all Airtel 4G 5:41PM 7@®8070%m) {= A Q fl 204 The Noble Six-Tusked Elephant Chaddanta Jataka It was while staying at Jeta- vana that the Buddha told this -~o 49 of 1497 30 pages leftJataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III story about a bhikkhuni. One day, a young bhikkhuni, who had come from a good fam- ily of Savatthi, went with so me other bhikkhunis to hear the Buddha teach. Impressed by his grace and beauty, she wondered whether she had been connected to the Buddha in a previous life. In a flash, she recollected that, in a previous life, the Bodhisatta had been the great white ele- phant Chaddanta and that she had been his wife. Remembering that, she felt great joy, and she laughed aloud. Then she realized that few wives are well-disposed to their husbands, and she won- dered what kind of wife she had been. As the memory came back to her more clearly, she recalled 50Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III that she had harbored a grudge against him and that, in another life, she had sent a hunter to kill him. Recalling that, she was overcome by sorrow, and she burst into tears. The Buddha saw this and smiled. When the assembled bhikkhus asked him why he had smiled, he replied, “Bhikkhus, this young sister wept when she recalled an offense that she had committed against me.” At their request, he told this story of the past. Long, long ago, a herd of eight thousand royal elephants lived in a golden cave on the west side of Lake Chaddanta in the Himavat. At that time, the Bod- 51Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III hisatta was born as the son of the king of the elephants and was named Chaddanta. He was pure white, and, when he was full grown, he was magnificent, with a trunk like a silver rope and six beautiful tusks which emitted rays of six colors. When his father died, Chaddanta became king, and his two chief queens were named Maha-Subhadda and Culla-Subhadda. During the rainy season, all the elephants stayed in the golden cave, but in the hot sea- son, Chaddanta enjoyed standing with his queens at the foot of a great banyan tree that grew at the north-east corner of the lake, where a cooling breeze blew off the water. 52Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III One day, while King Chad- danta was near the banyan tree, one of his followers told him that the trees in the great sal grove were in flower, and he went there with both queens. While they were grazing, Chaddanta hap- pened to bump a sal tree with his massive forehead. This caused the branches of the great tree to shake, and Culla-Subhadda, who was standing downwind, was showered with dry twigs and dead leaves which were covered with red ants. Maha-Subhadda, who was standing upwind, was showered with flowers, pollen, and green leaves. When Culla- Subhadda saw Maha-Subhadda covered with golden pollen, she thought, “Obviously, he prefers 53Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III her. He showers her with flowers and pollen, and lets dry twigs, dead leaves, and red ants fall on me!” This feeling developed into a grudge which she bore against Chaddanta. “I’ll get even with him!” she swore silently to herself. On another day, the herd of elephants went into the lake to bathe. First, two young elephants rubbed Chaddanta with roots. Then they bathed the two queens. Finally, the rest of the herd bathed themselves, played in the water, and _ gathered lotuses and water lilies to adorn Chaddanta and the queens. One elephant plucked an unusual lotus stalk with seven perfect blossoms and offered it to 54Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III Chaddanta, who sprinkled his forehead with it and presented it to Maha-Subhadda. This caused Culla-Subhadda’s resentment to increase. Also living in this part of the Himavat was a group of five hun- dred Pacceka Buddhas whom Chaddanta often visited to pay his respects. One day, Chaddanta offered them a meal of lotus stalks sprinkled with nectar. At the same time, Culla-Subhadda gave them some ripe fruit she had collected. As she made her offering to the Pacceka Buddhas, she made a fervent wish to be reborn as the daughter of a king so that she could marry the king of Kasi. “When I become chief queen,” she thought, “I will ask the king to send a hunter with a 55Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III poisoned arrow to slay this ele- phant. Then I will have my sweet revenge!” After making that cruel aspi- ration, Culla-Subhadda stopped eating and pined herself to death. She was, indeed, reborn as the daughter of the king of Madda and was named Subhadda. When she was of age, she married the king of Kasi and became his chief queen. Recalling her former exis- tence, she realized that, since all her wishes had been fulfilled, she was in a position to carry out her revenge. She rubbed her body with oil, put on a soiled robe, and lay in bed, pretending to be sick. The king asked where she was and, hearing that she was ailing, entered her bedchamber. He sat 56Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III on her bed, stroked her back, and asked, “My peerless queen, why are you so pale? Why are you fading?” “My dear lord, I had a dream, because of which I have devel- oped an intense desire, but I know that it is unattainable, so I will just waste away.” “My dear,” replied the king, “anything that we can grant will be yours. Please tell us what it is that you desire so strongly. I’m sure we can get it for you.” “Sire, what I desire is not an easy thing to obtain. I will tell you, but it is better that I not tell you right away. Please summon all the hunters, and I will explain what it is in their presence.” 57Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III “No easier said than done, my dear!” replied the king, delighted that this request was so easy. He immediately gathered all the hunters in Kasi. When the hunters were assembled in the courtyard, the king stood at an open window and called the queen. “Come, my dear! Here are our brave hunters, gathered according to your wish. They are skilled in tracking, fierce in fighting, and all are pledged to me.” The queen looked out the window and shouted, “Hunters! In my dream, I saw a great white elephant with six radiant tusks. So intense was my dream that now I must have those tusks. If any one of you can bring me 58Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III those beautiful tusks, I will live! If not, I will die. Nothing else can save my life!” In the courtyard, there was a murmur of voices. None of the hunters had ever seen or even heard of a six-tusked elephant. Through a spokesman, they asked the queen whether her dream had also revealed to her where such an elephant was to be found. Queen Subhadda surveyed all the hunters and, recollecting her previous birth, spied one who had also been an enemy of Chad- danta in the past. He was a strong and cruel hulking giant of a man named Sonuttara. His face was disfigured with scars, and his teeth were yellow. “This man will 59Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III be able to do what I want,” thought the queen. She pointed Sonuttara out to the king and asked permission to talk directly with him. The king agreed and asked Sonuttara to come inside the palace. The queen took him to a room on the highest floor of the palace, threw open a window to the north, and said, “Due north, beyond those seven moun- tain ranges, you will find a golden cliff. In the cliff is a vast golden cave. Below the cliff, near a beautiful lake, is a huge banyan tree. In that area, there is a herd of eight thousand royal ele- phants. They are fierce and for- midable. If these elephants see a man, they will charge and destroy him.” 60Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III When Sonuttara heard this, he was frightened. He suggested that the queen might be satisfied with gold or pearls or turquoise rather than ivory. “This has nothing to do with wanting ivory!” retorted the queen. “Don’t mistake my motives! This is about spite! I have been injured, and I want revenge! Bring me the tusks of the leader of that herd, and you will have five choice villages as a reward! “Friend hunter,” she contin- ued, “in my previous life, I was one of the chief queens of that royal elephant. When I made an offering to some Pacceka Bud- dhas, I wished for the power to kill that six-tusked elephant and 61Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III to obtain his tusks. This is not a dream that I had; it is a reality that will be fulfilled. I can guar- antee that you will succeed. Go, and have no fear!” “So be it, Your Highness,” replied Sonuttara, greatly heart- ened by the queen’s explanation. “Tell me exactly how to find this beast you hate so much and how to capture him, and I will do it!” “The king of the elephants takes a bath every day,” she began, recalling details of her previous life, “at a spot in the lake near the banyan tree. After grazing near the banyan tree, he and his beloved mate will go there to bathe. Whenever possi- ble, that royal elephant also pays 62Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III his respects to yellow-robed ascetics and Pacceka Buddhas.” “Your Highness,” Sonuttara replied, “I understand perfectly. I will kill that elephant, and I will bring you his tusks.” Delighted with Sonuttara’s determination, the queen gave him one thousand coins and said, “Go home, and prepare yourself for your journey. I will supply you with all the tools you will need. Be ready to set out for the golden cliff in seven days.” The queen immediately set to work. She summoned smiths and ordered them to make special iron tools for Sonuttara. She told them to make an axe, a spade, an auger, a hammer, a bamboo cut- ter, a sickle, a staff tipped with 63Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III adamantine, a peg, and a three- pronged grappling hook. She gave them the exact specifica- tions for each tool and told them to have them all finished within six days. She summoned leather workers and ordered them to make a sack, about the size of a large water pot, a parachute, and an assortment of ropes and straps. She told them also to have everything ready in six days. The smiths and leather work- ers finished their tasks in good time and delivered everything to the palace. The queen had all the tools packed in the leather sack and gathered all the provisions Sonuttara would need for the journey. 64Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III On the seventh day, Sonuttara returned to the palace and stood respectfully in the presence of the queen. She indicated the sack to him and said, “Friend, this sack contains all the tools you will need for your journey.” With his stout arm, Sonuttara picked up the sack as if it were a mere tri- fle, and placed it on his hip. The queen gave all the provisions to the hunter’s attendants to carry. Sonuttara bowed to the king and the queen and set out in a chariot, followed by his atten- dants. When he reached the bor- der of Kasi, he sent the servants back and proceeded with several local men as guides. When he reached the jungle, he sent those men back and proceeded on 65Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III alone. He had to cut his way through tracts of tall grass and reeds with the sickle. When he came to thickets of thorn, cane, and bamboo, he used the bamboo cutter. If a thicket was too dense for him to cut his way through, he made a bamboo ladder and climbed to the top. With great ingenuity, he laid down pieces of split bamboo and crawled along, pulling the pieces from behind and replacing them in front, until he reached the other side. Some- times, the jungle was so thick that even a snake could not pene- trate it. In that case, he felled trees with an axe. On the largest trees, he had to use the auger first. To keep from sinking in marshes of mud and quicksand, 66Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III he used planks in the same way he had used split bamboo to cross the thickets. He fashioned a rude canoe and paddled through flooded swamps. When Sonuttara reached the first great mountain, he attached a rope to the grappling hook and flung it as high as he could. When it was secure, he climbed up. He used the iron staff tipped with adamantine to drill a hole in the mountainside and hammered the peg into the hole. Then he stood on the peg and threw the grappling hook again. He repeated the process until he scaled the peak. He descended in much the same way, sitting in the sack and lowering himself down, uncoiling 67Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III the rope like a spider letting out its thread. Finally, he let his leather parachute catch the wind and floated down gently like a bird. Having crossed so many kinds of terrain, including six mountain ranges, he climbed, at last, to the top of the golden cliff. In the dis- tance, he could see the great banyan tree. Beneath it, he glimpsed the pure white six- tusked elephant with his queen, surrounded by his huge herd of royal elephants, ready for a fight. Before him lay the beautiful Lake Chaddanta, and, near the banyan tree, he could see the pleasant bathing pool. From this vantage point, he watched the elephants for some 68Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III time to familiarize himself with their habits and movements. Descending to the jungle, he cut four trees to make sturdy posts and one more to make planks. When the elephants went to bathe, he took out his spade and started digging a square pit, big enough for him to hide inside, in the exact spot near the banyan tree where the king ele- phant always stood. He carefully sprinkled the earth he dug out on the water so that there was no pile to be seen. In each corner of the pit, he placed a stone as the base for a post. He used ropes to secure the posts and_ spread planks to form a roof. At one side, he left an entrance for him- self. He also made a small hole 69Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III the size of an arrow. Finally, he hid the planks beneath a layer of earth and leaves. He worked on the pit all night. At daybreak, when everything was ready, he put on the yellow robe of an ascetic, took his bow and one poisoned arrow, and descended into the pit. As the great white elephant passed overhead, Sonuttara shot his poisoned arrow, and Chad- danta cried out in pain. The herd panicked and fled, crushing trees and trampling grass in their flight. Maddened with pain, Chaddanta looked around, ready to trample his attacker, but, when he spotted the yellow robe, he immediately controlled his anger and knelt in respect. At the same 70Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III time, he realized that the man he saw had shot the arrow, and he declared, “One who is stained by evil, a stranger to truth and right- eousness, has no right to wear the yellow robe. Only one who has renounced evil and upholds truth and righteousness should dare to don that robe. Why did you wound me?” he asked Sonut- tara. “Did you act on your own, or has someone else set you at this evil task?” “Subhadda, queen of Kasi, has sent me here to obtain your six radiant tusks to satisfy