{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/j5/j5005.htm","path":"bud/j5/j5005.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/j5/j5005.htm","text":"The Jataka, Vol. V, tr. by H.T. Francis, [1905]\n\"Who art thou,\" etc.\u2014This story the Master, while dwelling at Jetavana, told concerning five hundred women, friends of Vis\u0101kh\u0101, who were drinkers of strong drink. Now the story goes that a drinking festival was proclaimed at S\u0101vatthi, and these five hundred women, after providing fiery drink for their masters, at the end of the festival thought, \"We too will keep the feast,\" and they all went to Vis\u0101kh\u0101 and said, \"Friend, we will keep the feast.\" She replied, \"This is a drinking festival. I will drink no strong drink.\" They said, \"Do you then give an offering to the supreme Buddha: we will keep the feast.\" She readily assented and sent them away. And after entertaining the Master, and making him a large offering, set out at eventide for Jetavana, with many a scented wreath in her hand, to hear the preaching of the Law, attended by these Women. Now they were eager for drink, when they started with her, and, when they stood in the gabled chamber, they took strong drink, and then accompanied\n[paragraph continues] Vis\u0101kh\u0101 into the presence of the Master. Vis\u0101kh\u0101 saluted the Master and sat respectfully on one side. Some of the other women danced even before the Master; some sang; others made improper movements with their hands and feet; others quarrelled. The Master, in order to give them a shock, emitted a ray of light from his eyebrow; and this was followed by blinding darkness. These women were terrified and frightened with the fear of death, and so the effect of the strong drink wore off The Master, disappearing from the throne on which he was seated, took his stand on the top of Mount Sineru, and emitted a ray of light from the hairs between his eyebrows 1, like as if it had been the rising of a thousand moons. The Master, just as he stood there, to produce a sensation amongst these women, spoke this stanza:\nAt the end of the stanza all the five hundred women were established in the fruition of the First Path. The Master came and sat down on the Buddha seat, in the shade of the Perfumed Chamber. Then Vis\u0101kh\u0101 saluted him and asked, \"Holy sir, whence has arisen this drinking of strong drink, that does violence to a man's honour and to a tender conscience?\" And telling her he related a story of the past.\n[12] Once upon a time when Brahmadatta was ruling in Benares, a forester, named Sura, who dwelt in the kingdom of K\u0101si, went to the Himalayas, to seek for articles of merchandise. There was a certain tree there that sprang up to the height of a man with his arms extended over his head, and then divided into three parts. In the midst of its three forks was a hole as big as a wine jar, and when it rained this hole was filled with water. Round about it grew two myrobalan 3 plants and a pepper shrub; and the ripe fruits from these, when they were cut down, fell into the hole. Not far from this tree was some self-sown paddy. The parrots would pluck the heads of rice and eat them, perched on this tree. And while they were eating, the paddy and the husked rice fell there. So the water, fermenting through the sun's heat, assumed a blood-red colour. In the hot season flocks of birds, being thirsty, drank of it, and becoming intoxicated fell down at the foot of the tree, and after sleeping awhile flew away, chirping merrily. And the same thing happened in the case of wild dogs, monkeys and other creatures. The forester, on seeing this, said, \"If this were poison they would die, but after a short sleep they go away as they list; it is no poison.\" And he himself drank of it, and becoming intoxicated he felt a desire to eat flesh, and then making a fire he killed the partridges and cocks that fell down at the foot of the tree, and roasted their flesh on the live coals, and gesticulating with one hand, and eating flesh with the other, he remained one or two days in the same\nspot. Now not far from here lived an ascetic, named Varu\u1e47a. The forester at other times also used to visit him, and the thought now struck him, \"I will drink this liquor with the ascetic.\" So he filled a reed-pipe with it, and taking it together with some roast meat he came to the hut of leaves and said, \"Holy sir, [13] taste this liquor,\" and they both drank it and ate the meat. So from the fact of this drink having been discovered by Sura and Varu\u1e47a, it was called by their names (sur\u0101 and v\u0101ru\u1e47\u012b). They both thought, \"This is the way to manage it,\" and they filled their reed-pipes, and taking it on a carrying-pole they came to a neighbouring village, and sent a message to the king that some wine merchants had come. The king sent for them and they offered him the drink. The king drank it two or three times and got intoxicated. This lasted him only one or two days. Then he asked them if there was any more. \"Yes, sir,\" they said. \"Where?\" \"In the Himalayas, sir.\" \"Then bring it here.