iroc i g n ft I A^V; BUDDHIST BIRTH STORIES ; " OR, JATAKA TALES. THE OLDEST COLLECTION OF FOLK-LORE EXTANT : BEING THE JATAKATTHAVAJSTNANA, For the first time Edited in the Original Pali BY Y. FAUSBOLL, AND TRANSLATED BY T. W. RHYS DAVIDS. TRANSLATION. VOLUME I. LONDON: TRUBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL. 1880. [All rights reserved.] HERTFORD : PRINTED BY STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS. iMll TO GEHEIM-RATH PROFESSOE DOCTOR STENZLEK, MY FIRST GUIDE IN ORIENTAL STUDIES IN CONGRATULATION ON HIS 'DOCTOR JUBILAUM ' AND IN DEEP RESPECT FOR HIS PROFOUND SCHOLARSHIP THIS WORK IS DEDICATED BY HIS GRATEFUL PUPIL THE AUTHOR. TABLE OF CONTENTS. TBASTSLATOB'S INTKODTJCTIOK. PAGE PAST I. The Boole of Birth Stories, and their Migration to the West. Orthodox Buddhist belief concerning it. Two reasons for the value attached to it . . . . i-iv Selected Stories. 1. The Ass in the Lion's Skin . v 2. The Talkative Tortoise . . viii 3. The Jackal and the Crow . . xii 4. The Wise Judge . . . xiv 5. Sakka's Presents . . . xvi 6. A Lesson for Kings . . . xxii The Kalilag and Damnag Literature .... xxix Origin of ' ^sop's ' Fables xxxii The Barlaam and Josaphat Literature . . . xxxvi Other Migrations of the Buddhist Tales . . . xli Greek and Buddhist Fables xliii Solomon's Judgment ...... xliv Summary of Part I. . . . . . . . xlviii PAET II. The Birth Stories in India. Jatakas derived from the Pali Pitakas ... lii in the Cariya Pitaka and Jataka Mala . . liii ,, Buddhavagsa Iv at the Council of Vesali .... Ivii ,, on the Ancient Sculptures .... lix The Pali Names of the Jatakas Ix The Jatakas one of the Navaggani .... Ixii Authorship of our present Collection .... Ixiii X TABLE OF CONTENTS. Jatakas not included in our present Collection . . Ixvii ,, in post-Buddhistic Sanskrit Literature . . . Ixviii Form of the Jatakas. The Introductory Stories . . Ixxiv The Conclusions . . . Ixxv The Abhisambuddha-gatha, or Yerses in the Conclusion . Ixxvi Divisions of the Jataka Book . Ixxix Actual Number of the Stories . Ixxxi Summary of the Origin of the Present Collection . Ixxxii Special Lessons inculcated by the Birth Stories . Ixxxv ,, Historical Yalue of the Birth Stories . . Ixxxvi SUPPLEMENTARY TABLES. I. Indian Works ...... Ixxxix II. The Kalilag and Damnag Literature . . xciii III. The Barlaam and Josaphat Literature . . XCT IV. The Cariya Pitaka and the Jataka Mala . . xcviii Y. Alphabetical List of Jataka Stories in the Maha- vastu ........ xcix YI. Places at which the Tales were Told . . c VII. The Bodisats ci VIII. Jatakas Illustrated in Bas-relief on the Ancient Monuments . cii THE CEYLON COMPILER'S INTRODUCTION, called the Nidana Kaiha. Story of Sumedha, the First Bodisat .... 2 The Successive Bodisats in the Times of the Previous Buddhas 31 Life of the Last Bodisat (who became Buddha) . . 58 His Descent from Heaven ...... 59 His Birth 67 Song of the Angels 69 Prophecy of Ka}a Devala 70 TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI Prophecy of the Brahman Priests .... 72 The Ploughing Festival 75 The Young Bodisat's Skill and Wisdom ... 76 The Four Visions 77 The Bodisat's Son is Born 79 Kisa Gotaml's Song ....... 80 The Great Renunciation ...... 82 The Great Struggle against Sin ..... 89 The Great Yictory over Satan ..... 96 The Bliss of Nirvana 105 The Hesitation whether to Publish the Good News . Ill The Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness . 113 Uruvela Kassapa's Conversion . . . . . 114 Triumphal Entrance into Raj agaha . . . . 116 Foundation of the Order . . . . . . 119 Return Home 121 Presentation of the First Monastery to the Buddha . 131 THE BIRTH STORIES. 1. Holding to the Truth . . . Apannaka Jataka . 134 2. The Sandy Road . . . Vannupatha Jataka . . 147 3. The Merchant of Sen . . . Seri-vanija Jataka . 153 4. The Story of Chullaka the Treasurer . . . Cullaka- setthi Jataka ....... 158 5. The Measure of Rice . . . Tandula-nali Jataka . 172 6. On True Divinity . . . Deva-dhamma Jataka . 178 9. The Story of MakhaDeva . . . Makha-deva Jataka 186 10. The Happy Life . . . Sukhavihari Jataka . . 190 11. The Story of Beauty . . . Lakkhana Jataka . . 194 12. The Banyan Deer . . . Nigrodha-miga Jataka . 199 13. The Dart of Love . . . Kandina Jataka. . . 211 14. The Greedy Antelope . . . Vata-miga Jataka . 214 15. The Deer who would not Learn . . . Kharadiya Jataka 219 16. The Cunning Deer . . . Tipallatha-miga Jataka . 221 XII TABLE OF CONTENTS. 17. The Wind . . . Maluta Jataka .... 224 18. On Offering Food to the Dead . . . Mataka-bhatta Jataka 226 19. On Offerings given under a Yow . . . Ayacita- bhatta Jataka 230 20. The Monkeys and the Demon . . . Nalapana Jataka 232 21. The Wily Antelope . . . Kurunga-miga Jataka . 237 22. The Dog who turned Preacher . . . Kukkura Jataka 240 23. The Bhoja Thoroughbred . . . Bhojajaniya Jataka 245 24. The Thoroughbred War Horse . . . Ajaniia Jataka 249 25. The Horse at the Ford . . . Tittha Jataka . . 251 26. Evil communications corrupt good manners . . . Mahila-mukha Jataka . . . . . 257 27. The Elephant and the Dog . . . Abhinha Jataka . 263 28. The Bull who Won the Bet ... Nandi-Yisala Jataka . 266 29. The Old Woman's Black Bull . . . Kanha Jataka . 270 30. The Ox who Envied the Pig . . . Munika Jataka . 275 31. On Mercy to Animals . . . Kulavaka Jataka . 278 32. The Dancing Peacock . . . Nacca Jataka . . 291 33. The sad Quarrel of the Quails . . . Sammodamana Jataka 295 34. The Fish and his Wife . . . Maccha Jataka . 299 35. The Holy Quail . . . Yattaka Jataka ... 302 36. The Wise Bird and the Fools . . . Sakuna Jataka . 307 37. The Partridge, Monkey, and Elephant . . . Tittira Jataka . 310 38. The Cruel Crane Outwitted . . . Baka Jataka . 315 39. Nanda on the Buried Gold . . . Nanda Jataka . 322 40. The Fiery Furnace . . . Khadirangara Jataka . 