthitaḥ.
914Here the Tibetan (183a3–6; 196a3–6) includes the formulaic passage that begins, “the deeds that she herself has performed and accumulated have now come together . . .” Cf. Divy 54.1–10; 131.6–14, 141.6–15, etc.
915Divy 540.27, taiḥ. Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), following the Tibetan (183a7; 196a7), reads tatra. That is, “there.”
916These bracelets, it seems, are functioning as a “bowl rest” (pātrādhiṣṭhānam). Cf. MSV iii, 98.3–4. For more on this term, see Schopen 2004: 277–78n13.
917Here the Tibetan (183b2–4; 196b2–5) again includes the formulaic passage that begins, “the deeds that she herself has performed and accumulated have now come together . . .” Cf. Divy 54.1–10; 131.6–14, 141.6–15, etc.
918Divy 541.8, yad. Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), following the standard formula, reads yena.
919Following the Tibetan (183b6; 196b6). Divy 541.8 (omitted).
920Following Divy 54.2–10 (modified accordingly). Divy 541.10, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).
921Here the Tibetan (184a3–185b5; 197a5–199a1) embeds an additional narrative. The brahman girl reluctantly makes an offering to the solitary buddha as well as a negative vow. This results in her being placed in a torture chamber for seven days without food and coming out undefiled and radiant. Next is a story of a woman who, as a result of a vow, is reborn as the daughter of Ghoṣila and given the name Śrīmatī. The Buddha explains that she was Rādh
ā (mgu byed) from a previous life. For more, see Hiraoka 2007: ii, 460nn409–10.
922Following the Tibetan (185b6; 199a3). Divy 541.27 (omitted).
923Following the Tibetan (185b6; 199a3) and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), read cārakam. Divy 541.28, dārakam.That is, “I’m going to deliver a child.”
924Divy 542. 3, tadātmanaḥ. Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 66) suggests tad ātmanaḥ.
925Following Cowell and Neil’s query (Divy 542n1), Tatelman (2005: 402.19), the Tibetan (185b8; 199a5), and Hiraoka (HA 29; HD 66), read kakṣāyām. Divy 542.4, kāyām.
926Following the Tibetan (186a1; 199a5) and Hiraoka (HA 29; HD 66), read bhūmiparikarma. Divy 542.6, bhūri(sic ms. D; mss. ABCE, bhūmi-) karma. Otherwise, following Tatelman (2005: 403), “He had a lot of other work done.”
927Following Divy 310.9–14 (modified accordingly) and the Tibetan (186a5–7; 199b2–4). Divy 542.15, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).
928Divy 542.17, bhagavān aupadhike sthitaḥ. Edgerton (BHSD, s.v. aupadhika) notes: “bhagavān aupadhike ’sthāt abhinirhṛtapiṇḍapātaḥ (Divy sthitaḥ, omit abhi-), ‘The Lord remained (without partaking of) the material gift (a meal which his monks received)’ MSV ii, 128.3; 180.5 (Tib. bsgrubs pa na bzhugs nas, remained when [the meal] was supplied).” Waldschmidt (1973: 380) translates this expression as “remained behind without partaking of (and) received alms food (at his residence).” Schopen (2010: 117) suggests “to achieve an objective, remained away and had alms brought to him.” He also remarks that “the expression in both languages [i.e., Sanskrit and Tibetan] is open to more than one interpretation.” The Tibetan (186a8; 199b5) omits this sentence. See too a copperplate grant from the fifth or sixth century in Andhra Pradesh that includes the phrase tyāga-paribhogānvayam aupadhikañ ca puṇyakriyāvastv. For additional citations regarding this inscription, see Schopen 1996: 116n69 and 2004: 255n69.
929Following MSV ii, 128.4, the Tibetan (186a8; 199b5), and Tatelman (2005: 404.15), read abhinirhṛtapiṇḍapātaḥ.Divy 542.19, abhinirhṛtaṃ mantrayate sma. Edgerton (BHSD, s.v. abhinirharati) offers this translation and observation: “He (Buddha) considered (reflected on) what he had undertaken (produced? realized? or initiated, taken upon himself?); but in parallel passage MSV ii, 128.3 [= 236.24–25] and 180.5 [= 262.19] abhinirhṛta-piṇḍapātaḥevidently means, ‘when almsfood had been produced’ (entertainment provided by a layman), and I suspect a corruption in mantrayate.” Perhaps, more loosely, “then there was a discussion about the offering of meals.”
