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On the topic of caste in the Buddhist tradition, see De Jong 1988, Eltschinger 2012, and Silk 2020.
For a detailed analysis of these Buddhist philosophical arguments against caste, see Eltschinger 2012.
It should be noted here that there are several suttas in the Pali canon in which Ānanda emerges from the situation quite differently, perhaps because they depict events that occurred after Ānanda had become an arhat. In the Bhikkhunī Sutta (AN II 145–46), for example, at Kosambī a certain nun, under the false pretense of being ill, asks for Ānanda to visit her. When Ānanda arrives and finds the nun lying in her bed with her robes seductively arranged, he calmly teaches her on giving up craving and desire, at which point she immediately confesses her transgression, which is expressed in much the same way as Prakṛti’s confession in The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa.
Incidentally, Śrāvastī is the setting for several accounts of caste rigidity in the suttas of the Pali canon. See, e.g., the Vasala Sutta in the Suttanipāta (Sn 21–25).
This expression could also be rendered as “commonplace designation,” in reference to such Buddhist epistemological thinkers as Dharmakīrti, who explain sāmānya [lakṣaṇa] as an unreal conceptual generality or universal that the mind superimposes on real particulars. It seems, in fact, that sāmānyasaṃjñā is an expanded Sanskritization of the Pali samaññā (“designation”), the term used in the Vāseṭṭha Sutta (Sn 108), for instance, and whose Sanskrit equivalent is actually samājñā.
This attribution to Aśvaghoṣa is doubtful, however, in view of the fact that the Chinese translation ascribes the text to Dharmakīrti, the well-known Buddhist epistemologist who taught at Nālandā during the sixth or seventh century. See De Jong 1988, pp. 426–27 for a brief discussion on the uncertainty of both attributions. For a full edition and translation of the Vajrasūcī, see Mukhopadhyaya 1960.
For a discussion of the historical place of the astrological ideas presented in The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa, see Kotyk 2018, pp. 151–54.
This attribution to An Shigao has been questioned by some scholars, who instead place the text in the third or fourth century on account of the idiom of the translation. See Karashima and Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya 2015, p. 257, n. 148.
A full translation in Tibetan, made from Chinese in the eighteenth century, is included in the Narthang, Urga, and Lhasa Kangyurs, but not in the Degé. For this episode see Lhasa Kangyur, (mdo sde, wa), F.386.b ff.
For an English translation, see Giebel 2015. As noted by Giebel (p. 31), the attribution of this translation to Zhi Qian has been questioned by the Japanese scholar Tomojirō Hayashiya on the basis of the translation idiom and the records of the Chinese scriptural inventories. Hayashiya instead argues that this translation was made by an as-yet-unidentified translator during the second half of the fifth century or later, after the time of Kumārajīva (344–413
For a useful overview of the shared and added chapters, see Mukhopadhyaya 1967, pp. 61–64. Some of the added chapters are summarized in Sharma 1992.
These manuscript fragments were discovered during the nineteenth century in a place called Kugiar, now known as Kekeya, which lies on the southern rim of the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang province, China. Only recently were they put together in a complete edition, for which see Miyazaka et al. 2015. Because this more Prakritic version of the text differs quite significantly from the Nepalese Sanskrit version and the Tibetan translation, we have made only very occasional reference to it.
The Tengyur contains a related text titled An Explanation of the Nature of the Planets and Astrological Houses Found in [the Life Story of] Ārya Śārdūlakarṇa (Arya SardulakarNa’i nang nas ’byung ba gza’ dang rgyu skra gyi rang bzhin bshad pa), which consists of a short commentary of just over thirty pages on the astrological section of the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna. This text is not mentioned in the Tōhoku catalog, but it is found in the Technology and Arts (bzo rig pa) section of the Degé and other Tengyurs and has been newly labeled by 84000 as Toh 4321a.
For ease of reference, we have provided the page numbers to Mukhopadhyaya’s Sanskrit edition within the text of the translation with the siglum [M.].
See Burnouf 1844, pp. 183–87. For a recent English translation, see Burnouf 2010, pp. 222–25.
Many renditions of this piece can be found on YouTube. See for example this 2018 performance at Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan (accessed March 2, 2024).
The Sanskrit manuscript kept at the Asiatic Society of Bengal (one of the two Nepalese Sanskrit manuscripts included in Mukhopadhyaya’s edition) starts with oṃ namo ratnatrayāya (“Om. Homage to the Three Jewels!”
The Tibetan translation lacks a rendering of the Sanskrit pāsyāmi (“I would like to drink”), but the Sanskrit reading here is supported by both Chinese translations.
The extant Sanskrit manuscripts again contain the verb pāsyāmi (“I would like to drink”), but here both the Tibetan and the Chinese translations lack an equivalent rendering.
We have followed the Tibetan reading der song ste phyin nas, on the basis of which Hiraoka (2010, p. 54) has rightly proposed emending the Sanskrit edition to tenopasaṃkrāntaḥ | upasaṃkramya.
While in the Degé Kangyur we find the phrase dpyod kyis (“through your thinking”), and in the Narthang Kangyur spyod kyis (“through your practice”), the Stok Kangyur lacks any such phrase, which is in agreement with the extant Sanskrit manuscripts and the Chinese translations.
