The Monkey's Heroic Self-Sacrifice

Once upon a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in
Benares, the Bodhisatta was born as a monkey. When he
grew up and attained stature and stoutness, he was strong
and vigorous, and lived in the Himalaya with a retinue of
eighty thousand monkeys. Near the Ganges bank there
was a mango tree (others say it was a banyan), with
branches and forks, having a deep shade and thick leaves,
like a mountain-top. Its sweet fruits, of divine fragrance
and flavour, were as large as water-pots : from one branch
the fruits fell on the ground, from one into the Ganges
water, from two into the main trunk of the tree. The
Bodhisatta, wiiile eating the fruit with a troop of monkeys,
thought, " Someday danger will come upon us owing to
the fruit of this tree falling on the water " ; and so, not to
leave one fruit on the branch which grew over the water,
he made them eat or throw down the flowers at their
season from the time they were of the size of a chick-pea.
But notwithstanding, one ripe fruit, unseen by the eighty
thousand monkeys, hidden by an ant's nest, fell into the
river, and stuck in the net above the king of Benares, who
was bathing for amusement with a net above him and
another below. When the king had amused himself all
day and was going away in the evening, the fishermen,
who were drawing the net, saw the fruit and not knowing
what it was, shewed it to the king. The king asked,
"What is this fruit?" "We do not know, sire." "Who
will know ? " " The foresters, sire." He had the foresters
called, and learning from them that it was a mango, he
cut it with a knife, and first making the foresters eat of
it, he ate of it himself and had some of it given to his
seraglio and his ministers. The flavour of the ripe
mango remained pervading the king's whole body. Pos-
sessed by desire of the flavour, he asked the foresters
where that tree stood, and hearing that it was on a river
bank in the Himalaya quarter, he had many rafts joined
together and sailed upstream by the route shewn by the
foresters. The exact account of days is not given. In
due course they came to the place, and the foresters said
to the king, "Sire, there is the tree." "The king stopped
the rafts and went on foot with a great retinue, and
having a bed prepared at the foot of the tree, he lay
down after eating the mango fruit and enjoying the
various excellent flavours. At every side they set a guard
and made a fire. When the men had fallen asleep, the
Bodhisatta came at midnight with his retinue. Eighty
thousand monkeys moving from branch to branch ate
the mangoes. The king, waking and seeing the herd of
monkeys, roused his men and calling his archers said,

"Surround these monkeys that eat the mangoes so that
they may not escape, and shoot them : to-morrow we will
eat mangoes with monkey's flesh." The archers obeyed,
saying, " Very well," and surrounding the tree stood with
arrows ready. The monkeys seeing them and fearing
death, as they could not escape, came to the Bodhisatta
and said, " Sire, the archers stand round the tree, saying,
* We will shoot those vagrant monkeys ' : what are we to
do ? " and so stood shivering. The Bodhisatta said, " Do
not fear, I will give you life " ; and so comforting the herd
of monkeys, he ascended a branch that rose up straight,
went along another branch that stretched towards the
Ganges, and springing from the end of it, he passed
a hundred bow-lengths and lighted on a bush on the
bank. Coming down, he marked the distance, saying,
" That will be the distance I have come " : and cutting
a bamboo shoot at the root and stripping it, he said, " So
much will be fastened to the tree, and so much will stay
in the air," and so reckoned the two lengths, forgetting
the part fastened on his own waist. Taking the shoot he
fastened one end of it to the tree on the Ganges bank
and the other to his own waist, and then cleared the
space of a hundred bow-lengths with a speed of a cloud
torn by the wind. From not reckoning the part fastened
to his waist, he failed to reach the tree: so seizing a
branch firmly with both hands he gave signal to the
troop of monkeys, " Go quickly with good luck, treading
on my back along the bamboo shoot." The eighty
thousand monkeys escaped thus, after saluting the
Bodhisatta and getting his leave. Devadatta was then a
monkey and among that herd : he said, " This is a chance
for me to see the last of my enemy," so climbing up
a branch he made a spring and fell on the Bodhisatta's
back. The Bodhisatta's heart broke and great pain came
on him. Devadatta having caused that maddening- pain
went away: and the Bodhisatta was alone. The king
being awake sa*w all that was done by the monkeys and
the Bodhisatta : and he lay down thinking, " This animal,
not reckoning his own life, has caused the safety of his
troop." When day broke, being pleased with the Bodhi-
satta, he thought, " It is not right to destroy this king of
the monkeys : I will bring him down by some means and
take care of him " : so turning the raft down the Ganges
and building a platform there, he made the Bodhisatta
come down gently, and had him clothed with a yellow
robe on his back and washed in Ganges water, made him
drink sugared water, and had his body cleansed and
anointed with oil refined a thousand times ; then he put
an oiled skin on a bed and making him lie there, he set
himself on a low seat, and spoke the first stanza :

You made yourself a bridge for them to pass in safety through:
What are you then to them, monkey, and what are they to you?

Hearing him, the Bodhisatta instructing the king
spoke the other stanzas:

Victorious king, I guard the herd, I am their lord and chief,
When they were filled with fear of thee and stricken sore with grief.

I leapt a hundred times the length of bow outstretched that lies,
When I had bound a bamboo-shoot firmly around my thighs:

I reached the tree like thunder-cloud sped by the tempest's blast;
I lost my strength, but reached a bough : with hands I held it fast.

And as I hung extended there held fast by shoot and bough,
My monkeys passed across my back and are in safety now.

Therefore I fear no pain of death, bonds do not give me pain,
The happiness of those was won o'er whom I used to reign.

A parable for thee, king, if thou the truth would'st read :

The happiness of kingdom and of army and of steed

And city must be dear to thee, if thou would'st rule indeed.

The Bodhisatta, thus instructing and teaching the
king, died. The king, calling his ministers, gave orders
that the monkey-king should have obsequies like a
king, and he sent to the seraglio, saying, "Come to the
cemetery, as retinue for the monkey-king, with red gar-
ments, and dishevelled hair, and torches in your hands."
The ministers made a funeral pile with a hundred waggon
loads of timber. Having prepared the Bodhisatta's ob-
sequies in a royal manner, they took his skull, and came
to the king. The king caused a shrine to be built at the
Bodhisatta's burial-place, torches to be burnt there and
offerings of incense and flowers to be made ; he had the
skull inlaid with gold, and put in front raised on a spear-
point : honouring it with incense and flowers, he put it at
the king's gate when he came to Benares, and having the
whole city decked out he paid honour to it for seven
days. Then taking it as a relic and raising a shrine, he
honoured it with incense and garlands all his life ; and
established in the Bodhisatta's teaching he did alms and
other good deeds, and ruling his kingdom righteously
became destined for heaven.