In a parallel passage in the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya (MSV ii, 128.5–8), the five reasons are listed: “What are the five? [1] When they wish to withdraw for meditation; [2] when they wish to expound the dharma to deities; [3] when they wish to consider particular accommodations; [4] when they wish to look after the sick; [5] when they wish to instruct their disciples in the precepts of the monastic code.” Cf. the Tibetan (186a8–186b2; 199b5–7).
930Divy 542.21, upadhivārakasya. Elsewhere (i.e., Divy 237.17–18) I take this to mean “an acting caretaker of a monastery.” Cf Silk 2008b: 85–86.
931Divy 542.22, smṛtim upasthāpayati(sic mss.; ms. C adds sa praviśāmayati) praviśāmayati. Perhaps, reading creatively, “Śāriputra then established himself in a state of mindfulness [and remembered] that [the Buddha] permits others to enter [in his place].” My thanks to J. R. Joshi for this suggestion. Vaidya (Divy-V 463.27) emends to praviśāmeti, and I follow his emendation. The Tibetan (186b4–5; 200a2) reads dran pa nye bar zhog shig dang ’jug par bya’o zhes. Hiraoka (2007: ii, 462n437) suggests smṛtim upasthāpya praviśāma iti. That is, “Let us establish ourselves in a state of mindfulness and then enter.”
932Following Divy 310.21–25 (modified accordingly). Divy 542.25, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).
933Following the Tibetan (187a1–2; 200a6–7) and Hiraoka (HA 29; HD 66), read kuśalamūlāni na vā. Divy 543.1, kuśalamūlāni | na. Cf. Divy 331.28–29.
934Following the Tibetan (187a3; 200b1) and Hiraoka (HA 29; HD 66), read pratyayaṃ kṛtvā. Divy 543.6, pratyakṣaṃ kṛtvā.
935Following Divy 52.25–53.5 and Divy 310.29–311.8 (modified accordingly). Divy 543.9, “here it is to be recited in its entirety as before” (pūrvavad yāvat sarvaṃ vādyam). The version of this passage that occurs on Divy 52.25 and following contains verses (Divy 52.28–53.5) that I include here to create the formulaic passage “in its entirety.” Tatelman (2005: 407–411) does likewise. Cf. the Tibetan (187a4–187b2; 200b2–7).
936Following the Tibetan (201a2) and Hiraoka (HA 29; HD 66), omit bhikṣavaḥ (Divy 543.14). Otherwise—although this is a stretch—read ārocayanti for ārocayati and take bhikṣavaḥas the subject rather than as a vocative.
937Previously (Divy 542.19–22) it was said that “orders from four types of people are not to be refused.”
938Divy 543.18–19, atha bhagavān śikṣākāmatayā varṇam bhāṣitvā pūrvavad yāvat pūrvikā prajñaptiḥ. This is difficult to translate, and I find myself in agreement with Tatelman (2005: 423): “Of the dozens of places in these stories where pūrvavad yāvat, inserted in the text, signals that a passage has been abbreviated, this was one of the very few instances I have been unable to fill.” According to the Tibetan (187b5–6; 201a3–5), “The Buddha praised those who desire training, those who respect training, and those who minimize their belongings [in respect to training]. Then the Buddha gave teachings to the monks that were in conformity, in alignment, and in accord with this. Then he said, ‘Monks, the former is established [as a rule]. It is authorized. In this way my . . .’”
939Divy 543.19, iyaṃ cābhyanujñātā. Tatelman (2005: 411) offers this translation: “And this regulation he certified as valid, saying . . .”
940The rule here is nearly equivalent to the 83rd/84th pācittiya in the Pāli Vinayapiṭaka (iv, 157–64), although the introductory story differs. Cf. Schiefner 1964: 547. Interestingly, the corresponding Tibetan (201a6) leaves out anyatra, as it does in the commentary (201b5). For more on this passage and what it says about the relationship between the Divyāvadāna and the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya, see Hiraoka 1998: 424–26.
941Divy 543.26, anudite. Hiraoka (HA 29; HD 66) suggests its omission “because it is contextually unnecessary.”