We have followed the Tibetan dge sbyong gau ta ma ni ’dod chags dang bral ba thams cad zil gyis gnon zhes thos so, except that we have understood the underlying verb śrūyate (“I have heard”) as only applying to the statement that the ascetic Gautama is free from desire. The reading of the extant Sanskrit manuscripts vītarāgasya punaḥ sarvamantrān abhibhavanti is faulty, and in his edition Mukhopadhyaya (1954, p. 2) has tried to emend this by adding mantrāḥ after vītarāgasya. However, we do not find any mention of mantras here in either the Tibetan or the Chinese translations. Hiraoka (2010, p. 54) has pointed out that Cowell’s (1886) emendation to vītarāgas sa does not work given the plural ending of the verb, and he has therefore opted for Mukhopadhyaya’s reading. It seems to us, however, that the plural verb is more likely to be a later, erroneous scribal emendation. The Tibetan rendering suggests vītarāgaś ca punaḥ sarvam abhibhavati as the underlying Sanskrit reading, or perhaps sarvasattvān instead of sarvam, as this is what seems to underlie 一切眾生 in Dharmarakṣa’s Chinese translation.
The Tibetan has rendered the Sanskrit madhye gṛhāṅganasya (“in the middle of the courtyard”) as khang pa’i dbus (“in the middle of the house”).
The Tibetan transliteration of this spell is clearly faulty, so we have tried to reconstruct the underlying Sanskrit form of the spell on the basis of the readings found in the extant Sanskrit manuscripts (in which the spell contains several added words). It can be translated as follows: “O stainless one, immaculate one, saffron one, good-minded one! O lightning, by which you are bound! According to wish, the god rains, strikes lightning, and thunders forth so as to make the great king’s perplexity increase toward gods, humans, and gandharvas. O gods of celestial bodies with flaming tails, O gods of celestial bodies that are tailless, I offer oblations so that Ānanda comes and proceeds! Svāhā!” Hiraoka (2010, p. 54) has followed Mukhopadhyaya’s emendation of the extant Sanskrit buddho to baddhā, but to us baddho seems in better agreement with the Tibetan ban dho and the transliteration 非頭 in Dharmarakṣa’s Chinese translation.
The Tibetan lacks a rendering of the Sanskrit sayyām (“bed”) and has translated prajñapaya (“prepare”) as shes par gyis shig (“you should know”).
All the extant Sanskrit manuscripts read anīti (“freedom from calamity”), which is also the underlying reading of the Tibetan transliteration. In his Sanskrit edition, Mukhopadhyaya (1954, p. 3) has emended this to sunītiḥ (“good conduct”), apparently on the basis of Dharmarakṣa’s Chinese translation. Zhi Qian’s translation, however, reads the same as the Sanskrit and the Tibetan. We see no reason for Mukhopadhyaya’s emendation when anīti, to be understood as an-īti (“non-calamity”), makes good sense.
This entire “utterance of truth” (Skt. satyavākya) has been transliterated in the Tibetan translation, but the rendering found in the different Kangyurs shows several mistakes and elisions. We have therefore followed the extant Sanskrit manuscripts, which appear to have correctly preserved this verse and whose readings everywhere seem to underlie the Tibetan transliteration (including taṃ at the beginning of the third line, which Mukhopadhyaya has emended to tad in his edition). The full utterance can be translated as follows: “May there be stability, freedom from ruin, freedom from calamity, and well-being for all living beings! “A clear lake without blemish, calm and without peril all around, Where calamities, perils, and disturbances become pacified— To that, indeed, gods and fully accomplished yogins pay homage. By this utterance of truth may the monk Ānanda be well!”
The Tibetan ’jig rten na sngags mthu dang ldan pa’i sngags gang yin pa indicates that the Sanskrit mantrāḥ (“mantras”) was rendered twice. We have followed the reading of the extant Sanskrit manuscripts mantrāḥ sarvalokasya prabhavanti.
The Tibetan adds bcom ldan ’das la tshe dang ldan pa kun dga’ bo la bka’ stsal ba (“The venerable Ānanda then asked the Blessed One about the incident”), but this does not have an equivalent either in the extant Sanskrit manuscripts or in the Chinese translations.
We have reconstructed the mantra according to the form that underlies the Tibetan transliteration, which, despite several omissions and misplacements of syllables, largely agrees with the transliteration found in Zhi Qian’s Chinese translation. Several of the readings in the Tibetan transliteration are also confirmed by what seems to be the oldest Nepalese Sanskrit manuscript of the text (NGMPP A 38-14). The mantra can be translated as follows: “Aṇḍare, paṇḍare! O bracelet, O one on the forearm, O one whose neck has a string, O lady of kin, contain the poison! Cili mili! When inclined to grant according to what is bestowed, O lord of globes, make the boil dissolve!” It may be noted that the mantra is longer than the initial six syllables of aṇḍare paṇḍare, a combination of words that often figures at the beginning of such protective mantras. After paṇḍare, which is somehow lacking in the Tibetan transliteration, the extant Sanskrit manuscripts add karaṇde or kāraṇde, probably due to the influence of equivalents in similar protective mantras in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (see The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen, 2023) and the Mahāsāhasrapramardanī (see Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm, 2016). See also Strauch 2014, pp. 75–81. In addition, these later Nepalese manuscripts include an entire string of words between cili mili and sātinimne, which has been adopted by Mukhopadhyaya in his edition (1954, p. 5).
