Jataka Vol. I: Book I.--Ekanipāta: No. 120. Bandhanamokkha-Jātaka
No. 120.
[437] BANDHANAMOKKHA-JĀTAKA.
"Whilst folly's speech"--This story was told by the Master while at Jetavana,
about the brahmin-girl Ciñcā, whose history will be given in the Twelfth Book in
the Mahāpaduma-jātaka 1. On this occasion the Master said, "Brethren, this is
not the first time Ciñcā has laid false accusations against me. She did the like
in other times." 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
into the chaplain's family, and on his father's death succeeded to the
chaplaincy.
Now the king promised to grant whatsoever boon his queen should ask of him, and
she said,--"The boon I ask is an easy one; henceforth you must not look on any
other woman with eyes of love." At first he refused, but, wearied by her
unceasing importunity, was obliged to give way at last. And from that day
forward he never cast a glance of love at any one of his sixteen thousand
nautch-girls.
Now a disturbance arose on the borders of his kingdom, and after two or three
engagements with the robbers, the troops there sent a letter to the king saying
that they were unable to carry the matter through. Then the king was anxious to
go in person and assembled a mighty host. And he said to his wife, "Dear one, I
go to the frontier, where battles will rage ending in victory or defeat. The
camp is no place for a woman, and you must stay behind here."
"I can't stop if you go, my lord," said she. But finding the king firm in his
decision she made the following request instead,--"Every league,
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send a messenger to enquire how I fare." And the king promised to do so.
Accordingly, when he marched out with his host, leaving the Bodhisatta in the
city, the king sent back a messenger at the end of every league to let the queen
know how he was, and to find out how she fared. Of each man as he came she asked
what brought him back. And on receiving the answer that he was come to learn how
she fared, they queen beckoned the messenger to her and sinned with him. Now the
king journeyed two and thirty leagues and sent two and thirty messengers [438],
and the queen sinned with them all. And when he had pacified the frontier, to
the great joy of the inhabitants, he started on his homeward journey,
despatching a second series of thirty-two messengers. And the queen misbehaved
with each one of these, as before. Halting his victorious army near the city,
the king sent a letter to the Bodhisatta to prepare the city for his entry. The
preparations in the city were done, and the Bodhisatta was preparing the palace
for the king's arrival, when he came to the queen's apartments. The sight of his
great beauty so moved the queen that she called to him to satisfy her lust. But
the Bodhisatta pleaded with her, urging the king's honour, and protesting that
he shrank from all sin and would not do as she wished. "No thoughts of the king
frightened sixty-four of the king's messengers," said she; "and will you for the
king's sake fear to do my will?"
Said the Bodhisatta, "Had these messengers thought with me, they would not have
acted thus. As for me that know the right, I will not commit this sin."
"Don't talk nonsense," said she. "If you refuse, I will have your head chopped
off."
"So be it. Cut off my head in this or in a hundred thousand existences; yet will
I not do your bidding."
"All right; I will see," said the queen menacingly. And retiring to her chamber,
she scratched herself, put oil on her limbs, clad herself in dirty clothes and
feigned to be ill. Then she sent for her slaves and bade them tell the king,
when he should ask after her, that she was ill.
Meantime the Bodhisatta had gone to meet the king, who, after marching round the
city in solemn procession, entered his palace. Not seeing the queen, he asked
where she was, and was told that she was ill. Entering the royal bed-chamber,
the king caressed the queen and asked what ailed her. She was silent; but when
the king asked the third time, she looked at him and said, "Though my lord the
king still lives, yet poor women like me have to own a master."
"What do you mean?"
"The chaplain whom you left to watch over the city came here on pretence of
seeing after the palace; and because I would not yield to his will, [439] he
beat me to his heart's content and went off."
p. 266
Then the king fumed with rage, like the crackling of salt or sugar in the fire;
and he rushed from the chamber. Calling his servants, he bade them bind the
chaplain with his hands behind him, like one condemned to death, and cut off his
head at the place of execution. So away they hurried and bound the Bodhisatta.
And the drum was beaten to announce the execution.
Thought the Bodhisatta, "Doubtless that wicked queen has already poisoned the
king's mind against me, and now must I save myself from this peril." So he said
to his captors, "Bring me into the king's presence before you slay me." "Why
so?" said they. "Because, as the king's servant, I have toiled greatly on the
king's business, and know where great treasures are hidden which I have
discovered. If I am not brought before the king, all this wealth will be lost.
So lead me to him, and then do your duty."
Accordingly, they brought him before the king, who asked why reverence had not
restrained him from such wickedness.
"Sire," answered the Bodhisatta, "I was born a brahmin, and have never taken the
life so much as of an emmet or ant. I have never taken what was not my own, even
to a blade of grass. Never have I looked with lustful eyes upon another man's
wife. Not even in jest have I spoken falsely, and not a drop of strong drink
have I ever drunk. Innocent am I, sire; but that wicked woman took me lustfully
by the hand, and, being rebuffed, threatened me, nor did she retire to her
chamber before she had told me her secret evil-doing. For there were sixty-four
messengers who came with letters from you to the queen. Send for these men and
ask each whether he did as the queen bade him or not." Then the king had the
sixty-four men bound and sent for the queen. And she confessed to having had
guilty converse with the men. Then the king ordered off all the sixty-four to be
beheaded.
But at this point [440] the Bodhisatta cried out, "Nay, sire, the men are not to
blame; for they were constrained by the queen. Wherefore pardon them. And as for
the queen:--she is not to blame, for the passions of women are insatiate, and
she does but act according to her inborn nature. Wherefore, pardon her also, O
king."
Upon this entreaty the king was merciful, and so the Bodhisatta saved the lives
of the queen and the sixty-four men, and he gave them each a place to dwell in.
Then the Bodhisatta came to the king and said, "Sire, the baseless accusations
of folly put the wise in unmerited bonds, but the words of the wise released the
foolish. Thus folly wrongfully binds, and wisdom sets free from bonds." So
saying, he uttered this stanza:--
Whilst folly's speech doth bind unrighteously,
At wisdom's word the justly bound go free.
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When he had taught the king the Truth in these verses, he exclaimed, "All this
trouble sprang from my living a lay life. I must change my mode of life, and
crave your permission, sire, to give up the world." And with the king's
permission he gave up the world and quitted his tearful relations and his great
wealth to become a recluse. His dwelling was in the Himalayas, and there he won
the Higher Knowledges and the Attainments and became destined to rebirth in the
Brahma Realm.
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His teaching ended, the Master identified the Birth by saying, "Ciñcā was the
wicked queen of those days, Ānanda the king, and I his chaplain."
Footnotes
264:1 No. 472. Cf. note, page 143.
Next: No. 121. Kusanāḷi-Jātaka
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