Tirīṭa-Vaccha-Jātaka

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Source: Adapted from Archaic Translation by W.H.D. Rouse
JATAKA No. 259

TIRITA-VACCHA-JATAKA

"When all alone," etc. This story the Master told while living at Jetavana monastery, about the gift of a thousand garments, how the reverend Ananda received five hundred garments from the women of the household of the king of Kosala, and five hundred from the king himself. The circumstances have been described above, in the Sigala Birth.

Once upon a time, while Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisattva was born as the son of a brahmin in Kasi. On his nameday they called him Master Tiritavaceha. In due time he grew up, and studied at Taxila. He married and settled down, but his parents' death so distressed him that he became an ascetic, and lived in a woodland living, feeding upon the roots and fruits of the forest.

While he lived there, arose a disturbance on the frontiers of Benares. The king went there, but was defeated in the fight; fearing for his life, he mounted an elephant, and fled away covertly through the forest. In the morning, Tiritavaceha had gone abroad to gather wild fruit, and meanwhile the king came upon his hut. "A hermit's hut!" said he; down he came from his elephant, weary with wind and sun, and thirsty; he looked about for a waterpot, but none could he find. At the end of the covered walk he saw a well, but he could see no rope and bucket for withdrawing water. His thirst was too great to bear; he took off the belt which passed under the elephant's belly, made it fast on the edge, and let himself down into the well. But it was too short; so he tied on to the end of it his lower garment, and let himself down again. Still he could not reach the water. He could just touch it with his feet: he was very thirsty! "If I can but quench my thirst," thought he, "death itself will be sweet!" So down he dropped, and drank his fill; but he could not get up again, so he remained standing there in the well. And the elephant, so well trained was he, stood still, waiting for the king.

In the evening, the Bodhisattva returned, laden with wild fruits, and saw the elephant. "I suppose," thought he, "the king is come; but nothing is to be seen except the armed elephant. What's to do?" And he approached the elephant, which stood and waited for him. He went to the edge of the well, and saw the king at the bottom. "Fear nothing, O king!" he called out; then he placed a ladder, and helped the king out; he massaged the king's body, and anointed him with oil; after which he gave him of the fruits to eat, and untied the elephant's armour. Two or three days the king rested there; then he went away, after making the Bodhisattva promise to pay him a visit.

The royal forces were encamped hard by the city; and when the king was perceived coming, they flocked around him.

After a month and half a month, the Bodhisattva returned to Benares, and settled in the park. Next day he came to the palace to ask for food. The king had opened a great window, and stood looking out into the courtyard; and so seeing the Bodhisattva, and recognising him, he descended and gave him greeting; he led him to a dais, and set him upon the throne under a white umbrella; his own food the king gave him to eat, and ate himself of it. Then he took him to the garden, and caused a covered walk and a living to be made for him, and provided him with all the necessaties of an ascetic; then giving him in charge of a gardener, he said farewell, and departed. After this, the Bodhisattva took his food in the king's living: great was the respect and honour paid to him.

But the courtiers could not endure it. "If a soldier," said they, "were to receive such honour, how would he behave!" They took them to the viceroy: "My lord, our king is making too much of an ascetic! What can he have seen in the man? You speak with the king about it." The viceroy consented, and they all went together before the king. And the viceroy greeted the king, and uttered the first stanza:

"There is no wit in him that I can see; He is no kinsman, nor a friend of you;  Why should this hermit with three bits of wood (*1),  Tiritavaceha, have such splendid food?"

The king listened. Then he said, addressing his son,

"My son, you remember how once I went to the marches, and how I was conquered in war, and came not back for a few days?"

"I remember," said be.

"This man saved my life," said the king; and he told him all that had happened. "Well, my son, now that this my preserver is with me, I cannot return favour to him for what he has done, not even were I to give him my kingdom." And he recited the two stanzas following:-

"When all alone, in a grim thirsty wood, He, and no other, tried to do me good;  In my distress he lent a helping hand;  Half-dead he brought me up and made me stand.

"By his sole doing I returned again Out of death's jaws back to the world of men.  To compensate such kindness is but fair;  Give a rich offering, nor hold back his share."

So spoke the king, as though he were causing the moon to rise up in the sky; and as the virtue of the Bodhisattva was described, so was described his own virtue everywhere; and his takings increased, and the honour shown to him. After that neither his viceroy nor his courtiers nor any one else dared to say anything against him to the king. The king dwelling in the Bodhisattva's advice; and he gave alms and did good, and at the last went to the heaven. And the Bodhisattva, having cultivated the Perfections and the Attainments, became destined to the world of Brahma(upper heaven)(upper heaven).

Then the Master added, "Wise men of old gave help too;" and having thus concluded his discourse, he identified the Birth as follows: "Ananda was the king, and I was the hermit."

Footnotes:

(1)To hang his waterpot upon.