005~Krishna-some thoughts

8/7/2019 005~Krishna-some thoughts

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Story of vsudeva as per theBuddhist ghata jaatakahttp://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j4/j4018.htm

Once upon a time, a king named mahkasareigned in uttarpatha, in the kasa district, inthe city of Asitajan. He had two sons, kasaand upakasa, and one daughter nameddvagabbh. On her birthday the brahminswho foretold that a son born of that girl will oneday destroy the country and the lineage of

Kasa. Since the king was too fond of the girlto put her to death he left the decision to hissons, lived his days out, and then died.

Upon mahkasas death Kasa became king,and Upakasa the viceroy. They thought thatthere would be an outcry if they to put theirsister to death, and hence decided to keep her

unmarried for life and keep a strict watch sothat no child is born to her. So they built asingle round-tower1 for her to live in.dvagabbh had a serving-woman namednandagop, and the woman's husband,andhakavehu, was the servant who wasordered to keep a constant watch on her.

A king named mahsgara reigned in UpperMadhur at that period. He had two sons,sgara and upasgara. At their father's death,sgara became king, and upasgara was


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viceroy. upasgara and upakasa werefriends, brought up together and trained by thesame guru. Since upasgara was found to have

intrigued in his brother's anta:pura, he ranaway in fear to upakasa in uttarpatha.upakasa introduced him to his brother andking kasa, and the king had him in greathonour.

upasgara noticed the tower wheredvagabbh and on enquiry came to know

about her and why she was confined there. Hesomehow fell in love with that girl even withoutseeing her. dvagabbh one day saw him as hewent with upakasa. She asked who that wasand was told by nandagop that it wasupasgara, son of the great king sgara; shetoo fell in love with him. upasgara gave apresent to nandagop, and made her agree to

his meeting dvagabbh. She being already inlove with him, agreed immediately. One nightnandagop arranged a tryst, and broughtupasgara up into the tower and he stayedwith dvagabbh in the tower. dvagabbhconceived. The news of her pregnancy spreadand the brothers questioned nandagop. She

made them promise her pardon and then toldthe facts. kasa and upakasa decided not tokill their sister. In case she bore a daughter itwould be spared but if it is a son they would killit. So, they married dvagabbh to upasgara.


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dvagabbh delivered a female baby who wasnamed ajan. kasa allotted to them avillage named gvahamna. upasgara and

dvagabbh lived in that village.dvagabbh again concieved, and on that veryday nandagop also conceived and both ofthem delivered on the same day, dvagabbha son and nandagop, a daughter. Sincedvagabbh was sure that her brothers wouldkill the baby, she exchanged her son with

nandagop's daughter and then told thebrothers of the birth. Since it was a girl (asdvagabbh informed them so) they allowedher to bring up the daughter. In this waydvagabbh gave birth to ten sons, andnandagop, to ten daughters. All the sons,exchanged with daughters of nandagop,

while the daughters of nandagop lived ingvahamna and only the three nandagop, dvagabbh and andhakavehuknew this secret.

The sons of dvagabbh were namedvsudeva, baladeva, chada-deva, suriya-deva,aggi-deva, varua-deva, ajjuna, pajjuna, ghata-

paita and akura2

. They were well known asthe sons of Andhakavehu the servitor, the TenSlave-Brethren.

In course of time these ten grew became verystrong, fierce and ferocious, and they went


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about plundering, even so far as to plunder apresent being taken to the king kasa. Thepeople complained to the king about

andhakavehu's sons, the Ten Brethren,plundering the land. So the king summonedandhakavehu, and rebuked him for permittinghis sons to plunder. When same complaint wasmade three or four times, the king threatenedhim and andhakavehu being afraid of his lifecraved the boon of safety from the king, andtold the entire secret of the switching of thebabies of dvagabbh and nandagop.

The king was alarmed and asked his ministersas to how they could catch hold of the tenbrothers. As per the advice of the ministers itwas decided to hold a wrestling match in thecity, and when they enter the ring to catch

them and put them to death. So two wrestlersof repute, chura and muhika were got, andproclamation was made throughout the city bybeat of drum that on a particular day therewould be a wrestling match.

The wrestling ring was prepared in front of theking's gate and the audience was huge. The

Ten Brethren came to the wrestling match. Buton their way they plundered the washer men'sstreet, and clad themselves in robes of brightcolours, forcibly took away perfume from theperfumers shops, and wreaths of flowers from


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the florists, with their bodies well anointed,wearing garlands, earrings in their ears, theystrutted into the ring, jumping, shouting,

clapping their hands. baladeva killed bothchura and muhika in the wrestling match.

muhika in his death-throes, prayed that hebecome a goblin, and devour baladva and hebecame a goblin in a forest called by the nameof kamattiya. When kasa ordered the arrestof the Ten Brethren, vsudeva threw a

wheel which cut off the heads of the twobrothers kasa and upakasa. The onlookerswere terrified by vsudevas might, fell at hisfeet, and entreated him to be their protectorfrom then on.

