A Jataka-Tale from the Tibetan.
H. WENZEL
The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and
Ireland
pp.503--511
p.503
A Jataka-Tale from the Tibetan. By H. WENZEL
IN the History of Tibet called
Rgyal-rabs-gsal-vai-me-lon ('The mirror illustrating
the lineage of the kings') we find, as sixth chapter,
the tale translated here, which corresponds to the
Valahassa Jataka (Fausboll, ii. 127 ff., also in E.
Muller's Pali Grammar, p. 128 ff.). As will be seen,
the tale appears here in a richer, and quasi-dra-
matic, garb, with the addition of some characteristic
traits, as e.g. the marvellous food that makes men
forget their bygone troubles (cp. Odyssey, ix. 94
f.), etc., etc.
The Rgyal-rabs itself is a work of the 17th
century A.D. It begins with the evolution of the
universe (in chapter 1, cp. Rockhill, Life of the
Buddha, p. 1 ff.), gives, in ch. 2, a short survey of
the Lord's life, and, in ch. 3 and 4, of the
beginnings of Buddhism, relates, in ch. 5, the merits
of Avalokitecvara in spreading the Law in Tibet, and
goes then, ch. 6, on to our tale. Follows the origin
of the Tibetan race from an ape and a rakshasi (ch.
7), the beginning of the royal line (ch. 8),
finally, the chief contents and purpose of the book,
life and doings of King Sronbtsan sgam-po (ch.
9-17), whereon the book closes with a sort of
appendix.containing the further history of the
country to the time of the writer.
The work has been partially known for a long time
by the extracts from the Mongolian translation
thereof, called Bodhimor, given in the notes to I. J.
Schmidt's edition of the Mongolian historian Ssanang
Ssetzen. For my copy of the work I had the use of two
blockprints, one belonging formerly to Mr. Jaschke,
now in the British Museum; the othcr of the
University Library of St. Petersburg,
p.504
25181 (569), for which latter I am indebted to
the kindness of Mr. Saleman. The first is pretty
correct, the other gives a few different readings,
and has a peculiar, not to say faulty, spelling.
Sixth chapter, (relating) how (Avalokitecvara),
by transforming himself into the horse king, worked
the good of living beings.
When the noble Avalokitecvara had (thus) in many
ways profited living beings, he assumed, in order to
give an example of how to choose virtue and to reject
sin (according to the Sutra Za-ma-tog), the form of
the horse king Bhalaha(1) to work (further) for the
good of the living beings. At this time many
merchants from the South of India, whose merits were
but small, had departed to the outer ocean to search
for jewels. With the many implements each one wanted
they had gone on board a large vessel, (but) after
the expiration of seven days they were brought into
danger by an unwelcome wind, thus:" "At midday a dark
cloud like a dense fog obscures the light of the sun
and spreads darkness (everywhere); a fearful red wind
seems to shake the foundations of the earth, (so
that) the mighty trees of the forest fall. The waves
of the sea spring like lions, and the breakers lash
sky and earth. The merchants take hold of each other,
and calling (loud) on the names of their relatives,
they cry; howling in terrified lamentation, they
weep, helpless and exhausted, bloody tears,
nevertheless the vessel goes to wreck." Then the
merchants take firm hold of some beam(3) of the
wrecked ship, and, driven in one direction by an
unwelcome wind, they were carried to the island of
Singhala (sic!), which was (a dwelling-place) of
Rakshasis. There the merchants, calling each other by
name, came on shore (lit. the dry, viz. land). When
the Rakshasis became aware of this, they changed
themselves into young and
--------------------------
1 sic ! in Divyavadana his name is spelt Balaha, p.
120, 4 ff.; there it is a metamorphosis of
Maitreya (122, 29).
2 Verses; cp, Rom. Leg. p. 333 (sce appendix).
3 Perhaps 'of the hull.'
p.505
laden with much food and drink, they came
before the merchants and greeted them, 'Are you
tired? Have you suffered pain?' Having beguiled them
by these greetings, they filled them with food and
drink. The merchants, not knowing that they were
Rakshasis, but only seeing in them exceedingly pretty
women, were very glad, and conversed with them. Then
the Rakshasis said with one voice: "You merchants
must not go into the upper part of the valley."(1)
Each of the women led a merchant away into her house,
where they became man and wife, and sported together.
