The tale of the maiden making mad all who see her, and the love-smitten monarch who prefers walking on the right path and even death to indulging in passion, is found also outside Buddhism. In the preface of his edition, Prof. Kern points out its being told thrice in the Kathâsaritsâgara; in the fifteenth, the thirty-third, and the ninety-first taraṅga. The last version, being a Vetâla-tale, is found also in the prose-work Vetâlapañkavimsati (Kathâ 14). Of the non-Buddhistic redactions all agree in this point, that the king at last dies from love, and that the faithful officer then kills himself. No doubt, this must be the original conclusion.
XIV. The Story of Supâraga.
(Cp. the Pâli Gâtaka, No. 463; Fausb. IV, 137-143.)
Even speaking the truth on the ground of Righteousness is sufficient to dispel calamity, what can be said more to assert the good results of observing the Law? Considering thus, one must observe the Law. This will be taught now.
In one of his Bodhisattva-existences, the Great Being was, it is said, an extremely clever steersman. For this is the invariable nature of the Bodhisattvas, that owing to the innate acuteness of their mind, whatever branch of science or species of art they desire to know, they will in it surpass the wisest in the world. Accordingly the High-minded One possessed every quality required in such a one. Knowing the course of the celestial luminaries, he was never at a loss with respect to the regions of the sky; being perfectly acquainted with the different prognostics, the permanent, the occasional, and the miraculous ones, he was skilled in the establishment of a given time as proper or improper; by means of manifold marks, observing the fishes, the colour of the water, the species of the ground, birds, rocks, &c., he knew how to ascertain rightly the part of the sea; further he was vigilant, not subject to drowsiness and sleep, capable of enduring the fatigue of cold, heat, rain, and the like, careful and patient. So being skilled in the art of taking a ship out and bringing her home[117], he exercised the profession of one who conducts the merchants by sea to their destination. And as his navigation was very successful, he was named Supâraga[118]. The seaport where he lived bore the same name of Supâraga, which place is now known as Sûpâraga. Even in his old age, the sea-traders, longing for a prosperous voyage, applied to him, who was well-known to be an auspicious person, and entreating him in the most respectful terms, put him on their ships.
So it once happened that merchants who trafficked with Goldland, coming from Bharukakkha, longing for a prosperous voyage, touched at the town of Supâraga and requested that Great Being to embark with them. He answered them:
1. 'What kind of assistance do you think to find in me? Old age, having got power over me, makes my eyesight diminish[119]; in consequence of the many toils I have endured, my attentiveness has grown weak, and even in my bodily occupations I feel my strength almost gone.'
The merchants said: 'We are well acquainted with the bodily state of Your Honour. But this being so, and taking into account your inability for labour, we will not cause hardship to you nor give any task into your charge, but we want you for some other reason.