326 IXDEX 339 INTRODUCTION. IT is well known that amongst the Buddhist Scriptures there is one book in which a large number of old stories, fables, and fairy tales, lie enshrined in an edifying commentary ; and have thus been preserved for the study and amusement of later times. How this came about is not at present quite certain. The belief of orthodox Buddhists on the subject is this. The Buddha, as occa- sion arose, was accustomed throughout his long career to explain and comment on the events happening around him, by telling of similar events that had occurred in his own previous births. The experience, not of one lifetime only, but of many lives, was always present to his mind ; and it was this experience he so often used to point a moral, or adorn a tale. The stories so told are said to have been reverently learnt and repeated by his disciples ; and immediately after his death 550 of them were gathered together in one collection, called the Book of the 550 Jiitakas or Births ; the commentary to which gives for each Jataka, or Birth Story, an account of the event in Gotama's life which led to his ii BUDDHIST BIRTH STORIES first telling that particular story. Both text and com- mentary were then handed down intact, and in the Pali language in which they were composed, to the time of the Council of Patna (held in or about the year 250 B.C.) ; and they were carried in the following year to Ceylon by the great missionary Mahinda. There the commentary was translated into Sinhalese, the Aryan dialect spoken in Ceylon ; and was re-translated into its present form in the Pali language in the fifth century of our era. But the text of the Jataka stories themselves has been throughout preserved in its original Pali form. Unfortunately this orthodox Buddhist belief as to the history of the Book of Birth Stories rests on a foundation of quicksand. The Buddhist belief, that most of their sacred books were in existence immediately after the Buddha's death, is not only not supported, but is con- tradicted by the evidence of those books themselves. It may be necessary to state what that belief is, in order to show the importance which the Buddhists attach to the book ; but in order to estimate the value we ourselves should give it, it will be necessary by critical, and more roundabout methods, to endeavour to arrive at some more reliable conclusion. Such an investigation cannot, it is true, be completed until the whole series of the Buddhist Birth Stories shall have become accessible in the original Pali text, and the history of those stories KNOWN IN EUROPE. iii shall have been traced in other sources. With the present inadequate information at our command, it is only pos- sible to arrive at probabilities. But it is therefore the more fortunate that the course of the inquiry will lead to some highly interesting and instructive results. In the first place, the fairy tales, parables, fables, riddles, and comic and moral stories, of which the Buddhist Collection known as the Jataka Book consists, have been found, in many instances, to bear a striking resemblance to similar ones current in the West. Now in many instances this resemblance is simply due to the fact that the Western stories were borrowed from the Buddhist ones. To this resemblance much of the interest excited by the Buddhist Birth Stories is, very naturally, due. As, therefore, the stories translated in the body of this volume do not happen to contain among them any of those most generally known in England, I insert here one or two specimens which may at the same time afford some amusement, and also enable the reader to judge how far the alleged resemblances do actually exist. It is absolutely essential for the correctness of such judgment that the stories should be presented exactly as they stand in the 'original. I am aware that a close and literal translation involves the disadvantage of pre- iv FOLK-LORE. senting the stories in a style which will probably seem strange, and even wooden, to the modern reader. But it cannot be admitted that, for even purposes of com- parison, it would be sufficient to reproduce the stories in a modern form which should aim at combining substantial accuracy with a pleasing dress. And the Book of Birth Stories has a value quite independent of the fact that many of its tales have been transplanted to the West. It contains a record of the every-day life, and every-day thought, of the people among whom the tales were told : it is the oldest, most complete, and most important Collection of Folk-lore extant. The whole value of its evidence in this respect would be lost, if a translator, by slight additions in some places, slight omissions in others, and slight modifications here and there, should run the risk of conveying erroneous impressions of early Buddhist beliefs, and habits, and modes of thought. It is important, therefore, that the reader should understand, before reading the stories I intend to give, that while translating sentence by sentence, rather than word by word, I have never lost sight of the importance of retaining in the English version, as far as possible, not only the phraseology, but the style and spirit of the Buddhist story-teller. The first specimen I propose to give is a half-moral half -comic story, which runs as follows. The Ass in the Lion's Skin. SIHA-CAMMA JATAKA. (Fausboll, No. 189.) Once upon a time, while Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the future Buddha was born one of a peasant family ; and when he grew up, he gained his living by tilling the ground. At that time a hawker used to go from place to place, trafficking in goods carried by an ass. Now at each place he came to, when he took the pack down from the ass's back, he used to clothe him in a lion's skin, and turn him loose in the rice and barley-fields. And when the watchmen in the fields saw the ass, they dared not go near him, taking him for a lion. So one day the hawker stopped in a village ; and whilst he was getting his own breakfast cooked, he dressed the ass in a lioa's skin, and turned him loose in a barley- field. The watchmen in the field dared not go up to him ; but going home, they published the news. Then all the villagers came out with weapons in their hands ; and blowing chanks, and beating drums, they went near the field and shouted. Terrified with the fear of death, the ass uttered a cry the cry of an ass ! And when he knew him then to be an ass, the future Buddha pronounced the First Stanza : " This is not a lion's roaring, Nor a tiger's, nor a panther's ; Dressed in a lion's skin, 'Tis a wretched ass that roars ! " vi THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN. But when the villagers knew the creature to be an ass, they beat him till his bones broke ; and, carrying off the lion's skin, went away. Then the hawker came ; and seeing the ass fallen into so bad a plight, pronounced the Second Stanza : " Long might the ass, Clad in a lion's skin, Have fed on the barley green. But he brayed ! And that moment he came to ruin." And even whilst he was yet speaking the ass died on the spot ! This- story will doubtless sound familiar enough to English ears ; for a similar tale is found in our modern collections of so-called ' ^Esop's Fables.' 1 Professor Benfey has further traced it in mediaeval French, German, Turkish, and Indian literature. 