Jataka Vol. I: Book I.--Ekanipāta: No. 53. Puṇṇapāti-Jātaka
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No. 53.
PUṆṆAPĀTI-JĀTAKA.
"What? Leave untasted."--This story was told by the Master while at Jetavana,
about some drugged liquor.
Once on a time the tipplers of Sāvatthi met to take counsel, saying, "We've not
got the price of a drink left; how are we to get it?"
"Cheer up!" said one ruffian; "I've a little plan."
"What may that be?" cried the others.
"It's Anātha-piṇḍika's custom," said the fellow, "to wear his rings and richest
attire, when going to wait upon the king. Let us doctor some liquor with a
stupefying drug and fit up a drinking-booth, in which we will all be sitting
when Anātha-piṇḍika passes by. 'Come and join us, Lord High Treasurer,' we'll
cry, and ply him with our liquor till he loses his senses. Then let us relieve
him of his rings and clothes, and get the price of a drink."
His plan mightily pleased the other rogues, and was duly carried out. As
Anātha-piṇḍika was returning, they went out to meet him and invited him [269] to
come along with them; for they had got some rare liquor, and he must taste it
before he went.
"What'?" thought he, "shall a believer, who has found Salvation, touch strong
drink? Howbeit, though I have no craving for it, yet will I expose these
rogues." So into their booth he went, where their proceedings soon shewed him
that their liquor was drugged; and he resolved to make the rascals take to their
heels. So he roundly charged them with doctoring their liquor with a view to
drugging strangers first and robbing then afterwards. "You sit in the booth you
have opened, and you praise up the liquor," said he; "but as for drinking it,
not one of you ventures on that. If it is really undrugged, drink away at it
yourselves." This summary exposure made the gang take to their heels, and
Anātha-piṇḍika went off home. Thinking he might as well tell the incident to the
Buddha, he went to Jetavana and related the story.
"This time, layman," said the Master, "it is you whom these rogues have tried to
trick; so too in the past they tried to trick the good and wise of those days."
So saying, at his hearer's request, he told this story of the past.
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Once on a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was
Treasurer of that city. And then too did the same gang of tipplers, conspiring
together in like manner, drug liquor, and go forth to meet him in just the same
way, and made just the same overtures. The Treasurer did not want to drink at
all, but nevertheless went with them, solely to expose them. Marking their
proceedings and detecting their scheme, he was anxious to scare them away and so
represented that it would be a gross thing for him to drink spirits just before
going to the king's palace. "Sit you here," said he, "till I've seen the king
and am on my way hack; then I'll think about it."
On his return, the rascals called to him, but the Treasurer, fixing his eye on
the drugged bowls, confounded them by saying, "I like not your
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ways. Here stand the bowls as full now as when I left you; loudly as you vaunt
the praises of the liquor, yet not a drop passes your own lips. Why, if it had
been good liquor, you'd have taken your own share as well. This liquor is
drugged!" And he repeated this stanza:--
What? Leave untasted drink you vaunt so rare?
Nay, this is proof no honest liquor's there. [270]
After a life of good deeds, the Bodhisatta passed away to fare according to his
deserts.
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His lesson ended, the Master identified the Birth by saying, "The rascals of
to-day were also the rascals of those bygone days; and I myself was then
Treasurer of Benares."
Next: No. 54. Phala-Jātaka
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