The extant Sanskrit manuscripts add paribhāṣaṇārho romaharṣaṇena romaharṣaṇārhaḥ punar eva mucyate (“If one is to be reprimanded, one will be released with having one’s hair standing on end; if one is to have one’s hair standing on end, one will again be released from that”). Both the Tibetan and the Chinese translations, however, lack an equivalent for this.
The Tibetan lacks a rendering of the Sanskrit sāsurāyām (“with their asuras”), which has an equivalent rendering in both Chinese translations.
The extant Sanskrit manuscripts read śiraḥsnātā (“washed her head”), but the Chinese translations agree with the Tibetan.
The extant Sanskrit manuscripts add āyuṣmantam ānandam āmantrayamāṇā (“trying to speak to the venerable Ānanda”), which has no equivalent either in the Tibetan or Chinese translations.
The Tibetan adds de nas gdol ba’i bu mo gzugs bzang mo tshe dang ldan pa kun dga’ bo’i phyi bzhin du rjes su ’brang ngo (“And the outcaste girl Prakṛti kept following the venerable Ānanda closely from behind”), but neither the extant Sanskrit nor the Chinese translations contain this sentence.
The Tibetan lacks a rendering of the Sanskrit tiṣṭhantam anutiṣṭhati (“stopping wherever I stop”), but both Chinese translations contain this phrase.
In the extant Sanskrit manuscripts this dialogue begins differently: “Then the Blessed One asked the outcaste girl Prakṛti, ‘Prakṛti, what is it that you want from the monk Ānanda?’ ‘Venerable Sir, I want Ānanda as my husband,’ Prakṛti replied.” Dharmarakṣa’s Chinese translation reads like the extant Sanskrit, but Zhi Qian’s Chinese translation agrees with the Tibetan, which is what we have adopted here.
The Tibetan seems to have translated the Sanskrit tena hi sammukhaṃ mamānujñāpaya tvam (“Then you must have them give their permission in my presence”) as bdag gis slar yang go bar bgyi’o (“Then I in turn give my consent”). The Chinese translations are in agreement with the Sanskrit.
The extant Sanskrit manuscripts add prakṛtim apahāya (“leaving behind Prakṛti”), but both the Tibetan and the Chinese translations lack this phrase.
In this sentence most extant Sanskrit manuscripts contain a lengthy addition that is not found in the Tibetan and the Chinese translations, nor in the oldest Nepalese manuscript (NGMPP A 38-14): atha bhagavān yat tasyāḥ prakṛter mātaṅgadārikāyāḥ pūrvasañcitāpāyadurgatigamanībhūtaṃ tat sarvaṃ pāpaṃ sarvadurgatipariśodhanyā dhāraṇyā niravaśeṣeṇa pariśodhya mātaṅgajāter vimocayitvā śuddhaprakṛtim (instead of just prakṛtim) (“Then, after completely purifying, without remainder, by means of the sarvadurgatipariśodhanī dhāraṇī, all the sin that the outcaste girl Prakṛti had accumulated in the past that leads to a lower and unfortunate rebirth, and after liberating her from her outcaste birth, the Blessed One [said] to the purified Prakṛti…”).
The Tibetan has taken the Sanskrit bhagavatā with evam ukte: “When this was said by the Blessed One.” However, the syntax of the Sanskrit does not allow for this interpretation.
The Tibetan has rendered the Sanskrit kāmaiś cādīnavam (“about the dangers associated with sense pleasures”) as ’dod pa’i ro myang bar bya ba ma yin zhing smad pa’i gtam (“a talk about not indulging in sense pleasures and deprecating them”).
The Tibetan bcom ldan ’das kyi bka’ gang yin pa shes nas indicates that the translators read bhagavato deśitam ājñātum (“to understand what the Blessed One has taught”), where the extant Sanskrit manuscripts read bhavyā dharmadeśitam ājñātum. We have followed the Sanskrit, since the phrase recurs in the following sentence.
The Tibetan has rendered the Sanskrit sāmutkarṣikī (“most elevated”) as rab tu ldan pa, and it has erroneously translated the Sanskrit pratibalām (“able”), which is here synonymous with bhavyā (“ready”), as bsgoms pa’i stobs (“power of meditation”).
The Tibetan lacks a rendering of the Sanskrit caturāryasatya- (“the four truths of the noble ones”).
The Tibetan has translated the Sanskrit rajanopagatam (“fit for dyeing”) as dri ma med pa (“stainless”), which suggests that the translators read rajanāpagatam.
The Tibetan lacks a rendering of the Sanskrit akopyadharmā (“had become unshakable in the Dharma”).
The Tibetan lacks a rendering of the Sanskrit arthalābhasaṃvṛttā (“had turned toward the attainment of the goal”).
The Tibetan has rendered the Sanskrit vaiśāradyaprāpta (“had attained complete confidence”) as dri ma med pa thob pas (“had attained the immaculate”).
The Tibetan lacks a rendering of the Sanskrit ājāneyamānā dharmeṣu (“becoming thoroughbred in the teachings”).