2 But it may have been much older than any of these books ; for the fable possibly gave rise to a proverb of which we find traces among the Greeks as early as the time of Plato. 3 Lucian gives the fable in full, localizing it 1 James's 'JEsop's Fables' (London, Murray, 1852), p. Ill ; La Fontaine, Book v. No. 21 ; ^sop (in Greek text, ed. Furia, 141, 262 ; ed. Coriae, 113); Babrius (Lewis, vol. ii. p. 43). 2 Benfey' s Pancha Tantra, Book iv. , No. 7, in the note on which, at vol. i. p. 462, he refers to Halm, p. 333 ; Robert, in the ' Fables inedites du Moyen Age, vol. i. p. 360; and the Turkish Tuti-namah (Eosen, vol. ii. p. 149). In India it is found also in the Northern Buddhist Collection called Katha Sarit Sagara, by Somadeva ; and in Hitopadesa (iii. 2, Max Miiller, p. 110). 3 Kratylos, 411 (ed. Tauchnitz, ii. 275). THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN. v ii at Kume, in South Italy, 1 and Julien has given us a Chinese version in his 'Avadanas.' 2 Erasmus, in his work on proverbs, 3 alludes to the fable ; and so also does our own Shakespeare in 'King John.' 4 It is worthy of mention that in one of the later story-books in a Persian translation, that is, of the Hitopadesa there is a version of our fable in which it is the vanity of the ass in trying to sing which leads to his disguise being discovered, and thus brings him to grief. 5 But Pro- fessor Benfey has shown 6 that this version is simply the rolling into one of the present tale and of another, also widely prevalent, where an ass by trying to sing earns for himself, not thanks, but blows. 7 I shall hereafter attempt to draw some conclusions from the history of the story. But I would here point out that the fable could scarcely have originated in any country in which lions were not common ; and that the Jataka story gives a reasonable explanation of the ass being dressed in the skin, instead of saying that he dressed himself in it, as is said in our '^Esop's Fables.' The reader will notice that the 'moral' of the tale 1 Lucian, Piscator, 32. 2 Vol. ii. No. 91. 3 ' Adagia,' under ' Asinus apud Cumanos.' 4 Act ii. scene 1 ; and again, Act iii. scene 1. 5 De -S'aey, ' Notes et Extraits,' x. 1, 247. 6 Loc. cit. p. 463. 7 Pancha Tantra, v. 7. Prof. Weber (Indische Studien, iii. 352) compares Phadnts (Dressier, App. vi. 2) and Erasmus's ' Adagia ' under ' Asinus ad Lyrum.' See also Tuti-namah (Eosen ii. 218) ; and I would add J"an-o, in Aulus Gellius, iii. 16 ; and Jerome, Ep. 27, ' Ad Marcellam.' viii THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN. is contained in two stanzas, one of which is put into the mouth of the Bodisat or future Buddha. This will be found to be the case in all the Birth Stories, save that the number of the stanzas differs, and that they are usually all spoken by the Bodisat. It should also be noticed that the identification of the peasant's son with the Bodisat, which is of so little importance to the story, is the only part of it which is essentially Buddhistic. Both these points will be of importance further on. The introduction of the human element takes this story, perhaps, out of the class of fables in the most exact sense of that word. I therefore add a story con- taining a fable proper, where animals speak and act like men. The Talkative Tortoise. KACCHAPA JATAKA. (Fausboll, No. 215.) Once upon a time, when Brahma- datta was reigning in Benares, the future Buddha was born in a minister's family ; and when he grew up, he became the king's adviser in things temporal and spiritual. Now this king was very talkative : while he was speaking, others had no opportunity for a word. And the future Buddha, wanting to cure this talkativeness of his, was constantly seeking for some means of doing so. THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE. i x At that time there was living, in a pond in the Hima- laya mountains, a tortoise. Two young harjsas (i.e. wild ducks 1 ) who came to feed there, made friends with him. And one day, when they had become very intimate with him, they said to the tortoise " Friend tortoise ! the place where we live, at the Golden Cave on Mount Beautiful in the Himalaya country, is a delightful spot. "Will you come there with us?" " But how can I get there ? " " We can take you, if you can only hold your tongue, and will say nothing to anybody." 2 " ! that I can do. Take me with you." " That's right," said they. And making the tortoise bite hold of a stick, they themselves took the two ends in their teeth, and flew up into the air. 3 Seeing him thus carried by the harjsas, some villagers called out, " Two wild ducks are carrying a tortoise along on a stick ! " Whereupon the tortoise wanted to say, " If my friends choose to carry me, what is that to you, you wretched slaves ! " So just as the swift flight of the wild ducks had brought him over the king's palace in the city of Benares, he let go of the stick he was biting, and falling in the open courtyard, split in two ! And there arose a universal cry, " A tortoise has fallen in the open courtyard, and has split in two ! " 1 Pronounced hangsa, often rendered swan, a favourite bird in Indian tales, and constantly represented in Buddhist carvings. It is the original Golden Goose. See below, p. 294, and Jataka Xo. 136. 2 There is an old story of a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, who inherited a family living. He went in great trouble to Dr. Routh, the Head of his College, saying that he doubted whether he could hold, at the same time, the Living and the Fellowship. " You can hold anything," was the reply, " if you can only hold your tongue." And he held all three. 