Thus the Ten Brethren, having killed their twouncles, assumed the sovereignty of the city of

Asitajan, and brought their parents to livewith them.

They now set out, intending to conquer thewhole of the land. Soon they lay siege to thecity of ayojjh, the seat of king kasena. Theyencompassed it, destroyed the jungle aroundit, breached the wall and took the king

prisoner, and assumed the sovereignty ofayojjh. They then proceeded to dvravat, acity with the sea on one side and themountains on the other. The city was known tobe goblin-haunted. A goblin would be stationed


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on the watch, who, seeing any enemies, wouldtake the the shape of an ass and would bray.At once, by goblin magic, the whole city would

rise in the air, and deposit itself on an island inthe midst of the sea; when the threat wasgone, it would come back and settle in its ownplace again. This time also, as usual, as soonas the ass saw the Ten Brethren approaching,it brayed, the city rose in the air and settledupon the island. They could not see any cityand turned back; then back came the city to itsown place again. The Ten Brethren returnedagain the ass did as before. The sovereignty ofthe city of dvravat They could not capturedvravat.

So they visited kaha-dpyana and asked himfor his advice as to how they could succeed in

capturing power over dvravat. He told themabout the goblin protecting the city in the formof an ass, making the city fly in the air andsettle on an island in the middle of the sea,etc., and suggested that they must clasp holdof his feet in order to accomplish victory." Thenthey went to the ass, and falling at his feet,said, "Sir, we have no help but thee! When we

come to take the city, do not bray!" The assreplied, "I cannot help braying. But if you comefirst, and four of you bring great iron ploughs,and at the four gates of the city dig great ironposts into the ground, and when the city


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begins to rise, if you will fix on the post a chainof iron fastened to the plough, the city will notbe able to rise." The ass cooperated; he did not

make a sound while they got ploughs, andfixed the posts in the ground at the four gatesof the city, and stood waiting. Then the assbrayed, the city began to rise, but since thosewho stood at the four gates with the fourploughs, having fixed to the posts iron chainswhich were fastened to the ploughs, the citycould not rise. Thereupon the Ten Brethrenentered the city, killed the king, and took hiskingdom.

Thus they conquered all the lands and in sixtythree thousand cities they killed the kings bythe wheel, and lived at dvravat, dividing thekingdom into ten shares. But they had

forgotten their sister, the Lady ajan. So theydecided to make eleven shares instead of ten.But akura said that he wished to do somebusiness if he is exempted from paying taxesin the ten countries and his share could begiven to sister ajan. The other brothersconsented, and gave his share to his sister;and with her the nine kings dwelt in dvravat,

while akura embarked in trade.

In course of time, the nine brothers had sonsand daughters; and after a long time, some ofthe nine kings died. (At that period, they saythat a man's life was twenty thousand years.)


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Then one very beloved son of the great Kingvsudeva died. The king, half dead with grief,neglected everything, and lay lamenting, and

clutching the frame of his bed. Thenghatapaita thought to himself, "Except me,no one else is able to soothe my brother'sgrief; I will find some means of soothing hisgrief for him." So assuming the appearance ofmadness, he paced through the whole city,gazing up at the sky, and crying out, "Give mea hare! Give me a hare!" All the city wasexcited: "ghatapaita has gone mad!" theysaid. Just then a courtier named rohieyya,went to the King vsudeva, and informed himabout ghatapaita having gone mad. (Thejataka story gives the stanza:

Black kanha, rise! why close the eyes to

sleep? why lying thereThine own born brothersee, the winds awayhis wit do bear,Away his wisdom! ghata raves, thou of the longblack hair! )

Vsudeva immediately went to ghatapaita

who was roaming the streets and asked himwhy he was crying out for a hare and promisedthat he would be given any hare he wanted.But ghatapaita insisted on getting the harefrom the Moon.


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nor money spent,Can bring to life again that ghost whom, kanha,you lament."

The King, on hearing this, answered, "Yourintent was good, dear one. You did it to takeaway my trouble." Then in praise ofghatapaita he repeated four stanzas:

"Men had I, wise and excellent to give me goodadvice:But how hath ghatapaita opened this day

mine eyes!"Blazing was I, as when a man pours oil upon afire;Thou didst bring water, and didst quench thepain of my desire.