It seems that the Tibetan has taken the Sanskrit ātyatyāṃ saṃvarāya sthitvā (“as you stand firmly in refraining from transgression”) with the previous sentence.
The Tibetan adds zhing tshul bzhin ma yin pa byas pa (“and acted improperly”), but this is probably due to having read svāmivāde na samudācarīti instead of svāmivādena samudācarīti. Since the Buddha is simply restating what Prakṛti had said before, we have followed the way it is worded in the preceding passage.
The Tibetan adds chos ’dul ba rtogs nas (“having understood the Dharma and Vinaya”) and several more explanatory phrases that seem to have been added during the translation process.
The Tibetan has rendered the Sanskrit pratikāṅkṣitavyā (“you should expect”) as bsgrub par bya (“you should achieve”).
The extant Sanskrit reading prahitāni viviktāni viharati sma has to be emended to prahitātmanī viviktā viharati sma in the light of other such descriptions beginning with vyapakṛṣṭa (see BHSD s.v.). The Tibetan reads rab tu nyams pa med pas bdag nyid gnas te (“she dwelled by herself without any failings”), which suggests that the translators read aprahatātmanī. The Tibetan then repeats the entire description of retreating into seclusion at the beginning of the next sentence, but the Sanskrit yadarthaṃ…tad construction excludes such an interpretation.
In this set proclamation of an arhat, the Tibetan translation lacks a rendering of the Sanskrit kṣīnā me jātir (“Birth has come to an end for me”) and prajānāmi (“I know”).
The Tibetan has misrendered the Sanskrit mahāśālakuleṣu as shing sA la chen po lta bu rnams (“who are like great śāla trees”) and pravekṣyati (“could enter”) as blta bar bya (“can be seen”). The same misrenderings occur in the following passage.
The extant Sanskrit manuscripts here add “kṣatriyas,” but this is lacking both in the Tibetan and in Dharmarakṣa’s Chinese translation. In an additional note in his subsequent study (1967, p. 77), Mukhopadhyaya states that it should be omitted in his edition.
The Tibetan has rendered the Sanskrit svakasvakāni mātāpaiṭrkāṇi nāmagotrāṇi (“their maternal and paternal names and lines of descent”) more elaborately as rang rang gi pha mo’i rgyus dang / ming dang / rigs dang / rus rnams (“their paternal and maternal backgrounds, names, lines of descent, and bloodlines”).
The extant Sanskrit manuscripts here add “kṣatriyas,” but this is lacking both in the Tibetan and in Dharmarakṣa’s Chinese translation. In an additional note in his subsequent study, Mukhopadhyaya (1967, p. 77) states that it should be omitted in his edition.
Instead of the sal tree, which is rendered as sA la in the Tibetan, the extant Sanskrit lists several other trees in a long compound: atimuktakakadalīpāṭalakāmalakīvanagahanapradeśe (“an area thick with forests of atimuktaka trees, plantain trees, trumpet-flower trees, and gooseberry trees”). Zhi Qian’s Chinese translation only makes mention of the atimuktaka tree, whereas Dharmarakṣa’s translation does not mention any specific kind of tree.
The Tibetan has rendered the Sanskrit anuśrutam (“as traditionally passed down”) as rten pa med par (“without reliance”), which suggests that the translators read aniśritam.
The Tibetan has here rendered the Sanskrit paramayā śubhavarṇapuṣkalatayā as kha dog mdzes shing mchog tu kha dog rgyas pa (“resplendent complexion and supreme excellence of complexion”), thus translating varṇa (“complexion”) twice. Further below, however, while rendering the same expression when the brahmin maiden Prakṛti is described, the first kha dog is rightly omitted.
The Tibetan has rendered the Sanskrit sasaptotsadaṃ as khyab par sa, which seems to mean “having abundant land.” The Sanskrit expression, however, appears to be the result of an erroneous Sanskritization of the Prakritic sattussada, which actually means “abounding in beings.” See BHSD s.v. utsada (3).
The Tibetan lacks a rendering of the Sanskrit tṛṇa (“grass”) in this set description of an agriculturally prosperous place, and it has rendered the Sanskrit brahmadeyaṃ dattam (“given as a brahmic gift”) as bram ze de la byin nas (“given to that brahmin”). For a brief discussion of such endowments to brahmins, see Mukhopadhyaya 1967, p. 73.
The Tibetan has omitted several components in this description of the brahmin’s learnedness.
The Tibetan lacks the preceding part of Triśaṅku’s reflection, having apparently conflated it with the preceding description of the brahmin and his daughter.
The Tibetan has rendered the Sanskrit kāryaṃ as bya ba cung zhig (“a small matter”), thus adding cung (“small”).
In this context we consider the English “dear” the most suitable rendering for bringing out the nuances of the Sanskrit vocative bhoḥ, which is a polite form of address among cultured persons, especially brahmins, but which takes on a pejorative note when it is used toward someone deemed inferior and lacking education. Thus, being an outcaste, King Triśaṅku is here reproached by the brahmin Puṣkarasārin for using a form of address that only those properly educated are entitled to use. In the Tibetan translation the Sanskrit bhoḥ has been rendered with the particle kye, often translated as “O” or “Hey!” though in Tibetan this form of address tends to be used toward someone higher than oneself.