3 In the Vimla Jataka (No. 160) they similarly carry a crow to the Himalaya mountains. X KACCHAPA JATAKA. The king, taking the future Buddha, went to the place, surrounded by his courtiers ; and looking at the tortoise, he asked the Bodisat, " Teacher ! how comes he to be faUen here ? " The future Buddha thought to himself, " Long expect- ing, wishing to admonish the king, have I sought for some means of doing so. This tortoise must have made friends with the wild ducks ; and they must have made him bite hold of the stick, and have flown up into the air to take him to the hills. But he, being unable to hold his tongue when he hears any one else talk, must have wanted to say something, and let go the stick ; and so must have fallen down from the sky, and thus lost his life." And saying, " Truly, O king ! those who are called chatter-boxes people whose words have no end come to grief like this," he uttered these Verses : " Yerily the tortoise killed himself Whilst uttering his voice ; Though he was holding tight the stick, By a word himself he slew. " Behold him then, excellent by strength ! And speak wise words, not out of season. You see how, by his talking overmuch, The tortoise fell into this wretched plight ! " The king saw that he was himself referred to, and said, " Teacher ! are you speaking of us ? " And the Bodisat spake openly, and said, "0 great king ! be it thou, or be it any other, whoever talks beyond measure meets with some mishap like this." And the king henceforth refrained himself, and became a man of few words. THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE. xi This story too is found also in Greek, Latin, Arabic, Persian, and in most European languages, 1 though, strangely enough, it does not occur in our books of ^sop's Fables. But in the ' ^Esop's Fables ' is usually included a story of a tortoise who asked an eagle to teach him to fly ; and being dropped, split into two ! 2 It is worthy of notice that in the Southern recension of the Paiica Tantra it is eagles, and not wild ducks or swans, who carry the tortoise ; 3 and there can, I think, be little doubt that the two fables are historically connected. Another fable, very familiar to modern readers, is stated in the commentary to have been first related in ridicule of a kind of Mutual Admiration Society existing among the opponents of the Buddha. Hearing the monks talking about the foolish way in which Devadatta and Kokalika went about among the people ascribing each to the other virtues which neither possessed, he is said to have told this tale. 1 Panca Tantra, vol. i. p. 13, where Professor Benfey (i. 239-241) traces also the later versions in different languages. He mentions Wolff's German translation of the Kalilah and Dimnah, vol. i. p. 91 ; Knatchbull's English version, p. 146 ; Simeon Setk's Greek version, p. 28 ; John of Capua's Direc- torium Humanae Yitse, D. 5 h. ; the German translation of this last (Ulm, 1483), F. viii. 6 : the Spanish translation, xix a.; Firenzuola, 65; Doni, 93; Anvar i Suhaili, p. 159 ; Le Livre des Lumieres (1664, 8vo.), 124 ; Le Cabinet des Fees, xvii. 309. See also Contes et Fables Indiennes de Bidpai et de Lokman, ii. 112 ; La Fontaine, x. 3, where the ducks fly to America (!) ; and ickell's ' Kalilag und Dimnag,' p. 24. In India it is found in Somadeva, and in the Hitopadesa, iv. 2 (Max Miiller, p. 125). See also Julien, i. 71. 2 This version is found in Babrius (Lewis, i. 122) ; Phcedrus, ii. 7 and vii. 14 (Orelli, 55, 128) ; and in the JEsoptean collections (Fur. 193; Coriffi, 61) and in Abstewius, 108. 3 Dubois, p. 109. Xll The Jackal and the Crow. JAMBU-KHADAKA JATAKA. (Fausboll, No. 294.) Long, long ago, when Brahma- datta was reigning in Benares, the Bodisat had come to life as a tree-god, dwelling in a certain grove of Jambu- trees. Now a crow was sitting there one day on the branch of a Jambu-tree, eating the Jambu-fruits, when a jackal coming by, looked up and saw him. " Ha ! " thought he. " I'll flatter that fellow, and get some of those Jambus to eat." And thereupon he uttered this verse in his praise : " "Who may this be, whose rich and pleasant notes Proclaim him best of all the singing-birds ? Warbling so sweetly on the Jambu- branch, Where like a peacock he sits firm and grand ! " Then the crow, to pay him back his compliments, re- plied in this second verse : " Tis a well-bred young gentleman, who understands To speak of gentlemen in terms polite ! Good Sir ! whose shape and glossy coat reveal The tiger's offspring eat of these, I pray ! " And so saying, he shook the branch of the Jambu-tree till he made the fruit to fall. But when the god who dwelt in that tree saw the two of them, now they had done flattering one another, eating the Jambus together, he uttered a third verse : THE FOX AND THE CROW. xiii " Too long, forsooth, I've borne the sight Of these poor chatterers of lies The refuse-eater and the offal-eater Belauding each other ! " And making himself visible in awful shape, he frightened them away from the place ! It is easy to understand, that when this story had been carried out of those countries where the crow and the jackal are the common scavengers, it would lose its point ; and it may very well, therefore, have been shortened into the fable of the Fox and the Crow and the piece of cheese. On the other hand, the latter is so complete and excellent a story, that it would scarcely have been expanded, if it had been the original, into the tale of the Jackal and the Crow. 1 The next tale to be quoted is one showing how a wise man solves a difficulty. I am sorry that Mr. Fausboll has not yet reached this Jataka in his edition of the Pali text; but I give it from a Sinhalese version of the fourteenth century, which is nearer to the Pali than any other as yet known. 2 It is an episode in 1 See La Fontaine, Book i. No. 2, and the current collections of JEsop's Fables (e.g. James's edition, p. 136). It should be added that the Jambu- khudaka-sanyutta in the Sarjyutta Nikuya has nothing to do with our fable. The Jambu-eater of that story is an ascetic, who lives on Jambus, and is con- verted by a discussion on Nirvana. 2 The Sinhalese text will be found in the ' Sidat Sa^garuwaJ p. clxxvii. The Birth as 'Great Physician.' 1 MAHOSADHA JATAKA. A woman, carrying her child, went to the future Buddha's tank to wash. And having first bathed the child, she put on her upper garment and descended into the water to bathe herself. Then a Yakshim, 2 seeing the child, had a craving to eat it. And taking the form of a woman, she drew near, and asked the mother "Friend, this is a very pretty child, is it one of yours ? " And when she was told it was, she asked if she might nurse it. And this being allowed, she nursed it a little, and then carried it off. But when the mother saw this, she ran after her, and cried out, " Where are you taking my child to ? " and caught hold of her. The Yakshim boldly said, "Where did you get the child from ? It is mine ! " And so quarrelling, they passed the door of the future Buddha's Judgment Hall. He heard the noise, sent for them, inquired into the matter, and asked them whether they would abide by his 1 Literally ' the great medicine.' The Bodisat of that time received this name because he was born with a powerful drug in his hand, an omen of the cleverness in device by which, when he grew up, he delivered people from their misfortunes. Compare my ' Buddhism,' p. 187. 