[55] Vol. ii. p. 101 of Mr. Tawney’s translation. [↑]
[56] For an account of this literature, see Mr. Rhys Davids’s “Buddhist Birth-Stories,” p. xxix. [↑]
TIBETAN TALES.
I.
KING MĀNDHĀTAR.[1]
In olden days, when the life of man was of unlimited duration, lived King Utposhadha. On the crown of his head grew a very soft tumour, somewhat resembling a cushion of cotton or wool, without doing him any harm. When it had become quite ripe and had broken, there came forth from it a boy, shapely and handsome and gracious, perfect in every limb and joint, with a skin the colour of gold, a head like a canopy, long arms, a broad forehead, interlacing eyebrows, and a body provided with the thirty-two signs of a Mahāpurusha.[2] Immediately after his birth he was taken into the apartments of the women; and when King Utposhadha’s eighty thousand wives saw him, milk began to flow from their breasts, and each of the women cried out, “Let him suck me! let him suck me!”[3] Wherefore he received the name of Māndhātar.[4] Some of them thought that, as he came into life out of the crown of a head, he ought to [[2]]receive the name of Mūrdhaja (crown-born); consequently the name Māndhātar is known to some, and that of Mūrdhaja to others.
The young Māndhātar passed through a space of six Śakra-evanescences[5] during his boyhood, and an equal length of time after he was appointed crown prince. Once, while Prince Māndhātar was absent on a journey, King Utposhadha fell ill. As he became still worse, although he was treated with medicines from roots, stems, leaves, blossoms, and fruits, he ordered the ministers to invest the prince with sovereign power. In accordance with the king’s orders, they sent word to the prince that King Utposhadha was ill, and had determined to summon him in order to invest him with sovereignty; it was meet, therefore, that he should come quickly. Soon after the messenger had set out King Utposhadha died. Thereupon the ministers sent another messenger with the tidings that the prince’s father was dead, and that he ought now to come in order to assume the regal power. But Prince Māndhātar was of opinion that, as his father was dead, there could be no use in his going, and he remained where he was. The ministers again assembled and sent a minister as messenger. When he came to the prince and invited him to assume the sovereign power, Māndhātar said, “If in accordance with the law I acquire the power, the investiture therein ought to take place here.”
The ministers sent to say, “O king, as there are many things which are needed for a regal investiture, such as a jewel-strewing,[6] a throne, a canopy, a fillet, and armlets, and as the consecration must take place in the palace, therefore it is necessary that the prince should come here.” [[3]]
He replied, “If the power comes to me in accordance with the law, then will all these things come here.”