Then a voice was heard (from the sky): "The
merchants suffering from (the consequences of) evil
deeds of (former) kalpas, have, carried by a contrary
wind, run into the hand of those who have power to
kill them, like a snared animal into a game-net, and
have no means of salvation. In fatuated by the
thought of marrying them they mistake the Rakshasis
for goddesses, and, filled with the delusive food,
they forget former pains like a dream, and their soul
is contented." From this the great captain understood
that this was the island of the Rakshasis, and,
lamenting despondingly, he thought: " Now they are
happy, but what will the end be like?" and was very
unhappy. Then reflecting: "What may signify their
prohibition to go into the upper valley? " the
captain started in the night when his own wife had
fallen asleep, and reaching the upper end of the
valley he heard, within an iron house(2) without
doors, laments and complaining. Reflecting what it
might be, he listened and knew by the language that
they were merchants from India. So he climbed up the
trunk of a tree(3) stand ing near and asked, " Who is
in there? " The men within answered: "Within here are
we merchants who have lost our way." On the question:
"How long have you been shut up here?" they answered:
" Like you, our ship being driven by a contrary wind,
we arrived here, and led on
--------------------------
1 Rom. Leg. 334, " south of the city."
2 Rom. Leg. p. 335 has ' an iron city.'
3 Rom. Leg. the tree hoh-hwen (united joy).
p.506
by these women, not recognizing that they were
Rakshasis, we became man and wife.~ While we thus
played together, you came to this island and we were
put into this iron house without doors; now we are to
be eaten up one by one. You, taking to heart our
misery and the fear of death, fly now at once, for
now there is a possibility of flying; when (once) you
are confined in this iron house, there is neither
flight nor means of salvation." The captain saying
again: "In truth there is no means of escape," they
said, "There is a means of escape. We also thought we
must fly, but, clinging to lust, we were taken
(again); you (now) cling to nothing and nobody and
fly. and the means to fly is this: if you cross from
here a small pass there is on the north side in an
expanse of golden sand a turkois (gyu) well, whose
rim is surrounded by a vaidurya(1) meadow. On the
evening of the fifteenth(2) (day of the month) the
horse-king Bha-la-ha, on whose croup a hundred men
have room, very beautiful, accompanying (or perhaps
merely: like) a moon-beam, will come there. After
having drunk from the turkois well, having eaten from
the vaidurya meadow,(3) having rolled three times in
the golden sand, and having shaken himself once, he
says, sending forth his horse-voice like a human
voice: 'O Indian merchants, whoever has come to
(this) rakshasi-island, all get on my back, I will
bring you to your country.'(4) When this marvellous
horse speaks thus, mount him, and, not clinging to
whatever enjoyments or sons (you have here), but
close your eyes, and flee." The captain thought,'Thus
(we) must act,' and went back. When he came to the
bed of his wife, the rakshasi, she knew it, and spoke
these words:(5) "Perverted merchant, you will destroy
your own life; if you direct your thoughts to aught
else (than me), you will perish; where have you been
to, lord of merchants?" The merchant lied, "I went
mutram utsrashtum." Thereon the captain
-------------------------
1 In Tibetan transliteration mostly spelt
negligently vai-du-rya.
2 Rom. Leg. p. 336; Divyav. 120, 3.
3 Rom. Leg.: having partaken of the pure food.
4 Cp. Divyav. 120, 5. Rom. Leg. p. 337.
5 In Rom. Leg. 338 he finds all the Rakshasis
asleep.
p.507
assembled the young merchants, told them exactly
what had happened, and all unanimously agreed to fly.