2 The Yakshas, products of witchcraft and cannibalism, are beings of magical power, who feed on human flesh. The male Yaksha occupies in Buddhist stories a position similar to that of the wicked genius in the Arabian Nights ; the female Yakshim, who occurs more frequently, usually plays the part of siren. THE WISE JUDGE. xv decision. And they agreed. Then he had a line drawn on the ground ; and told the Yakshini to take hold of the child's arms, and the mother to take hold of its legs ; and said, "The child shall be hers who drags him over the line." But as soon as they pulled at him, the mother, seeing how he suffered, grieved as if her heart would break. And letting him go, she stood there weeping. Then the future Buddha asked the bystanders, " Whose hearts are tender to babes ? those who have borne chil- dren, or those who have not ? " And they answered, " Sire ! the hearts of mothers are tender." Then he said, " Whom think you is the mother ? she who has the child in her arms, or she who has let go ? " And they answered, " She who has let go is the mother." And he said, "Then do you all think that the other w r as the thief ? " And they answered, " Sire ! we cannot tell." And he said, " Verily this is a Yakshini, who took the child to eat it." And they asked, " O Sire ! how did you know it ? " And he replied, " Because her eyes winked not, and were red, and she knew no fear, and had no pity, I knew it." And so saying, he demanded of the thief, " Who are you?" And she said, " Lord ! I am a Yakshini." And he asked, " Why did you take away this child ? " And she said, " I thought to eat him, O my Lord ! " And he rebuked her, saying, " foolish woman ! For your former sins you have been born a Yakshini, and now xvi THE WISE JUDGE. do you still sin ! " And he laid a vow upon her to keep the Five Commandments, and let her go. But the mother of the child exalted the future Buddha, and said, " my Lord ! Great Physician ! may thy life be long ! " And she went away, with her babe clasped to her bosom. The Hebrew story, in which a similar judgment is ascribed to Solomon, occurs in the Book of Kings, which is more than a century older than the time of Gotama. We shall consider below what may be the connexion between the two. The next specimen is a tale about lifeless things en- dowed with miraculous powers ; perhaps the oldest tale in the world of that kind which has been yet published. It is an episode in Sakka's Presents. DADHI-VAHANA JATAKA. (Fausboll, No. 186.) Once upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, four brothers, Brahmans, of that kingdom, devoted themselves to an ascetic life ; and having built themselves huts at equal distances in the region of the Himalaya mountains, took up their residence there. SAKKA' S PRESENTS. xvii The eldest of them died, and was re-born as the god Sakka. 1 When he became aware of this, he used to go and render help at intervals every seven or eight days to the others. And one day, having greeted the eldest hermit, and sat down beside him, he asked him, " Reverend Sir, what are you in need of ? " The hermit, who suffered from jaundice, answered, " I want fire ! " So he gave him a double-edged hatchet. But the hermit said, " Who is to take this, and bring me firewood ? " Then Sakka spake thus to him, " Whenever, reverend Sir, you want firewood, you should let go the hatchet from your hand, and say, ' Please fetch me firewood : make me fire ! ' And it will do so." So he gave him the hatchet ; and went to the second hermit, and asked, " Reverend Sir, what are you in need of?" Now the elephants had made a track for themselves close to his hut. And he was annoyed by those elephants, and said, " I am much troubled by elephants ; drive them away." Sakka, handing him a drum, said, "Reverend Sir, if you strike on this side of it, your enemies will take to flight ; but if you strike on this side, they will become friendly, and surround you on all sides with an army in fourfold array." 2 1 Not quite the same as Jupiter. Sakka is a very harmless and gentle kind of a god, not a jealous god, nor given to lasciviousness or spite. Neither is lie immortal : he dies from time to time ; and, if he has behaved well, is reborn under happy conditions. Meanwhile somebody else, usually one of the sons of men who has deserved it, succeeds, for a hundred thousand years or so, to his name and place and glory. Sakka can call to mind his expe- riences in his former birth, a gift in which he surpasses most other beings. He was also given to a kind of practical joking, by which he tempted people, and has become a mere beneficent fairy. 2 That is, infantry, cavalry, chariots of war, and elephants of war. Truly a useful kind of present to give to a pious hermit ! xviii DADHI-VAHANI JATAKA. So he gave him the drum ; and went to the third hermit, and asked, " Reverend Sir, what are you in need of?" He was also affected with jaundice, and said, therefore, "I want sour milk." Sakka gave him a milk-bowl, and said, " If you wish for anything, and turn this bowl over, it will become a great river, and pour out such a torrent, that it will be able to take a kingdom, and give it to you." And Sakka went away. But thenceforward the hatchet made fire for the eldest hermit ; when the second struck one side of his drum, the elephants ran away; and the third enjoyed his curds. Now at that time a wild boar, straying in a forsaken village, saw a gem of magical power. "When he seized this in his mouth, he rose by its magic into the air, and went to an island in the midst of the ocean. And think- ing, "Here now I ought to live," he descended, and took up his abode in a convenient spot under an Udumbara-tree. And one day, placing the gem before him, he fell asleep at the foot of the tree. Now a certain man of the land of Kasi had been ex- pelled from home by his parents, who said, " This fellow is of no use to us." So he went to a seaport, and em- barked in a ship as a servant to the sailors. And the ship was wrecked ; but by the help of a plank he reached that very island. And while he was looking about for fruits, he saw the boar asleep ; and going softly up, he took hold of the gem. Then by its magical power he straightway rose right up into the air ! So, taking a seat on the Udumbara-tree, he said to himself, " Methinks this boar must have become SAKKAS PRESENTS. xix a sky- walker through the magic power of this gem. That's how he got to be living here ! It's plain enough what I ought to do ; I'll first of all kill and eat him, and then I can get away ! " So he broke a twig off the tree, and dropped it on his head. The boar woke up, and not seeing the gem, ran