Jataka Vol. I: Book I.--Ekanipāta: No. 113. Sigāla-Jātaka
p. 255
No. 113.
SIGĀLA-JĀTAKA.
"The drunken jackal."--This story was told by the Master while at the
Bamboo-grove, about Devadatta. The Brethren had assembled [425] in the Hall of
Truth and were telling how Devadatta had gone to Gayāsīsa with five hundred
followers, whom he was leading into error by declaring that the Truth was
manifest in him "and not in the ascetic Gotama"; and how by his lies he was
breaking up the Brotherhood; and how he kept two fast-days a week. And as they
sate there talking of the wickedness of Devadatta, the Master entered and was
told the subject of their conversation. "Brethren," said he, "Devadatta was as
great a liar in past times as he is now." So saying, he told this story of the
past.
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Once on a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was born
a Tree-sprite in a cemetery grove. In those days a festival was proclaimed in
Benares, and the people resolved to sacrifice to the ogres. So they strewed fish
and meat about courtyards, and streets, and other places, and set out great pots
of strong drink. At midnight a jackal came into the town by the sewer, and
regaled himself on the meat and liquor. Crawling into some bushes, he was fast
asleep when morning dawned. Waking up and seeing it was broad daylight, he know
that he could not make his way back at that hour with safety. So he lay down
quietly near the roadside where he could not be seen, till at last he saw a
solitary brahmin on his way to rinse his mouth in the tank. Then the jackal
thought to himself, "Brahmins are a greedy lot. I must so play on his greediness
as to get him to carry me out of the city in his waist-cloth under his outer
robe." So, with a human voice, he cried "Brahmin."
"Who calls me?" said the brahmin, turning round. "I, brahmin." "What for?" "I
have two hundred gold pieces, brahmin; and if you will hide me in your
waist-cloth under your outer robe and so get me out of the city without my being
seen, you shall have them all."
Closing with the offer, the greedy brahmin hid the jackal and carried the beast
a little way out of the city. "What place is this, brahmin?" said the jackal.
"Oh, it's such and such a place," said the brahmin. "Go on a bit further," said
the jackal and kept urging the brahmin on always a little further, till at last
the cremation-park was reached. [426] "Put me down here," said the jackal; and
the brahmin did so. "Spread your robe out on the ground, brahmin." And the
greedy brahmin did so.
p. 256
"And now dig up this tree by the roots," said he, and while the brahmin was at
work he walked on to the robe, and dunged and staled on it in five places,--the
four corners and the middle. This done, he made off into the wood.
Hereon the Bodhisatta, standing in the fork of the tree, uttered this stanza:--
The drunken jackal, brahmin, cheats thy trust!
Thou ’lt find not here a hundred cowry-shells,
Far less thy quest, two hundred coins of gold.
And when he had repeated these verses, the Bodhisatta said to the brahmin, "Go
now and wash your robe and bathe, and go about your business." So saying, he
vanished from sight, and the brahmin did as he was bidden, and departed very
mortified at having been so tricked.
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His lesson ended, the Master identified the Birth by saying, "Devadatta was the
jackal of those days, and I the Tree-sprite."
Next: No. 114. Mitacinti-Jātaka
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