Then, on the evening of the fifteenth day, they gave
a narcotic to the rakshasis, and when they had fallen
asleep, the captain led forth the young merchants,
and, having crossed the small pass, they reached on
(its) north side, the golden sand, before the turkois
well, near the vaidurya meadow (the place where) the
horse-king Ba-la-ha would appear. And after a short
while came the horse-king from the sky on a moon-
beam, with the light of the rainbow. When now this
excellent horse had drunk from the turkois well, had
eaten from the vaidurya meadow, had rolled three
times on the golden sand, and had given himself a
shake, he said in a human voice: "Merchants! let all
whosoever is shut up in the rakshasi-island, mount on
my back; not clinging to the love of the rakshasis,
of (your) little children, or of any enjoyment
whatever. Close (your) eyes,(l) I will bring you to
your own country." Thereon the captain said: "Thou
leader, excellent magic horse, we merchants had
started together to the islands of the ocean to fetch
jewels, but, because our merits failed, our great
ship was wrecked on the ocean, by a contrary wind we
were driven to the rakshasi-island. There we entered
the houses of the evildoing rakshasis, who wanted to
kill us. Now there is for us no other means of
escape, we implore the help of the merciful
horse-lord." Having spoken thus, the captain mounted
on the horse's neck. and took hold of his ear,(2) the
young merchants mounted on his back. Saying: "(Now)
do not desire the rakshasi houses, their sons, and
whatever enjoyment (you have had there), do not even
think of it, but, till we have reached the end of the
sea, close your eyes," the horse-lord carried (them)
along the sky. When the rakshasis perceived this,
they came forth (from their houses) leading their
children, and spoke thus: "Can you (indeed)
---------------------------
1 See Divyav. 120, 2l; also Don Quixote, Part II.
ch. 41.
2 Jaschke mould translate, 'leapt into the ear,' but
I do not know how to justify this. Is it meant as
a precaution against hearing the rakshasis' allure
ments? Compare Odyssey xii. 178 f.
p.508
509
forsake the high castles, forsake the harmonious
community of husband and wife, forsake the sons
begotten from your body, forsake (our) savoury food
and drink, O ye bad, shameless men!" Speaking thus,
some (of them) lifted up their children to the sky,
some waved their garments. When the young merchants
heard this, they were as if hit in their inmost
hearts by an arrow, and thinking, '(This) is indeed
very true,' they turned their eyes back, and, except
the captain, all, seized by desire, looked and fell.
The fallen (men) were seized by the rakshasis, who,
throwing off their former beautiful body, appeared in
(true) rakshasi-shape, with shaggy heads, carrying
their breasts on the shoulders, and showing their
teeth (fangs); and began to eat them up, without
waiting a moment. When now the horse lord had come to
the end of the sea, he said to the merchant, " Look
with your eyes and alight." When he now opened his
eyes and saw that none of the young merchants was on
the horse's back, he was deeply grieved, and saying:
"O noble horse-king, where are my young merchants?"
he wept. The noble horse, beating the earth with his
fore-foot and shedding tears, said: " (Those) young
merchants, being void of your (high) merits, not
remembering their own country Jambudvipa, but
clinging to the island of the evil rakshasis,
perished; not remembering their parents and dear
friends, but clinging to the faces of the young
rakshasis, they perished; not remembering their
legitimate (lit. useful') children, but clinging to
the deceitful rakshasi-children, they perished. Alas,
you miserable beings! when these slain pupils of the
diamond-teacher have entered the abode of the hell
Avici, what could even a highly merciful priest
(blama) do (for them)? If they, looking after their
children, are perverted (in mind) and carried away by
a contrary wind, what can their parents do, even with
great affection?(2) If, not listening to the word of
useful doctrine, the young merchants cast their eyes
back and fall, what can even the flying horse-king do
? O merchant, do not
--------------------------
1 This may possibly mean 'natural' as opposed to
'magical.'
2 This sentence seems confused.
p.509
weep, but hear me:'The joy and sorrow of this
life is like the illusion of a dream, like a
cataract, like a lightning-cloud in the sky,
therefore do not desire the joy of the orb
(samsara) ."' Thus the horse-lord explained the
doctrine of the four truths, and carried the chief
merchant, when he had dried his tears, to a place
whence he (could) see his own house. There this
horse-lord went off in the sky like a dissolving
rainbow. When now the chief merchant came to his
house, his parents and relatives all assembled, and
embracing him they wept; then they saluted him.
Afterwards the parents and relatives of the young
merchants came forth, and shouting, "Where is my
father? Where is my elder brother? Where is my uncle?