about, trembling, this way and that way. The man seated on the tree laughed. The boar, looking up, saw him, and dashing his head against the tree, died on the spot. But the man descended, cooked his flesh, ate it, and rose into the air. And as he was passing along the summit of the Himalaya range, he saw a hermitage ; and descending at the hut of the eldest hermit, he stayed there two or three days, and waited on the hermit ; and thus became aware of the magic power of the hatchet. " I must get that," thought he. And he showed the hermit the magic power of his gem, and said, "Sir, do you take this, and give me your hatchet." The ascetic, full of longing to be able to fly through the air, 1 did so. But the man, taking the hatchet, went a little way off, and letting it go, said, " hatchet ! cut off that hermit's head, and bring the gem to me ! " And it went, and cut off the hermit's head, and brought him the gem. Then he put the hatchet in a secret place, and went to the second hermit, and stayed there a few days. And having thus become aware of the magic power of the drum, he exchanged the gem for the drum ; and cut off his head too in the same way as before. 1 The power of going through the air is usually considered in Indian legends to be the result, and a proof, of great holiness and long-continued penance. So the hermit thought he would get a fine reputation cheaply. xx DADHI- VAHANI JA TAKA. Then he went to the third hermit, and saw the magic power of the milk-bowl ; and exchanging the gem for it, caused his head to be cut off in the same manner. And taking the Gem, and the Hatchet, and the Drum, and the Milk-bowl, he flew away up into the air. Not far from the city of Benares he stopped, and sent by the hand of a man a letter to the king of Benares to this effect, " Either do battle, or give me up your kingdom ! " No sooner had he heard that message, than the king sallied forth, saying, " Let us catch the scoundrel ! " But the man beat one side of his drum, and a fourfold army stood around him ! And directly he saw that the king's army was drawn out in battle array, he poured out his milk-bowl ; and a mighty river arose, and the multi- tude, sinking down in it, were not able to escape ! Then letting go the hatchet, he said, "Bring me the king's head ! " And the hatchet went, and brought the king's head, and threw it at his feet ; and no one had time even to raise a weapon ! Then he entered the city in the midst of his great army, and caused himself to be anointed king, under the name of Dadhi-vahana (The Lord of Milk), and governed the kingdom with righteousness. 1 The story goes on to relate how the king planted a wonderful mango, how the sweetness of its fruit turned to sourness through the too-close proximity of bitter 1 Compare Maha-bharata, xii. 1796. SURVIVAL OF OLD BELIEFS. xxi herbs, (!) and how the Bodisat, then the king's minister, pointed out that evil communications corrupt good things. But it is the portion above translated which deserves notice as the most ancient example known of those tales in which inanimate objects are endowed with magical powers ; and in which the Seven League Boots, or the Wishing Cup, or the Vanishing Hat, or the Won- derful Lamp, render their fortunate possessors happy and glorious. There is a very tragical story of a Wishing Cup in the Buddhist Collection, 1 where the Wishing Cup, however, is turned into ridicule. It is not un- pleasant to find that beliefs akin to, and perhaps the result of, fetish- worship, had faded away, among Buddhist story-tellers, into sources of innocent amusement. In this curious tale the Hatchet, the Drum, and the Milk-bowl are endowed with qualities much more fit for the use they were put to in the latter part of the story, than to satisfy the wants of the hermits. It is common ground with satirists how little, save sorrow, men would gain if they could have anything they chose to ask for. But, unlike the others we have quoted, the tale in its present shape has a flavour distinctively Budd- hist in the irreverent way in which it treats the great god Sakka, the Jupiter of the pre- Buddhistic Hindus. It takes for granted, too, that the hero ruled in righteous- 1 Fausbbll, No. 291. xxii K A JO FAD A JATAKA. ness ; and this is as common in the Jatakas, as the ' lived happily ever after ' of modern love stories. This last idea recurs more strongly in the Birth Story called A Lesson for Kings. RAJOVADA JATAKA. (Fausboll, No. 151.) Once upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the future Buddha returned to life in the womb of his chief queen ; and after the conception ceremony had been performed, he was safely born. And when the day came for choosing a name, they called him Prince Brahma-datta. He grew up in due course ; and when he was sixteen years old, went to Takkasila, 1 and became accomplished in all arts. And after his father died he ascended the throne, and ruled the kingdom with righteousness and equity. He gave judgments without partiality, hatred, ignorance, or fear. 2 Since he thus reigned with justice, with justice also his ministers ad- ministered the law. Lawsuits being thus decided with justice, there were none who brought false cases. And as these ceased, the noise and tumult of litigation ceased in the king's court. Though the judges sat all day in 1 This is the well-known town in the Panjab called by the Greeks Taxila, and famed in Buddhist legend as the great university of ancient India, as Xalanda was in later times. * Literally " without partiality and the rest," that is, the rest of the agatis, the actions forbidden to judges (and to kings as judges). A LESSON FOR KINGS. xxiii the court, they had to leave without any one coming for justice. It came to this, that the Hall of Justice would haye to be closed ! Then the future Buddha thought, " From my reigning with righteousness there are none who come for judg- ment ; the bustle has ceased, and the Hall of Justice will have to be closed. It behoves me, therefore, now to examine into my own faults ; and if I find that anything is wrong in me, to put that away, and practise only virtue." Thenceforth he sought for some one to tell him his faults ; but among those around him he found no one who would tell him of any fault, but heard only his own praise. Then he thought, "It is from fear of me that these men speak only good things, and not evil things," and he sought among those people who lived outside the palace. And finding no fault-finder there, he sought among those who lived outside the city, in the suburbs, at the four gates. 