| J.262 |
Mudupaa.ni Jaataka |
The bodhisatva was once king of Benares and had a daughter whom he was anxious to
marry to his nephew. Later however, he changed his mind, but the young people loved
each other and the prince bribed the princess’s nurse to help her escape. The nurse,
while combing the girl’s hair, indicated by scratching her head with the comb, that
the prince was in love with her. The princess then taught her the stanza to be repeated
to the prince -- ‘a soft hand, a well-trained elephant and a black rain-cloud will
give you what you want’. The prince understood and one night, in the new moon quarter,
when his preparations were complete, a heavy rain shower fell as he waited outside
the princess’s window, accompanied by a page boy seated on a royal elephant. The
princess slept in the same room as the king, and realizing the prince was there,
she told the king she wished to bathe in the rain. The king led her to the window
and bade her step outside onto the balcony while he held her hand. As she bathed
she held out the other hand to the prince, who removed the bangles from it and placed
them on the page’s arm. Then, lifting the boy, he placed him beside her. The princess
took his hand and placed it in her father’s, who thereupon let go of her other arm.
This process was repeated, and in the darkness, the king took the page inside thinking
it was his daughter and put him to sleep while the lovers escaped. When the king
discovered the plot, he was convinced of the futility of trying to guard women and
forgave the lovers. The story was related to a monk who became a backslider owing
to a woman’s wiles. The monk became a sotapanna. |
58/099 |
Jaataka |
Khuddhaka |
J.ii.323ff. |
women |