942Following Divy 115.3. Divy 543.29, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat). Cf. the Tibetan (188a2–3; 201b1–2).
943This phrase could be translated more literally as “a kṣatriya king who has been anointed on the head,” but as the commentary here makes clear this anointing is tantamount to a coronation ceremony.
944Following the Tibetan (188a7–8; 201b5–7). Divy 544.10, “and so on as before” (pūrvavat). I cannot find the Sanskrit version of the passage to be supplied.
945Following Hiraoka (HA 29; HD 66), although reading against the Tibetan (188b4; 202a3), read prabhāta-. Divy 544.14, aprabhāta-.
946Following the Tibetan (188b4; 202a4) and Hiraoka (HA 29; HD 66), add aprabhāte vaimatika āpadyate papantikām. Divy 544.15 (omitted).
947Following Cowell and Neil’s suggestion (Divy 711), add sarīsṛpa. The text, otherwise, lists only seven “dangers” (antarāya). The Tibetan (188b6; 202a5) reads klu, suggesting nāgas. The Pāli Vinayapiṭaka (e.g., i, 112; i, 169) lists ten dangers: “kings, thieves, fire, water, humans, nonhumans, wild animals, serpents, living things, celibacy.”
948Divy 544.19–20, anāpattir ādikarmikasyeti pūrvavat. The Tibetan (202a5–6) reads, “When one has been called by a king, queen, prince, or minister and when one has encountered the eight obstacles—that is, kings, robbers, humans, nonhumans, wild animals, fire, water, and nāgas—then there is no offense. For the first [monk] ever to do it, the insane, the mentally disturbed, and the emotionally disturbed, there is no offense. This is the eighty-second offense: going to the palace during the night.”
949For translations, see Hiraoka 2007: ii, 466–547, as well as Burnouf 1844: 340–44, 2010: 331–34 and Strong 2002: 39�
�34 (Divy 546.27–549.20). For Pāli and Sanskrit parallels, see Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā i, 161–231; Waldschmidt 1973; and Avadānakalpalatā no. 40 (Rani 2005: 46–48 and woodcut R-13; Tucci 1949: ii, 481 and plate 113). The corresponding Tibetan can be found at P 1032 te 95a7–125a8 and D 3 ña 102a7–133a2, and a translation at Tharchin et al. 1984: 7–81. For more, see Hiraoka 2007: ii, 514; HD 66; Grey 2000: 326–27. In what follows, I made extensive use of Johannes Nobel’s work on the story. He edited the Tibetan version of the text, translated the Tibetan into German with very helpful notes, and compiled a Tibetan-German dictionary for the story. Based on the Tibetan, Nobel offers numerous insights and emendations to the Sanskrit text of the Divyāvadana; I include many of them below. Also helpful was Stephen Teiser’s (2006: 104–19) analysis of the story. For more on this story, see Adaval 1970 and von Simson 1982.
In addition, Borobudur—an enormous Buddhist site in Central Java, Indonesia, built in the ninth century—contains twenty-five relief panels (nos. 64–88) that illustrate the story of Rudrāyaṇa. Although “a more elaborate version of the tale has evidently been followed than the one known to us from the Divyāvadāna” (Krom 1927: i, 285), the relief panels are nonetheless helpful for making sense of the story in the Divyāvadāna, precisely because the latter is apparently abridged. For a description of the panels, see Krom 1927: i, 282–301, or online at www.photodharma.net/Indonesia/06-Divyavadana-Level-1/06-Divyavadana-Level-1-Rudrayanas-Storyboard.htm. For a representation of the story in Tibetan art, see Hackin 1913 and 1916.
950Roruka (sometimes Rauruka) was likely Rohri, the capital of the Ror dynasty, built in the fifth century BCE. It was located near to the modern city of Sukkur in the province of Sindh in Pakistan. Senarat Paranavitana (1969), however, identified Roruka with the sand-buried ruins of Mohenjodaro. Buddhist sources connect the city with extensive commerce (MacLean 1988: 59).
951In what follows, Pāṭaliputra is not mentioned again, and Roruka’s counterpart becomes Rājagṛha. Cf. Nobel 1955: i, 49n3. Furthermore, both cities are described as thriving simultaneously.