\" They went and fetched it two or three times. Then thinking, \"We can't always be going there,\" they took note of all the constituent parts, and, beginning with the bark of the tree, they threw in all the other ingredients, and made the drink in the city. The men of the city drank it and became idle wretches. And the place became like a deserted city. Then these wine merchants fled from it and came to Benares, and sent a message to the king, to announce their arrival. The king sent for them and paid them money, and they made wine there too. And that city also perished in the same way. Thence they fled to S\u0101keta, and from S\u0101keta they came to S\u0101vatthi. At that time there was a king named Sabbamitta in S\u0101vatthi. He shewed favour to these men and asked them what they wanted. When they said, \"We want the chief ingredients and ground rice and five hundred jars,\" he gave them everything they asked for. So they stored the liquor in the five hundred jars, and, to guard them, they bound cats, one to each jar. And, when the liquor fermented and began to escape, the cats drank the strong drink that flowed from the inside of the jars, and getting intoxicated they lay down to sleep; and rats came and bit off the cats' ears, noses, teeth and tails. The king's officers came and told the king, \"The cats have died from drinking the liquor.\" [14] The king said, \"Surely these men must be makers of poison,\" and he ordered them both to be beheaded and they died, crying out, \"Give us strong drink, give us mead 1.\" The king, after putting the men to death, gave orders that the jars should be broken. But the cats, when the effect of the liquor wore off, got up and walked about and played. When they saw this, they told the king. The king said, \"If it were poison, they would have died; it must be mead; we will drink it.\" So he had the city decorated, and set up a pavilion in the palace yard and taking his seat in this splendid pavilion on a royal throne with a white umbrella raised over it, and surrounded by\nhis courtiers, he began to drink. Then Sakka, the king of heaven, said, \"Who are there that in the duty of service to mother and the like diligently fulfil the three kinds of right conduct?\" And, looking upon the world, he saw the king seated to drink strong drink and he thought, \"If he shall drink strong drink, all India will perish: I will see that he shall not drink it.\" So, placing a jar full of the liquor in the palm of his hand, he went, disguised as a brahmin, and stood in the air, in the presence of the king, and cried, \"Buy this jar, buy this jar.\" King Sabbamitta, on seeing him standing in the air and speaking after this manner, said, \"Whence can this brahmin come?\" and conversing with him he repeated three stanzas:\nTo ride the pathless air upon, Then, brahmin, who thou art declare,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Whose form emits bright rays of light,\n Like levin flash athwart the sky,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Or moon illuming darkest night? \n \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To move or stand in silent space\u2014\n Real is the power that thou hast won,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And proves thou art of godlike race.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And what within thy jar may be,\n [15] That thus appearing in mid air,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Thou fain wouldst sell thy wares to me.\nThen Sakka said, \"Hearken then to me,\" and, expounding the evil qualities of strong drink, he said:\nWho drinks will fall, poor silly fool, Who drinks, with wits distracted quite, Who drinks will run all shamelessly, Who drinks, like one moved with alarm,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No honey or molasses here,\n But vices more than can be told\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Are stored within its rounded sphere. \n \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Into some hole or pit impure,\n Or headlong sink in loathsome pool\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And eat what he would fain abjure.\n Buy then, O king, this jar of mine,\n Full to the brim of strongest wine.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Like grazing ox that loves to stray,\n [16] Wanders in mind, a helpless wight,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And sings and dances all the day.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Like nude ascetic thro\u2019 the town,\n And late take rest\u2014so dazed is he\u2014\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Forgetting when to lay him down.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Totters, as tho\u2019 he could not stand,\n And trembling shakes his head and arm,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Like wooden puppet worked by hand.\n Buy then &c.\nWho drinks is lost to decency Uplifted is the man that drinks, Wine is a thing of boastful pride, Tho\u2019 families may wealthy be, Silver and gold and household gear, [17] The man that drinks is filled with pride, She too that drinks will in her pride The man that drinks will dare to slay Who drink will sin in triple wise, The man from whom men beg in vain,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Or else a prey to jackals fall,\n To bondage or to death are led,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And suffer loss of goods withal.\n Buy then &c. \n \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And talks of things that are obscene,\n Will sit undressed in company,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Is sick and every way unclean.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0His vision is by no means clear,\n The world is all my own, he thinks,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I own no earthly lord as peer.