Culladhammapāla-Jātaka

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Source: Adapted from Archaic Translation by H.T. Francis and R.A. Neil
JATAKA No. 358

CULLADHAMMAPALA-JATAKA

"Mahapatapa's miserable queen," etc.--This story the Master, when living n. the Bamboo Grove, told concerning the going about of Devadatta to kill the Bodhisattva. In all other Births Devadatta failed to excite so much as an atom of fear in the Bodhisattva, but in the Culladhammapala Birth, when the Bodhisattva was only seven months old, he had his hands and feet and head cut off and his body encircled with sword cuts, as it were with a garland. In the Daddara (*1) Birth he killed him by twisting his neck, and roasted his flesh in an oven and ate it. In the Khantivadi (*2) Birth he had him lashed with two thousand strokes of a whip, and ordered his hands and feet and ears and nose to be cut off, and then had him seized by the hair of his head and dragged along, and when he was stretched at full length on his back, he kicked him in the belly and made off, and that very day the Bodhisattva died. But both in the Cullanandaka and the Vevatiyakapi Births he merely had him put to death. Thus did Devadatta for a long time go about to kill him, and continued to do so, even after he became a Buddha. So one day they raised a discussion in the Hall of Truth, saying, "Sirs, Devadatta is continually forming plots to kill the Buddha. Thinking to kill the Supreme Buddha, he bribed archers to shoot him, he threw down a rock upon him, and let loose the elephant Nalagiri on him." When the Master came and inquired what subject the Brethren(Monks) were assembled to discuss, on hearing what it was he said, "Brethren, not now only, but formerly too he went about to kill me, but now he fails to excite a particle of fear in me, though formerly when I was prince Dhammapala he brought about my death, though I was his own son, by encircling my body with sword cuts, as it were with a garland." And so saying, he told a story of the past. ___________________________

Once upon a time when Mahapatapa was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisattva came to life as the son of his queen-wife Chanda and they named him Dhammapala. When he was seven months old, his mother had him bathed in scented water and richly dressed and sat playing with him. The king came to the place of her dwelling. And as she was playing with the boy, being filled with a mother's love for her child, she omitted to rise up on seeing the king. He thought, "Even now this woman is filled with pride on account of her boy, and does not value me a straw, but as the boy grows up, she will think, "I have a man for my son," and will take no notice of me. I will have him put to death at once." So he returned home, and sitting on his throne summoned the executioner into his presence, with all the instruments of his office. The man put on his yellow robe and wearing a crimson wreath laid his axe upon his shoulder, and carrying a block and a bowl in his hands, came and stood before the king, and saluting him said, "What is your will, Sire?"

"Go to the royal chamber of the queen, and bring here Dhammapala," said the king.

But the queen knew that the king had left her in a rage, and laid the Bodhisattva on her bosom and sat weeping. The executioner came and giving her a blow in the back snatched the boy out of her arms and took him to the king and said, "What is your will, Sire?" The king had a board brought and put down before him, and said, "Lay him down on it." The man did so. But queen Chanda came and stood just behind her son, weeping. Again the executioner said, "What is your will, Sire?" "Cut off Dhammapala's hands," said the king. Queen Chanda said, "Great king, my boy is only a child, seven months old. He knows nothing. The fault is not his. If there be any fault, it is mine. Therefore ask my hands to be cut off." And to make her meaning clear, she uttered the first stanza:-

Mahapatapa's miserable queen, It is I alone to blame have been. Ask Dhammapala, Sire, to go free, And off with hands of luckless me.

The king looked at the executioner. "What is your will, Sire?" "Without further delay, off with his hands," said the king. At this moment the executioner took a sharp axe, and chopped off the boy's two hands, as if they had been young bamboo shoots. The boy, when his hands were cut off, neither wept nor mourned, but moved by patience and charity endured it with resignation. But the queen Chanda put the tips of his fingers in her lap and stained with blood went about mourning. Again the executioner asked, "What is your will, Sire?" "Off with his feet," said the king. On hearing this, Chanda uttered the second stanza:-

Mahapatapa's miserable queen, It is I alone to blame have been. Ask Dhammapala, Sire,to go free, And off with feet of luckless me.

But the king gave a sign to the executioner, and he cut off both his feet. Queen Chanda put his feet also in her lap, and stained with blood, mourned and said, "My lord Mahapatapa, his feet and hands are cut off. A mother is bound to support her children. I will work for wages and support my son. Give him to me." The executioner said, "Sire, is the king's desire fulfilled? Is my service finished?" "Not yet," said the king. "What then is your will, Sire?" "Off with his head," said the king. Then Chanda repeated the third stanza:-

Mahapatapa's miserable queen, It is I alone to blame have been. Ask Dhammapala, Sire, to go free, And off with head of luckless me.

And with these words she offered her own head. Again the executioner asked, "What is your will, Sire?" "Off with his head," said the king. So he cut off his head and asked, "Is the king's desire fulfilled?" "Not yet," said the king. "What further am I to do, Sire?" "Catching him with the edge of the sword," said the king, "encircle him with sword cuts as it were with a garland." Then he threw the body of the boy up into the air, and catching it with the edge of his sword, encircled him with sword cuts, as it were with a garland, and scattered the bits on the dais. Chanda placed the flesh of the Bodhisattva in her lap, and as she sat on the dais mourning, she repeated these stanzas:-

No friendly councillors advise the king, "Kill not the heir that from your loins did spring": No loving kinsmen urge the tender plea, "Kill not the boy that owes his life to you."

Moreover after speaking these two stanzas queen Chanda, pressing both her hands upon her heart, repeated the third stanza:-

You, Dhammapala, were by right of birth The lord of earth: Your arms, once bathed in oil of sandal wood, Lie steeped in blood. My fitful breath alas! is choked with sighs And broken cries.

While she was thus mourning, her heart broke, as a bamboo snaps, when the grove is on fire, and she fell dead on the spot. The king too being unable to remain on his throne fell down on the dais. An abyss was split apart in the ground, and straightway he fell into it. Then the solid earth, though many times more than two hundred thousand leagues( x 4.23 km) in thickness, being unable to bear with his wickedness, split apart and opened a chasm. A flame arose out of the Avici hell, and seizing upon him, wrapped him about, as with a royal woollen garment, and plunged him into Avici. His ministers performed the funeral rites of Chanda and the Bodhisattva.

The Master, having brought this discourse to an end, identified the Birth: "At that time Devadatta was the king, Mahapajapati (aka Gotami, foster mother of Buddha, sister of deceased birth mother Mahamaya & queen of Kapilavastu, now a nun) was Chanda, and I myself was prince Dhammapala."

Footnotes:

(1)This does not occur in either of the two Daddara-jatakas, no. 172 and no. 304

(2)No. 313