her longing.” Chaddanta immediately rec- ognized the handiwork of his for- mer wife Culla-Subhadda. “The queen is not really interested in 71Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III my tusks,” he told Sonuttara. “She sent you here because she wants to kill me! I have a great store of ivory I could give you, but that wretched female wants my life instead. Go ahead! Saw off my tusks! Tell the shrew to be of good cheer, and let her know that the one she hates is dead.” In spite of the excruciating pain, Chaddanta lay on his side, to make it easier for Sonuttara to cut off the tusks. Sonuttara climbed out of the pit and picked up his saw. He approached the elephant, but Chaddanta was more like a mountain than an animal, and the hunter, even though he was a large man, could not reach the tusks from the ground. He 72Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III climbed up the silver trunk and stood on Chaddanta’s forehead. Unable to get at the tusks from there, he jumped down into the elephant’s mouth, kicking him in the jaw and cutting into the flesh with his jagged saw. Chaddanta’s mouth filled with blood. Sonut- tara kept shifting from place to place, sawing here and there, try- ing to find the right angle to cut, but not succeeding. The pain he caused Chaddanta was a torment, but the great elephant endured it patiently. Finally, he cried out to the hunter, “Sir, can’t you just cut off the tusks?” “No!” Sonuttara __ replied simply. 73Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III “All right,” Chaddanta said with a feeble voice. “I am too weak now to raise my trunk, but if you will lift it up for me and let it seize the handle of the saw, I will do it for you.” With the man’s assistance, Chaddanta held the saw with his trunk and moved it back and forth until the tusks were severed. When all six magnificent tusks were lying on the ground, Chaddanta said, “Don’t misun- derstand me, Friend. I am not giving you these tusks of mine because I do not value them, nor am I giving because I want to become Sakka, Mara, or Brahma. To me, the tusks of omniscience are one hundred thousand times dearer than these ivory ones. May 74Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III this meritorious act enable me to attain omniscience!” Although Chaddanta’s strength was rapidly fading and his voice was almost inaudible, he asked softly, “How long did it take you to reach here?” “Seven years, seven months, and seven days,” Sonuttara replied. “By the power of these tusks,” Chaddanta told him, “you will reach Baranasi in seven days. Go quickly, and you will be safe. Farewell.” Sonuttara hurried away, and, even before Maha-Subhadda and the rest of the herd returned, Chaddanta died. When _ they found his body, all eight thou- sand royal elephants wept bitter- 75Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III ly. Sorrowfully, they formed a solemn procession to the abode of the Pacceka Buddhas and announced, “Venerable Sirs, the noble elephant who took such joy in providing you with the requi- sites has been killed by a poi- soned arrow, and his beautiful tusks have been cut off. Please come and see his body before we cremate it.” The five hundred Pacceka Buddhas arrived just as two young elephants were lifting up Chaddanta’s body. They adroitly manipulated it so that it appeared that their king was pay- ing a final homage to the Pacceka Buddhas. Then they placed their king’s body on the funeral pyre, and the Pacceka Buddhas chanted all night while it burned. When 76Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III the flames were, at last, extin- guished, the herd bathed and solemnly returned with Maha- Subhadda at their head to their home in the golden cave. Just as Chaddanta had told him he would, Sonuttara returned to Baranasi in only seven days. When he was ush- ered into the queen’s presence, he said, “Here are his tusks, Your Highness. The beast against whom you held a grudge is dead.” “Are you sure that he is dead?” the queen asked. “Yes, Your Highness,” Sonut- tara assured her. “I killed him myself with a poisoned arrow.” She accepted those incompa- rable tusks, which were still 77Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III emitting six-colored rays of light, and placed them on her lap. As she gazed at them, she recol- lected the one who, in a former existence, had been her husband and thought, “At my instigation, this cruel hunter has brought these tusks which have been cut from the auspicious elephant that he slaughtered with a poisoned arrow!” Suddenly, she was filled with a sorrow so great that she could not endure it. Her mind was completely overcome with grief. The poor fool’s heart broke, and, right there, she died. Having concluded his story, the Buddha taught the Dhamma, a multitude attained the first path, and, not long afterward, 78Jataka Tales of the...nthology, Volume III that bhikkhuni became an arahat. Then the Buddha identified the birth: “At that time, this bhikkhuni was Queen Subhadda, Devadatta was the cruel hunter, and I was the noble Chaddanta.” 79