1 And there too finding no one to find fault, and hearing only his own praise, he determined to search the country places. So he made over the kingdom to his ministers, and mounted his chariot ; and taking only his charioteer, left the city in disguise. And searching the country through, up to the very boundary, he found no fault- finder, and heard only of his own virtue ; and so he turned back from the outermost boundary, and returned by the high road towards the city. Now at that time the king of Kosala, Mallika by name, 1 The gates opening towards the four "directions," that is, the four cardinal points ot the compass. xxiv RAJOVADA JATAKA. was also ruling his kingdom with righteousness ; and when seeking for some fault in himself, he also found no fault-finder in the palace, but only heard of his own virtue ! So seeking in country places, he too came to that very spot. And these two came face to face in a low cart-track with precipitous sides, where there was no space for a chariot to get out of the way ! Then the charioteer of Mallika the king said to the charioteer of the king of Benares, " Take thy chariot out of the way ! " But he said, " Take thy chariot out of the way, charioteer ! In this chariot sitteth the lord over the kingdom of Benares, the great king Brahma-datta." Yet the other replied, " In this chariot, charioteer, sitteth the lord over the kingdom of Kosala, the great king Mallika. Take thy carriage out of the way, and make room for the chariot of our king ! " Then the charioteer of the king of Benares thought, " They say then that he too is a king ! What is now to be done ? " After some consideration, he said to himself, " I know a way. I'll find out how old he is, and then I'll let the chariot of the younger be got out of the way, and so make room for the elder." And when he had arrived at that conclusion, he asked that charioteer what the age of the king of Kosala was. But on inquiry he found that the ages of both were equal. Then he inquired about the extent of his kingdom, and about his army, and his wealth, and his renown, and about the country he lived in, and his caste and tribe and family. And he found that both were lords of a kingdom three hundred leagues in extent ; and that in respect of army and wealth and renown, and the countries in which A LESSON FOR KINGS. xxv they lived, and their caste and their tribe and their family, they were just on a par ! . Then he thought, "I will make way for the most righteous." And he asked, " What kind of righteousness has this king of yours ? " And the other saying, " Such and such is our king's righteousness," and so proclaiming his king's wickedness as goodness, uttered the First Stanza : The strong he .overthrows by strength, The mild by mildness, does Mallika ; The good he conquers by goodness, And the wicked by wickedness too. Such is the nature of this king ! Move out of the way, charioteer ! But the charioteer of the king of Benares asked him, " Well, have you told all the virtues of your king ? " " Yes," said the other. "If these are his virtues, where are then his faults?" replied he. The other said, "Well, for the nonce, they shall be faults, if you like ! But pray, then, what is the kind of goodness your king has ? " And then the charioteer of the king of Benares called unto him to hearken, and uttered the Second Stanza: Anger he conquers by calmness, And by goodness the wicked ; The stingy he conquers by gifts, And by truth the speaker of lies. Such is the nature of this king ! Move out of the way, charioteer ! " And when he had thus spoken, both Mallika the king xxvi RAJOVADA JATAKA. and his charioteer alighted from their chariot. And they took out the horses, and removed their chariot, and made way for the king of Benares ! But the king of Benares exhorted Mallika the king, saying, " Thus and thus is it right to do." And returning to Benares, he practised charity, and did other good deeds, and so when his life was ended he passed away to heaven. And Mallika the king took his exhortation to heart ; and having in vain searched the country through for a fault-finder, he too returned to his own city, and prac- tised charity and other good deeds; and so at the end of his life he went to heaven. The mixture in this Jataka of earnestness with dry humour is very instructive. The exaggeration in the earlier part of the story; the hint that law depends in reality on false cases ; the suggestion that to decide cases justly would by itself put an end, not only to ' the block in the law courts,' but even to all lawsuits; the way in which it is brought about that two mighty kings should meet, unattended, in a narrow lane ; the clever- ness of the first charioteer in getting out of his diffi- culties ; the brand-new method of settling the delicate question of precedence a method which, logically carried out, would destroy the necessity of such questions being raised at all; all this is the amusing side of the A LESSON FOR KINGS. xxvii Jiitaka. It throws, and is meant to throw, an air of unreality over the story ; and it is none the less humour Because it is left to be inferred, because it is only an aroma which might easily escape unnoticed, only the humour of na'ive absurdity and of clever repartee. But none the less also is the story-teller thoroughly in earnest ; he really means that justice is noble, that to conquer evil by good is the right thing, and that goodness is the true measure of greatness. The object is edification also, and not amusement only. The lesson itself is quite Buddhistic. The first four lines of the Second Moral are indeed included, as verse 223, in the Dhammapada or 'Scripture Yerses,' perhaps the most sacred and most widely-read book of the Buddhist Bible ; and the distinction between the two ideals of virtue is in harmony with all Buddhist ethics. It is by no means, however, exclusively Buddhistic. It gives expression to an idea that would be consistent with most of the later religions ; and is found also in the great Hindu Epic, the Maha Bharata, which has been called the Bible of the Hindus. 1 It is true that further on in the same poem is found the opposite sentiment, attributed in our story to the king of Mallika; 2 and that the higher teaching is in one of the latest portions of the Maha Bharata, and 1 Maha Bharata, v. 1518. Another passage at iii. 13253 is very similar. 2 Maha Bharata, xii. 4052. See Dr. Muir's "Metrical Translations from Sanskrit Writers" (1879), pp. xxxi, 88, 275, 356. xxviii OVERCOMING EVIL BY GOOD. probably of Buddhist origin. But when we find that the Buddhist principle of overcoming evil by good was received, as well as its opposite, into the Hindu poem, it is clear that this lofty doctrine was by no means re- pugnant to the best among the Brahmans. 