The Tibetan has rendered the Sanskrit kulaśulkam, which literally means “family fee,” as rin (“price”).
For the following stanzas we have followed the extant Sanskrit. In the Tibetan translation these verses have been rendered into prose, but they show several omissions and misinterpretations.
The Tibetan lacks a rendering of these last two lines. To place a mustard seed on the tip of a hair is here used as a metaphor for trying to do the impossible.
The Tibetan lacks a rendering of this line. This metaphor returns a few stanzas further on, again preceded by the admonition of soliciting the unsolicitable. It also occurs there in Dharmarakṣa’s Chinese translation, while here in this verse another simile is given: “Do not solicit the unsolicitable, like sowing seeds in water!”
The Tibetan has translated the Sanskrit jugupsitaḥ sarvaloke kṛpaṇaḥ puruṣādhamaḥ as ro dang rigs dman pa gnyis ni ’jig rten thams cad la mi gtsang ba yin gyis (“Both a corpse and a low-caste person are impure to the entire world”). To translate kṛpaṇa (“miserable one”) as “corpse” is a stretch, but perhaps this rendering was influenced by the argument in Triśaṅku’s response that a brahmin’s corpse is as repulsive as anyone else’s. Dharmarakṣa’s Chinese translation agrees with the more straightforward interpretation we have followed here.
The Tibetan byad dang ro langs kyi las (“actions for spirits and zombies”) seems to indicate that the underlying Sanskrit was karmāṇi praitāni, as suggested by Mukhopadhyaya (1954, p. 19, n. 2).
The Degé and the Stok reading is rig byed bzhi las, but the Yongle and Kangxi reading rigs byed bzhi las is in agreement with the Sanskrit caturvidhāḥ. The Tibetan translation here lacks an equivalent for the Sanskrit brāhmaṇeṣu (“for brahmins”), so perhaps the variant reading rig byed (“[knowing] the Vedas”) is the result of an attempt to remedy this. The Sanskrit pātaka (“downfall”) has the connotation of “falling from one’s caste,” which in this case would mean losing the brahmin status. For more on these downfalls, one may consult the Manusmṛti (X 235; XI 54), as stated in an additional note to this edition by Mukhopadhyaya (1954, p. 223).
The Tibetan has translated the Sanskrit brahmaghnatā (literally “brahmic killing”) as sdom pa’i tshogs ni ’jig pa ste (“breaking one’s set of vows”), apparently having understood the Sanskrit as referring to the vow of chastity (brahmacarya) in view of the preceding downfall.
In an additional note to his edition, Mukhopadhyaya (1954, p. 223) has pointed out that this observance is referred in the Manusmṛti (XI 72, 105, 122).
The Tibetan has translated the Sanskrit aurasā as lus kyi stod (“upper part of the body”), apparently from uras (“bosom”), but here the adjectival aurasa means “own son,” with the connotation of “legitimate son,” as described in brahmanical law books such as the Manusmṛti (IX 166).
The Tibetan has translated this sentence as “O inferior fellow, do you not see that you belong to this fourth caste?” The extant Sanskrit preserves the correct reading, because outcastes are considered to fall outside the varṇa system, below the category of śūdras. The two Chinese translations read in agreement with the Sanskrit.
The Tibetan has translated this as “It is by you that this entire world is created, proclaiming that it is held that ‘We are his foremost sons’ ” (’dir khyed kyis ’jig rten thams cad sgrub par byed pa de las bdag cag skyes pa yin pas thu bo bdag cag yin).
We have followed the Tibetan reading lag pa dang bcas pa (“having hands”), which is also the reading in Dharmarakṣa’s Chinese translation. The extant Sanskrit reads sanakhāḥ (“having nails”).
The following three verses have close parallels in the Pali Vāseṭṭha Sutta (Sn 608–11), as pointed out by Mukhopadhyaya in the additional notes in his subsequent study (1967, p. 77).
For this verse we have followed the reading of the extant Sanskrit manuscripts, even though the word jātiḥ in the second line seems grammatically problematic: yathā hi jātiṣv anyāsu liṅgaṃ jātiḥ pṛthak pṛthak | sāmānyaṃ kāraṇaṃ tatra kiṃ vā jātiṣu manyase. Mukhopadhyaya (1954, p. 24) has tried to fix this in his edition by emending jātiḥ to yoniḥ, and he appears to have done so on the basis of the Tibetan rendering of this verse: de ltar rang gi bsod nams rigs / skyes pa bud med mtshan mas phye / rkang pa lag pa ’thun pa na / de la rigs su gang gis ’dod (“When thus by one’s merit, clan, and male or female characteristics there is distinction, but the feet and hands are common, then why do you think in terms of castes?” It is clear, however, that this Tibetan rendering is marred by at least two misreadings of the Sanskrit, with jātiṣv anyāsu apparently having been read as jātiḥ puṇyāsu and kāraṇaṃ as kara (“hand”), so we cannot be certain that the second line of the verse in fact had the Sanskrit equivalent yoniḥ for bu med mtshan. Unfortunately, neither Chinese translation can provide further clues here, since they both lack this set of verses. The wording of this particular verse seems to have been strained from the outset, since it is an adaptation of a verse that occurs prior to the preceding parallel verses in the Vāseṭṭha Sutta (Sn 607), in which jātīsu in the first line refers to the different nonhuman animal species: yathā etāsu jātīsu liṅgaṃ jātimayaṃ puthu / evaṃ n’atthi manussesu liṅgaṃ jātimayaṃ puthu (“While among these kinds of birth, the particular distinctive marks are there at birth, there are no such particular distinctive marks there at birth among human beings”).
