Jataka Vol. I: Book I.--Ekanipāta: No. 128. Biḷāra-Jātaka
[460] No. 128.
BIḶĀRA-JĀTAKA.
"Where saintliness."--This story was told by the Master while at Jetavana, about
a hypocrite. When the Brother's hypocrisy was reported to him, the Master said,
"This is not the first time he has shewn himself a hypocrite; he was just the
sane in times gone by." 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
rat, perfect in wisdom, and as big as a young boar.
He had his dwelling in the forest and many hundreds of other rats owned his
sway.
p. 282
Now there was a roving jackal who espied this troop of rats and fell to scheming
how to beguile and eat them. And he took up his stand near their home with his
face to the sun, snuffing up the wind, and standing on one leg. Seeing this when
out on his road in quest of food, the Bodhisatta conceived the jackal to be a
saintly being, and went up and asked his name.
"'Godly' is my name," said the jackal. "Why do you stand only on one leg?"
"Because if I stood on all four at once, the earth could not bear my weight.
That is why I stand on one leg only." "And why do you keep your mouth open?" "To
take the air. I live on air; it is my only food." "And why do you face the sun?"
"To worship him." "What uprightness!" thought the Bodhisatta, and thenceforward
he made a point of going, attended by the other rats, to pay his respects
morning and evening to the saintly jackal. And when the rats were leaving, the
jackal seized and devoured the hindermost one of them, wiped his lips, and
looked as though nothing had happened. In consequence of this the rats grew
fewer and fewer, till they noticed the gaps in their ranks, and wondering why
this was so, asked the Bodhisatta the reason. He could not make it out, but
suspecting the jackal, [461] resolved to put him to the test. So next day he let
the other rats go out first and himself brought up the rear. The jackal made a
spring on the Bodhisatta who, seeing him coming, faced round and cried, "So this
is your saintliness, you hypocrite and rascal!" And he repeated the following
stanza:--
Where saintliness is but a cloak
Whereby to cozen guileless folk
And screen a villain's treachery,
--The cat-like nature there we see 1.
So saying, the king of the rats sprang at the jackal's throat and bit his
windpipe asunder just under the jaw, so that he died. Back trooped the other
rats and gobbled up the body of the jackal with a 'crunch, crunch,
crunch';--that is to say, the foremost of them did, for they say there was none
left for the last-corners. And ever after the rats lived happily in peace and
quiet.
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His lesson ended, the Master made the connection by saying, "This hypocritical
Brother was the jackal of those days, and I the king of the rats."
Footnotes
282:1 Though the foregoing prose relates to a jackal, the stanza speaks of a
cat, as does the Mahābhārata in its version of this story.
Next: No. 129. Aggika-Jātaka
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