Where is my grandson?" they wept. Then the chief
merchant assembled the parents and relatives of the
young merchrants, and told them explicitly how they
first had entered the sea, how the pernicious red
wind had wrecked their ship; how they had been
carried by a contrary wind to the rakshasi island,
had married them, and begotten children; how they had
then found out that they were rakshasis, and had
sought means of escape; how the men of the iron house
had taught them this means; how the young merchants
had not listened to the admonitions of the horse-king
and fell and so forth. Then he instructed them in the
true faith, that, as (all) things within the orb were
changeable, they must believe in the fruits born from
deeds (karman). Whosoever, clinging to this life,
commits sin, will, like the young merchants, who,
looking back, fell, err about within the orb, without
finding an opportunity of saving himself from the
rebirth into evil states (durgati). But those who,
not clinging to this life, have received the true law
in their minds, will, like the chief merchant, after
having obtained the happiness of heaven and
salvation, become a buddha.
Our version of the story is nearly identical with
that forming ch. 49 of the "Romantic Legend of the
Life of Buddha," translated by Beal, p. 332 ff., and
some significant points have been noted above. It is
also mentioned by
p.510
511
Hiuen Thsang in the Si-yu-ki, transl. Beal, ii
. 240 ff. That the Rakshasis (the Yakkhinis of the
Pali) are the same as the Sirens of Homer, has been
pointed out by Mr. Axon and Mr. Morris (Ind. Ant. x.
291), the first giving also a parallel from Malay
mythology.
It is quite clear, I think, from our version,
that by the airy horse the moon is understood
(candupama. kira, buddha, Dh. 244). He comes on, or
with, a moonbeam on the 15th day of the month. It
becomes more evident still by the version in the Rom.
Leg., where, besides, he bears the significant name
of Kecin 'hairy,' which as early as in the Rig Veda
is an epithet of flames and heavenly bodies (S. Pet.
Dict.). But, again, it is an epithet of Vishnu, who
rides on the Garuda, as is known from the
Pancatantra, Book I. tale 5. For all these divine
magic animals are of the same race. Besides those
noticed in Benfey's remarks on the tale, Panc. vol.
i. 159 ff., the wooden bird is found in a tale of the
Transilvanian Gipsies, see ZDMG. xlii. 117 ff, and
again in the second tale of the Siddhi Kur (ed.
Julg), p. 63 of the translation, where the son of
gods Cuklaketu descends on it to the princess; cukla
'bright,' is, with or without paksha, the light half
of the month, and also an epithet of Vishnu. He
afterwards appears himself in the shape of a bird, a
lark (ibid. p. 64) , and, having been hurt
maliciously, agrees with the princess to visit her on
the 15th of every month (p. 65).
Vishnu, of course, is the sun, but the
difference of origin of those magic animals, from sun
and moon respectively, is obliterated in these later
tales.
In the Buddhist tale, naturally, the divine horse
is a birth of the Lord (as in the Jataka and in the
Rom. Leg.), or of Maitreya (as in the Divyavadana);
while to the Tibetan he is an incarnation of the
country's patron saint, Avalokitecvara.
But I cannot go farther here into this absorbing
question of the divine bird or horse, which lies at
the very root of comparative mythology, as already
shadowed forth in A. Kuhn's "Herabkunft des Feuers."
I would only call attention, in conclusion, to the
latest shape the divine horse has
p.511
taken in the West, in Andersen's "Flying Trunk ";
for I think we can discern something of the same
moral tendency in both this and the Tibetan tale--the
flight from Samsara!
NOTE.--To valaha, of which Balaha is only a wrong
Sanskritisation, cp. Divyav. 127, 17. 19,
vatavalahaka devaputrah and varshaval. dev. 'the
angels of the wind-clouds and of the rain-clouds,'
and Jat. I. 330, vassavalahakadevaraja. Munja-keca
(Jat. II. 129, 9, cf. also the wonderful horse
Munjakesi of king Udena, Dh. 160) 'having hair like
reed,' i.e.'having beams,' is also an epithet of
Vishnu. The 'black headed' of the Jataka points most
likely to a cloud--so we would have the moon emerging
from the black clouds.