No. 28. — 1884.] first fifty jatakas. 



153 



Baranasi, who went in great state to (his) garden. (Moved) by a 

 desire of (gathering) fruits and flowers, he there walked about 

 under a grove of trees in the garden. (He) saw one woman pick- 

 ing up pieces of wood and singing continuously.* 



She bore him a son, the Bodhisat, and before his birth the king 

 gave her his signet-ring and said thus : "If a daughter is (born) 

 you will maintain her (by) disposing of this (signet-ring)." (Then) 

 he went away. In course of time the Bodhisat was born.^ He 

 had crawled and moved about at the time of his being able to 

 walk about, — he sported in the play-ground. Then to him some 

 said soj : " We§ are undone by one (who is) fatherless." Having 

 heard that, the Bodhisatva went to his mother and asked her 

 thus : " Mamma, who is my father ?" (She replied) thus : a Thou 

 art the son of the king of Baranasi." (He asked) thus : " But, 

 mamma, is there any evidence?" (She said) thus: " Darling, the 

 king gave his signet-ring and said, ' If a daughter is (born), thou 

 wilt maintain her, having disposed of this (signet-ring ) ; if a son 

 is (born), thou wilt bring him to me together with this (signet- 

 ring) ; ' and went away." (He said) thus : "Such being the case, 

 why did you not take me to my father ?" Having known the 

 desire of her son, she went to the palace-gate and caused herself 

 to be announced to the king. Being called by the king, she entered 

 the (palace), saluted the king, and said thus : " This is thy son, 

 lord." Though the king was aware of this, he said thus : 

 "(This is) not my son," because of shame, as he was seated in the 

 midst of an assembly. (She replied) thus : " O lord, this is thy 

 (signet-ring); dost thou recognise it?"|| (He said) thus i " This is 

 also not my signet-ring." " Now, lord, except a demonstration 

 by ordeal,^ there is no other witness for me. If this child is 

 begotten by thee, let him stand in the sky ; if not, having fallen 



* The term gdyitva is repeated, and such a repetition signifies continuity, 

 f The term Patisaydhi is used, and means a series of births in the course of 

 transmigration. 



X Vattdro honti means £ speakers were.' The term evarn qualifies the verbal 

 root in vattdro, Evam-vattdro is a compound term ; otherwise it would not be 

 correct grammar to say Evam vattdro. 



§ The reading Nipitrikendmhe deserves to be preferred, because pahata must 

 have some nominative. Arnhe signifies we, as in Mahratti and other languages. 



j| Lit. " Didst thou recognise it ?" The past tense in this sense is used in all 

 Indian vernaculars. 



% Sacca kiriyam is used in the text- Sacca is not connected with Sdkshdt, as 

 Childers states. Sacca is the Prakrita form of Satya. Kir'iya is Kriya. The 

 word keriya is stilt used in the sense of an ordeal in Maharashtra and elsewhere. 

 Sacca kiriyam means ' ordeal of truth' : lit. " an act of truth." Compare with this 

 the use of the same word made in different ways in the Sakuna Jataka (36). 