1 It is to be regretted that some writers on Buddhism have been led away by their just admiration for the noble teaching of Gotama into an unjust depreciation of the religious system of which his own was, after all, but the highest product and result. There were doubt- less among the Brahmans uncompromising advocates of the worst privileges of caste, of the most debasing belief in the efficacy of rites and ceremonies ; but this verse is only one among many others which are in- contestable evidence of the wide prevalence also of a spirit of justice, and of an earnest seeking after truth. It is, in fact, inaccurate to draw any hard-and-fast line between the Indian Buddhists and their countrymen of other faiths. After the first glow of the Buddhist reformation had passed away, there was probably as little difference between Buddhist and Hindu as there was between the two kings in the story which has just been told. 1 Similar passages will also be found in Lao Tse, Douglas's Confucian- ism, etc., p. 197; Pancha Tantra, i. 247 (277) =iv. 72; in Stobaeus, quoted by Muir, p. 356 ; and in St. Matthew, v. 44-46 ; whereas the Mallika doctrine is inculcated by Confucius (Legge, Chinese Classics, i. 152). XXIX THE KALILAG AND DAMNAG LITERATURE. Among the other points of similarity between Buddhists and Hindus, there is one which deserves more especial mention here, that of their liking for the kind of moral-comic tales which form the bulk of the Buddhist Birth Stories. That this partiality was by no means confined to the Buddhists is apparent from the fact that books of such tales have been amongst the most favourite literature of the Hindus. And this is the more interesting to us, as it is these Hindu collections that have most nearly preserved the form in which many of the Indian stories have been carried to the West. The oldest of the collections now extant is the one already referred to, the PANCHA TANTRA, that is, the 'Five Books/ a kind of Hindu 'Pentateuch' or 'Pen- tamerone.' In its earliest form this work is unfor- tunately no longer extant ; but in the sixth century of our era a book very much like it formed part of a work translated into Pahlavi, or Ancient Persian; and thence, about 750 A.D., into Syriac, under the title of 'KALILAG AND DAMNAG,' and into Arabic under the title 'KALILAH AND DIMNAH. U 1 The names are corruptions of the Indian names of the two jackals, Karatak and Darnanak, who take a principal part in the first of the fables. xxx THE KALILAG AND These tales, though originally Buddhist, became great favourites among the Arabs ; and as the Arabs were gradually brought into contact with Europeans, and penetrated into the South of Europe, they brought the stories with them ; and we soon afterwards find them translated into Western tongues. It would be impos- sible within the limits of this preface to set out in full detail the intricate literary history involved in this statement; and while I must refer the student to the Tables appended to this Introduction for fuller infor- mation, I can only give here a short summary of the principal facts. It is curious to notice that it was the Jews to whom we owe the earliest versions. Whilst their mercantile pursuits took them much amongst the followers of the Prophet, and the comparative nearness of their religious beliefs led to a freer intercourse than was usually pos- sible between Christians and Moslems, they were natu- rally attracted by a kind of literature such as this Oriental in morality, amusing in style, and perfectly free from Christian legend and from Christian dogma. It was also the kind of literature which travellers would most easily become acquainted with, and we need not therefore be surprised to hear that a Jew, named Symeon Seth, about 1080 A.D., made the first translation into a European language, viz. into modern Greek. Another DAMNAG LITERATURE. xxx i Jew, about 1250, made a translation of a slightly different recension of the ' Kalilah and Dimnah ' into Hebrew ; and a third, John of Capua, turned this Hebrew version into Latin between 1263 and 1278. At about the same time as the Hebrew version, another was made direct from the Arabic into Spanish, and a fifth into Latin ; and from these five versions trans- lations were afterwards made into German, Italian, French, and English. The title of the second Latin version just mentioned is very striking it is ".ZEsop the Old." To the trans- lator, Baldo, it evidently seemed quite in order to ascribe these new stories to the traditional teller of similar stories in ancient times ; just as witty sayings of more modern times have been collected into books ascribed to the once venerable Joe Miller. Baldo was neither sufficiently enlightened to consider a good story the worse for being an old one, nor sufficiently scrupulous to hesitate at giving his new book the advantage it would gain from its connexion with a well-known name. Is it true, then, that the so-called JEsop's Fables so popular still, in spite of many rivals, among our Western children are merely adaptations from tales invented long ago to please and to instruct the child- like people of the East ? I think I can give an answer, though not a complete answer, to the question. xxxii ORIGIN OF sESOP'S FABLES. JEsop himself is several times mentioned in classical literature, and always as the teller of stories or fables. Thus Plato says that Socrates in his imprisonment occu- pied himself by turning the stories (literally myths) of 2Esop into verse : l Aristophanes four times refers to his tales: 2 and Aristotle quotes in one form a fable of his, which Lucian quotes in another. 3 In accordance with these references, classical historians fix the date of .ZEsop in the sixth century B.C.; 4 but some modern critics, relying on the vagueness and inconsistency of the traditions, have denied his existence altogether. This is, perhaps, pushing scepticism too far; but it may be admitted that he left no written works, and it is quite certain that if he did, they have been irretrievably lost. Notwithstanding this, a learned monk of Constan- tinople, named PLANUDES, and the author also of numerous other works, did not hesitate, in the first half of the fourteenth century, to write a work which he called a collection of .^Esop's Fables. This was first printed at Milan at the end of the fifteenth century ; 1 Phaedo, p. 61. Comp. Bentley, Dissertation on the Fables of _