Jataka Vol. I: Book I.--Ekanipāta: No. 90. Akataññu-Jātaka
p. 220
No. 90.
AKATAÑÑU-JĀTAKA.
"The man ungrateful."--This story was told by the Master while at Jetavana,
about Anātha-piṇḍika.
On the borders, so the tale goes, there lived a merchant, who was a
correspondent and a friend of Anātha-piṇḍika's, but they had never met. There
came a time when this merchant loaded five hundred carts with local produce and
gave orders to the men in charge to go to the great merchant Anātha-piṇḍika, and
barter the wares in his correspondent's shop for their value, and bring back the
goods received in exchange. So they came to Sāvatthi, and found Anātha-piṇḍika.
First making him a present, they told him their business. "You are welcome,"
said the great man, and ordered them to be lodged there and provided with money
for their needs. After kindly enquiries after their master's health, he bartered
their merchandise and gave them the goods in exchange. Then they went back to
their own district, and reported what had happened.
Shortly afterwards, Anātha-piṇḍika similarly despatched five hundred carts with
merchandise to the very district in which they dwelt; and his people, when they
had got there, went, present in hand, to call upon the border merchant. "Where
do you come from?" said he. "From Sāvatthi," replied they; "from your
correspondent, Anātha-piṇḍika." "Anyone can call himself Anātha-piṇḍika," said
he with a sneer; and taking their present, he bade them begone, giving them
neither lodging nor douceur. So they bartered their goods for themselves and
brought back the wares in exchange to Sāvatthi, with the story of the reception
they had had.
Now it chanced [378] that this border merchant despatched another caravan of
five hundred carts to Sāvatthi; and his people came with a present in their
hands to wait upon Anātha-piṇḍika. But, as soon as Anātha-piṇḍika's people
caught sight of them, they said, "Oh, we'll see, sir, that they are properly
lodged, fed, and supplied with money for their needs." And they took the
strangers outside the city and bade them unyoke their carts at a suitable spot,
adding that rice and a douceur would come from Anātha-piṇḍika's house. About the
middle watch of the night, having collected a baud of serving-men and slaves,
they looted the whole caravan, carried off every garment the men had got, drove
away their oxen, and took the wheels off the carts, leaving the latter but
removing the wheels. Without so much as a shirt among the lot of them, the
terrified strangers sped away and managed to reach their home on the border.
Then Anātha-piṇḍika's people told him the whole story. "This capital story,"
said he, "shall be my gift to the Master to-day;" and away he went and told it
to the Master.
"This is not the first time, sir," said the Master, "that this border merchant
has shewn this disposition; he was just the same in days gone by." Then, at
Anātha-piṇḍika's request, he told the following story of the past.
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Once on a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was a
very wealthy merchant in that city. And he too had as a correspondent a border
merchant whom he had never seen and all came to pass as above.
p. 221
Being told by his people what they had done, he said, "This trouble is the
result of their ingratitude for kindness shewn them." And he went on to instruct
the assembled crowd in this stanza:--
The man ungrateful for a kindly deed,
Thenceforth shall find no helper in his need.
[paragraph continues] After this wise did the Bodhisatta teach the truth in this
stanza. After a life spent in charity and other good works, he passed away to
fare according to his deserts.
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[379] His lesson ended, the Master identified the Birth by saying, "The border
merchant of to-day was the border merchant of those days also; and I was the
merchant of Benares."
Next: No. 91. Litta-Jātaka
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