We have followed the reading of the extant Sanskrit manuscripts: dharmādhipatyāḥ pravarā manuṣyāḥ. In the Tibetan this entire line is rendered as mi rnam la mchog tu gyur pa’i chos kyi bye brag ni med do (“Among human beings there is no distinction in the Dharma being sovereign”). In Dharmarakṣa’s Chinese translation, however, there is no presence of negation; perhaps the Tibetan translators read dharmādhipatyāpravarā manuṣyāḥ. On the basis of the Tibetan, Mukhopadhyaya (1954, p. 25) has emended the Sanskrit to dharmādhipatyaprabhavā manuṣyāḥ (“Humans are distinguished by the sovereignty of the Dharma”), but in our opinion pravarā seems more appropriate here in view of the brahmin’s previous assertion that he is in the “preeminent caste” (pravare varṇe).
The name of a muhūrta.
“Victorious.” The asterism of the star Vega in the constellation Lyra.
“Victorious.” The name of a muhūrta.
The name of a people in northern India.
The name of a country just to the southwest of the Kashmir valley.
A measure of weight roughly equivalent to three kilograms.
The mother of gods (deva). According to the brahmanical tradition, she is one of the daughters of the creator god Dakṣa Prajāpati, who gave her and twelve of her sisters in marriage to the sage Kaśyapa.
The name of a muhūrta.
The god of fire in the Vedic pantheon.
“Given by Fire.” The name of a king who bestowed the district of Utkaṭa as a brahmic gift (brahmadeya) to the brahmin Puṣkarasārin.
One of the sublineages connected with the Kāśyapa lineage of the brahmanical tradition.
The mythical “serpent of the deep” that, according to the brahmanical tradition, resides in the misty region at the bottom of the world.
The smallest visible particle, seven of which make up one speck of dirt on a hare.
Indian preceptor-monk and translator.
The name of a family lineage.
A major śrāvaka disciple and personal attendant of the Buddha Śākyamuni during the last twenty-five years of his life. He was a cousin of the Buddha (according to the Mahāvastu, he was a son of Śuklodana, one of the brothers of King Śuddhodana, which means he was a brother of Devadatta; other sources say he was a son of Amṛtodana, another brother of King Śuddhodana, which means he would have been a brother of Aniruddha).
Ānanda, having always been in the Buddha’s presence, is said to have memorized all the teachings he heard and is celebrated for having recited all the Buddha’s teachings by memory at the first council of the Buddhist saṅgha, thus preserving the teachings after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa. The phrase “Thus did I hear at one time,” found at the beginning of the sūtras, usually stands for his recitation of the teachings. He became a patriarch after the passing of Mahākāśyapa.
The name of a muhūrta.
One of the sublineages connected with the Kāśyapa lineage of the brahmanical tradition.
This was an important early site for the Buddha’s growing community. Anāthapiṇḍada, a wealthy patron of the Buddha, purchased the park, located outside Śrāvastī, at great cost, purportedly covering the ground with gold, and donated it to the saṅgha. It was there that the Buddha spent several rainy seasons and gave discourses that were later recorded as sūtras. It was also the site for one of the first Buddhist monasteries. (Provisional 84000 definition. New definition forthcoming.)
One of the sublineages connected with the Vāsiṣṭha lineage of the brahmanical tradition.
The name of a region along the southeast coast of the Indian subcontinent, roughly corresponding to the present-day state of Andhra Pradesh.
The name of a region in the northeast of the Indian subcontinent, situated along the Ganges River just to the east of the Magadha region, covering the eastern part of the present-day state of Bihar.
“The Glowing One.” The planet Mars.
A particle of matter or an “atom,” traditionally considered to be made up of seven of the finest particles (paramāṇu).
“Propitious.” The asterism of the three stars at the head of the constellation Scorpio.
The brahmin sage who is said to have received the Vedas from Indra Kauśika and then passed them on to Śvetaketu.
“Moist.” The asterism around the star Betelgeuse at the top left of the constellation Orion.
According to Buddhist tradition, one who is worthy of worship (pūjām arhati), or one who has conquered the enemies, the mental afflictions (kleśa-ari-hata-vat), and reached liberation from the cycle of rebirth and suffering. It is the fourth and highest of the four fruits attainable by śrāvakas. Also used as an epithet of the Buddha.
The mother of gandharvas. According to the brahmanical tradition, she is one of the daughters of the creator god Dakṣa Prajāpati, who gave her and twelve of her sisters in marriage to the sage Kaśyapa.
