The Jackal's Spell

Once upon a time, Brahmadatta was king of Benares,
and the Bodhisatta was his family priest; and he had
mastered the three Vedas and the eighteen branches of
knowledge. He knew the spell entitled * Of subduing the
World.' (Now this spell is one which involves religious
meditation.)

One day, the Bodhisatta thought that he would recite
this spell ; so he sat down in a place apart upon a flat stone,
and there went through his reciting of it. It is said that
this spell could be taught to no one without use of a
special rite ; for which reason he recited it in the place
just described. It so happened that a Jackal lying in a
hole heard the spell at the time that he was reciting it,
and got it by heart. We are told that this jackal in a
previous existence had been some brahmin who had learnt
the charm Of subduing the World.'

The Bodhisatta ended his recitation, and rose up,
saying "Surely I have that spell by heart now." Then
the Jackal arose out of his hole, and cried " Ho, brahmin !
I have learnt the spell better than you know it yourself!"
and off he ran. The Bodhisatta set off in chase, and
followed some way, crying " Yon jackal will do a great
mischief catch him, catch him ! M But the jackal got
clear off into the forest.

The Jackal found a she-jackal, and gave her a little
nip upon the body. "What is it, master?" she asked.
" Do you know me," he asked, " or do you not ? ' "I do
not know you." He repeated the spell, and thus had
under his orders several hundreds of jackals, and gathered
round him all the elephants and horses, lions and tigers,
swine and deer, and all other fourfooted creatures; and
their king he became, under the title of Sabbadatha, or
Alltusk, and a she-jackal he made his consort, On the
back of two elephants stood a lion, and on the lion's back
sat Sabbadatha, the jackal king, along with his consort the
she-jackal ; and great honour was paid to them.

Now the Jackal was tempted by his great honour, and
became puffed up with pride, and he resolved to capture
the kingdom of Benares. So with all the fourfooted
creatures in his train, he came to a place near to
Benares. His host covered twelve leagues of ground.
From his position there he sent a message to the king,
" Give up your kingdom, or fight for it." The citizens of
Benares, smitten with terror, shut close their gates and
stayed within.

Then the Bodhisatta drew near the king, and said to
him, " Fear not, mighty king ! leave me the task of fighting
with the jackal king, Sabbadatha. Except only me, no
one is able to fight with him at all." Thus he gave heart
to the king and the citizens. " I will ask him at once," he
went on, " what he will do in order to take the city." So
he mounted the tower over one of the gates, and cried
out " Sabbadatha, what will you do to get possession of
this realm ? '

"I will cause the lions to roar, and with the roaring
I will frighten the multitude : thus will I take it ! "

"Oh, that's it," thought the Bodhisatta, and down he
came from the tower. He made proclamation by beat of
drum that all the dwellers in the great city of Benares,
over all its twelve leagues, must stop up their ears with
flour. The multitude heard the command ; they stopped
up their own ears with flour, so that they could not hear
each other speak : nay, they even did the same to all their
animals down to the cats.

Then the Bodhisatta went up a second time into the
tower, and cried out " Sabbadatha ! "

" What is it, Brahmin ? " quoth he.

" How will you take this realm ? " he asked.

"I will cause the lions to roar, and I will frighten
the people, and destroy them; thus will I take it!" he
said.

"You will not be able to make the lions roar; these
noble lions, with their tawny paws and shaggy manes, will
never do the bidding of an old jackal like you ! "

The jackal, stubborn with pride, answered, " Not only
will the other lions obey me, but I'll make this one, upon
whose back I sit, roar alone ! "

" Very well," said the Bodhisatta, " do it if you can."

So he tapped with his foot on the lion which he sat
upon, to roar. And the lion resting his mouth upon the
Elephant's temple, roared thrice, without any manner of
doubt. The elephants were terrified and dropped the
Jackal down at their feet ; they trampled upon his head
and crushed it to atoms. Then and there Sabbadatha
perished. And the elephants, hearing the roar of the
lion, were frightened to death, and wounding one another,
they all perished there. The rest of the creatures, deer
and swine, down to the hares and cats, perished then and
there, all except the lions ; and these ran off and took
to the woods. There was a heap of carcasses covering
the ground for twelve leagues.

The Bodhisatta came down from the tower, and had
the gates of the city thrown open. By beat of drum he
caused proclamation to be made throughout the city:
" Let all the people take the flour from out of their ears,
and they that desire meat, meat let them take ! " The
people all ate what meat they could fresh, and the rest
they dried and preserved.

It was at this time, according to tradition, that people
first began to dry meat.