"Grief for my son, a cruel shaft was lodgedwithin my heart;Thou hast consoled me for my grief, and takenout the dart.

"That dart extracted, free from pain, tranquil,and calm I keep;Hearing, O youth, thy words of truth, no more Igrieve nor weep."And lastly:"Thus do the merciful, and thus they who arewise indeed:They free from pain, as ghata here his eldestbrother freed."


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Once, during which vsudeva ruled hiskingdom, the sons of the ten brethren thought:"They say that kahadpyana has divine

insight. Let us put him to a test." So theyprocured a young lad, and dressed him up as afemale, and by binding a pillow about his belly,made it appear as though the woman waspregnant. Then they brought him into thesages presence, and asked him, "When, Sir,will this woman be delivered?" The asceticperceived that the time had come for thedestruction of the ten royal brothers; then,looking to see what the term of his own lifeshould be, he perceived that he must die thatvery day. Then he said, "Young sirs, what isthis man to you?" "Answer us," they repliedpersistently. He answered, "This man on theseventh day from now will bring forth a knot of

acacia wood. With that he will destroy the lineof vsudeva, even though ye should take thepiece of wood and burn it, and cast the ashesinto the river." "Ah, false ascetic!" said they, "aman can never bring forth a child!" and theykilled him at once. The kings sent for the youngmen, and asked them why they had killed the

ascetic. When they heard all, they werefrightened. They set a guard upon the man;and when on the seventh day he voided fromhis belly a knot of acacia wood, they burnt it,and cast the ashes into the river. The ashes


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floated down the river, and stuck on one sideby a postern gate; from thence sprung aneraka plant.

One day, the kings went for sporting in thewater. They came to the same gate and theycaused a great pavilion to be made, and in thatgorgeous pavilion they ate and drank. Then insport they began to catch hold of hand andfoot, and dividing into two parts, they becamevery quarrelsome. At last one of them, finding

nothing better for a club, picked a leaf from theeraka plant, which even as he plucked it,became a club of acacia wood in his hand. Withthis he beat many people. Then the others alsoplucked the leaves, and the things as they tookthem became clubs, and with those woodenclubs they cudgelled one another until they

were all killed. Only four of the clan viz.,vsudeva, baladeva, ajan and the chaplainremained and they mounted a chariot and fledaway.

Fleeing away in the chariot, they came to theforest of kamattik where muhika thewrestler had been born, according to his

prayer, as a goblin. When he saw baladeva, hecreated by his goblin magic, a village in thatspot; and taking the semblance of a wrestler,he went jumping about, and shouting, "Who'sfor a fight?" snapping his fingers the while.


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baladva, as soon as he saw him, said,"Brother, I'll try a fall with this fellow."vsudeva tried his best to prevent the fight;

but baladva got down from the chariot, andwent up to fight. The other just seized him inthe hollow of his hand, and gobbled him up likea radish-bulb.

vsudeva, perceiving that baladva was dead,went on all night long with his sister and the

chaplain, and at sunrise arrived at a frontiervillage. He lay down in the shelter of a bush,and sent his sister and the chaplain into thevillage, with orders to cook some food andbring it to him. A huntsman (his name was jar,or Old Age) noticed the bush shaking. "A pig,sure enough," thought he; he threw a spear,

and pierced his feet. "Who has wounded me?"cried out vsudeva. The huntsman, finding thathe had wounded a man, set off running interror. [89] The king, recovering his wits, gotup, and called the huntsman"Uncle, comehere, don't be afraid!" When he came"Whoare you?" asked Vsudeva. "My name is jar,

my lord." "Ah," thought the king, "whom OldAge wounds will die, so the ancients used tosay. Without doubt I must die to-day." Then hesaid, Fear not, Uncle; come, bind up mywound." The mouth of the wound bound up,


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the king let him go. Great pains came uponhim; he could not eat the food that the othersbrought. Then addressing himself to the others,

vsudeva said: "This day I am to die. You aredelicate creatures, and will never be able tolearn anything else for a living; so learn thisscience from me." So saying, he taught them ascience, and let them go; and then diedimmediately.

Thus excepting the lady ajan, they perished

every one, it is said.

Footnotes

1The prophecy, and the tower, and the result,will remind the reader of Dana and Perseusin Greek Mythology.

2 The ten names mean, respectively, Krishna,Balarma (Krishna's brother in Hindumythology), Moon, Sun, Fire, Varua (the rain-god in later Hinduism, the tree terminalia

arjuna, the rain-cloud (? pajjunno, (Skr. ),sage-in-the-pot, (? or ghaa-p., an ascetic), andsprout. These names seem to refer to some

type of nature-myth.

005~Krishna-some thoughts

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