The third and most prominent of the five Pāṇḍavas brothers whose long war with the Kauravas, their enemy relatives, is described in the epic narrative of the Mahābhārata. Renowned for his skill in arms, Arjuna is especially known from the episode of the Bhagavad Gītā, in which he is the main interlocutor of Kṛṣṇa, his charioteer. As the incarnation of the divine, Kṛṣṇa counsels Arjuna at the beginning of the great battle to fight his Kaurava kinsmen. The Ārjunāyanas, “those descended from Arjuna,” were a people situated in northern India in the region west of Mathura, now comprising the Rajput states of Bharatpur and Alwar, where they became dominant after the gradual decline of the Indo-Greeks around the middle of the first century ʙᴄᴇ.
The name of a muhūrta.
Calotropis gigantea. The crown flower, a perennial shrub with purplish flowers, is known for its intoxicating effect and is used in medicine and ritual.
One of the sublineages connected with the Gautama lineage of the brahmanical tradition. A sublineage of the Sāmavedins.
One of the lineages within the Sāmaveda branch of the brahmanical tradition.
The name of a deity.
The fourth lunar month that falls within the period of June–July, when the full moon is in the Āṣāḍhā asterisms.
Refers to the two asterisms Pūrvāṣāḍhā and Uttarāṣāḍhā.
A general term applied to spiritual practitioners who live as ascetic mendicants. In Buddhist texts, the term usually refers to Buddhist monastics, but it can also designate a practitioner from other ascetic/monastic spiritual traditions. In this context śramaṇa is often contrasted with the term brāhmaṇa (bram ze), which refers broadly to followers of the Vedic tradition. Any renunciate, not just a Buddhist, could be referred to as a śramaṇa if they were not within the Vedic fold. The epithet Great Śramaṇa is often applied to the Buddha.
“Embracer.” The asterism of the five stars at the head of the constellation Hydra.
The name of a family lineage.
A type of nonhuman being whose precise status is subject to different views, but is included as one of the six classes of beings in the sixfold classification of realms of rebirth. In the Buddhist context, asuras are powerful beings said to be dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility. They are also known in the pre-Buddhist and pre-Vedic mythologies of India and Iran, and feature prominently in Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical mythology, as well as in the Buddhist tradition. In these traditions, asuras are often described as being engaged in interminable conflict with the devas (gods).
The Vedic ritual of horse sacrifice.
The asterism Aśvinī.
The seventh lunar month that falls within the period of September–October, when the full moon is in the Aśvinī asterism.
“The Horsemen.” The asterism of two stars that form part of the constellation Aries.
“Kindling Fire.” The name of a muhūrta.
Belonging to the ritual tradition of the Atharvaveda, which can involve the use of spells and sorcery to harm others.
The fourth and last of the Vedas, the Atharvaveda mainly consists of hymns and spells that are used in domestic rituals, often for apotropaic and healing purposes.
See “Atharvaveda branch.”
The category of priests in the brahmanical tradition who specialize in the hymns and spells of the Atharvaveda.
Belonging to the ritual tradition of the Atharvaveda, which can involve the use of spells and sorcery to harm others.
The fourth and last of the Vedas, the Atharvaveda mainly consists of hymns and spells that are used in domestic rituals, often for apotropaic and healing purposes.
See “Atharvaveda branch.”
The category of priests in the brahmanical tradition who specialize in the hymns and spells of the Atharvaveda.
stag rna’i rtogs pa brjod pa (Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna). Toh 358, Degé Kangyur vol. 76 (mdo sde, aH), folios 232.b–277.b.
stag rna’i rtogs pa brjod pa. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 76, pp. 669–796.
stong chen mo rab tu ’joms pa (Mahāsāhasrapramardanī). Toh 558, Degé Kangyur vol. 90 (rgyud, pha), folios 63.a–87.b. English translation Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm 2016.
rig sngags kyi rgyal mo rma bya chen mo (Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī). Toh 559, Degé Kangyur vol. 90 (rgyud, pha), folios 87.b–117.a. English translation The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen 2023.
Arya SardulakarNa’i nang nas ’byung ba gza’ dang rgyu skra gyi rang bzhin bshad pa. Toh 4321a, Degé Tengyur vol. 203 (mdo ’grel [bzo rig], ngo), folios 33.b–49.a.
Aśvaghoṣa. sangs rgyas kyi spyod pa zhes bya ba’i snyan dngags chen po (Buddhacaritanāmamahākāvya). Toh 4156, Degé Tengyur vol. 172 (spring yig, ge), folios 1.b–103.b.
Vasubandhu. chos mngon pa’i mdzod kyi bshad pa (Abhidharmakośabhāṣya). Degé Tengyur vol. 140 (mngon pa, ku), folios 26.a–258.a; vol. 141 (mngon pa, khu), folios 1.b–95.a.
Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos kyi ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.
Phangthangma (dkar chag ’phang thang ma). Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.
84000. The Chapter on Going Forth (Pravrajyāvastu, rab tu ’byung ba’i gzhi, Toh 1, ch. 1). Translated by Robert Miller. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018.
84000. Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm (Mahāsāhasrapramardanī, stong chen mo rab tu ’joms pa, Toh 558). Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2016.
84000. The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen (Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī, rig sngags kyi rgyal mo rma bya chen mo, Toh 559). Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023.
Bronkhorst, Johannes. How the Brahmins Won: From Alexander to the Guptas. Leiden: Brill, 2016.
