108 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. VIII. 



the Buddha. " Ladies," she said, " Dewadatta is not the 

 Buddha, nor his the order wherein I made my profession, 

 but under the one true perfect Buddha and Chief of Men 

 was my profession made, — and what I gained so painfully, 

 that I pray you annul not ; cov&e, take me to Jetawana to 

 the presence of the teacher." 



This is in every way a noble story; and it is an interesting 

 fact that it is one of those (if I am not mistaken) whose 

 antiquity is vouched for by the Bharhut sculptures. The 

 verse, which is its centre- 

 Follow Nigrodha, resort not to Sakkha, 

 Better death with Nigrodha than life with Sakkha — . 



is one of those which implies the existence of the story, for 

 the names Nigrodha and Sakkha would have no meaning 

 in this connection, except as the names of rival stags. And 

 the occasion, as the Commentary tells us, of Gotama's 

 uttering the verse, was briefly this. The daughter of a 

 Benares noble had shown from childhood a singular con- 

 tempt for this life and its pleasures ; and though she was 

 given in marriage, she still was so bent on the monastic 

 life, and made herself — it must be admitted — so little 

 agreeable in the other, that her husband consented to her 

 becoming a nun ; * and she, in her simplicity, attached 

 herself to the schism of Dewadatta. This was very shortly 

 after her marriage ; so she was already a nun, when the 

 time came for her child to be born. Innocent as she was, 

 Dewadatta thought nothing of justice, but only of the repu- 

 tation of his sect and his own interests, and without inquiry 

 ordered her to be expelled. But the Buddha, when the 

 matter was brought to him, although he clearly saw the 

 triumph which the schismatics would claim if one whom they 

 had expelled were received by him, caused inquiry to be 

 made, and vindicated her innocence. "And this is not the 

 first time, 5 ' he added, " that the Buddha has been a support 

 and a refuge to this woman and her child." 



For long ago in Brahmadatta's days, he who was to be 

 Buddha was born a deer — prince of a herd— and called 

 Nigrodha ; and in the same park with them ranged another 

 herd, whose chief was Sakkha. From these herds a victim 

 was daily taken by the king's purveyor ; and at last it was 

 agreed between the two leaders, that instead of the whole 