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0An ugly, naked, cowardly imp,\n To strife and calumny allied,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A home to shelter thief and pimp.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And countless treasures may enjoy,\n Holding earth's richest gifts in fee,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This will their heritage destroy.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Oxen and fields and stores of grain\u2014\n All, all is lost: strong drink, I fear,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Has proved of wealthy home the bane.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And his own parents will revile,\n Or, ties of blood and kin defied,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Will dare the marriage bed defile.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Her husband and his sire revile,\n And, dignity of race defied,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A slave to folly will beguile.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A righteous priest or brahmin true,\n And then in suffering worlds for aye\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The sinful deed will have to rue.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In word, in action, and in thought,\n Then sink to Hell, to agonize\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For all the evil they have wrought.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0E\u2019en at the cost of heaps of gold,\n From him when drunk their point they gain\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And readily the lie is told.\n Buy then &c.\nE\u2019en modest folk, intoxicate Thro\u2019 drink men, fasting, lie about, Like oxen smitten to the ground When all men, as from deadly snake, \u2019Twas after drinking this, I ween, Angels infatuate with wine Nor curds nor honey sweet is here,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And lo! some great emergency\n Should suddenly arise, he'll swear\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The thing has slipped his memory.\n Buy then &c. \n \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With wine, will most indecent be,\n And wisest men, when drunk, will prate\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And babble very foolishly.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The hard bare ground their resting place,\n Huddled like swine, a shameless rout,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They undergo most foul disgrace.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01Collapsing, in a heap they lie;\n [18] Such fire is in strong liquor found,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No power of man with it can vie.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In terror from the poison shrink,\n What hero bold enough to slake\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0His thirst from such a fatal drink?\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The \u00a02Andhakas and V\u1e5bish\u1e47i race,\n Roaming along the shore, were seen\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To fall, each by his kinsman's mace.\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fell from eternal heaven, O king,\n With all their magic power divine:\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then who would taste the accursed thing?\n Buy then &c.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But evermore remembering\n What's stored within this rounded sphere,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Buy, prithee, buy my jar, O king.\n[19] On hearing this the king, recognizing the misery caused by drink, was so pleased with Sakka that he sang his praises in two stanzas:\n[20] Lo! five choice villages I own are thine,\n But thou art kind and merciful, I see;\n A seeker of the Highest Truth alway;\n Therefore I will obey thy words to-day. \n \n Twice fifty handmaids, seven hundred kine,\n And these ten cars with steeds of purest blood,\n For thou hast counselled me to mine own good.\nSakka on hearing this revealed his godhead 1 and made himself known, and standing in the air he repeated two stanzas:\nEnjoy thy ghee, rice, milk and sodden meat,\n And eke the villages and herds of kine;\n No chariots yoked to high-bred steeds I claim;\n Sakka, chief god of Thirty Three, my name. \n \n Still be content thy honey cakes to eat.\n Thus, king, delighting in the Truths I've preached,\n Pursue thy blameless path, till Heaven is reached.\nThus did Sakka admonish him and then returned to his abode in Heaven. And the king, abstaining from strong drink, ordered the drinking vessels to be broken. And undertaking to keep the precepts and dispensing alms, he became destined to Heaven. But the drinking of strong drink gradually developed in India.\nThe Master here ended his lesson and identified the Birth: \"At that time \u0100nanda was the king, and I myself was Sakka.\"\n6:1 This manifestation is abundantly illustrated in Buddhist art, especially in that of the Mah\u0101y\u0101na school.\n6:2 Dhammapada, p. 146.\n6:3 Of different kinds, Terminalia Chebula and Emblica officinalis.\n7:1 Another reading has, \"Wine, O king, mead, O king.\"\n10:1 Pattakkhandh\u0101. Cf. note on Cullavagga, iv. 4. 7, Translation by Davids and Oldenberg, p. 13.\n10:2 See Wilson's Vish\u1e47u Pur\u0101\u1e47a (Hall's ed.), vol. v. pp. 147-149. Cf. J\u0101taka, vol. IV. 81, vol. v. 267.","title":"The Jataka, Vol. V: No. 512.: Kumbha-J\u0101taka.","type":"page"}