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Cowell, Edward B., and Robert Alexander Neil, eds. The Divyâvadâna: A Collection of Early Buddhist Legends. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1886.
De Jong, Jan Willem. “Buddhism and the Equality of the Four Castes.” Acta Iranica 28 (1988): 423–31.
Edgerton, Franklin. Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary. 2 vols. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953.
Eltschinger, Vincent. Caste and Buddhist Philosophy: Continuity of Some Buddhist Arguments against the Realist Interpretation of Social Denominations. Translated by Raynald Prévèreau. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2012.
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The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa begins with the dramatic story of an outcaste girl named Prakṛti, who falls in love with the venerable Ānanda but is subsequently led by the Buddha to liberation and arhathood. In order to explain these events to the upper-caste community of Śrāvastī, the Buddha narrates the story of a learned outcaste king, Triśaṅku, who sought to marry his son, Śārdūlakarṇa, to the daughter of an eminent brahmin named Puṣkarasārin. In this story, the outcaste king advances various arguments against the notion of caste and displays at length his brahmanical—mostly astrological—learning from past lives. When the brahmin’s pride is finally overcome, he grants his daughter’s hand in marriage. At the end of his narration, the Buddha reveals that he was the outcaste king at that time, and that Prakṛti and Ānanda were the brahmin maiden and the outcaste prince, thus showing that caste designations have little meaning in the light of karma and merit across multiple lives.
This text was translated by the Bodhinidhi Translation Group. Thomas Cruijsen translated the text from Tibetan into English and compared it with the Sanskrit and Chinese versions. Khenpo Chowang checked a number of passages against the Tibetan.
The translator would like to thank Dr. Pema Tenzin, Central University of Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, in helping to solve a few problematic passages in both the Sanskrit and the Tibetan text. He would also like to express his gratitude to Ms. Saubhagya Pradhananga, Director of the National Archives, Kathmandu, for providing access to the collection of Sanskrit manuscripts microfilmed by the Nepal-German Manuscripts Preservation Project.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. David Higgins edited the translation and the introduction, and Laura Goetz copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
The translation of this text has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of Shin Nomura, Ozer Nomura Dong and Biao Dong.
The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa is one of the primary texts in the Kangyur treating the issue of caste. By the time of the Buddha, the notion of caste had already begun to impact Indian society, with members of the brahmin community propagating the belief that they were spiritually superior to others in a strict social hierarchy fixed by birth. On several occasions, as recorded in a number of discourses in the Pali Tipiṭaka, the Buddha repudiated this belief by teaching brahmins that one’s spiritual status is determined not by birth but by merit. As a kind of compendium, The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa contains several of the arguments given in these shorter discourses while adding some others, all placed in the narrative context of a past life story that serves to illustrate the workings of karma. Many of the key arguments advanced in this avadāna were later refined and given a more rigorous philosophical foundation by Buddhist thinkers such as Āryadeva, Vasubandhu, Candrakīrti, and Dharmakīrti, at a time when the caste system had become more societally entrenched across the subcontinent.
Framing the avadāna is the story of the outcaste girl Prakṛti and the venerable Ānanda, the Buddha’s cousin and close attendant, which begins with an encounter at a well outside the city of Śrāvastī. Ānanda, who wishes to drink some water after his alms round, finds Prakṛti drawing water at the well. As a bhikṣu who has left behind his societal status—in his case, as a Śākya, the kṣatriya upper caste—and is thereby no longer bound by caste, he is unconcerned about caste restrictions and the issue of purity, and so he simply asks Prakṛti for some water. At first Prakṛti hesitates, saying that she is an outcaste, implying that her water offering would “pollute” him, but Ānanda assures her that he has no interest in caste conventions. After he drinks the water and departs, Prakṛti is left deeply impressed by Ānanda’s appearance and demeanor, and she falls madly in love with him.
In her desire to win the venerable Ānanda as her husband, Prakṛti first turns to her mother, who is an expert in magic spells and sorcery, activities often associated in Indian society with lower-caste and outcaste people. Despite her mother’s misgivings, they perform a magical ritual that succeeds in entrancing Ānanda because, still to attain arhatship, he is not yet “free from desires.” Bewitched and confused, Ānanda finds himself in Prakṛti’s house when he suddenly comes to his senses and calls out to the Buddha. The Buddha immediately cancels the spell with a mantra of his own—an exceptional event, since there are very few sūtras in which the Buddha uses a mantra in this manner. Once Ānanda has returned to Jetavana, the Buddha then teaches him a short “six-syllable” protective mantra that can be used by anyone seeking release from any predicament, however dire.
Undeterred, Prakṛti, dressed in her finest attire, awaits the venerable Ānanda outside Śrāvastī, and follows him as he makes his alms round in the city. Distressed at her attempts to attract his attention, Ānanda quickly heads back to Jetavana for the Buddha’s help, while Prakṛti continues her pursuit. It is then that the Buddha comes to hear of Prakṛti’s fervent wish, and he begins to lead her onto the spiritual path. The Buddha gives his consent for their union and then ensures that it meets with the approval of Prakṛti’s parents. Once her parents have departed, he asks Prakṛti whether she is willing to take on nunhood to be with Ānanda. In her commitment to Ānanda, Prakṛti pleads for ordination, which the Buddha grants with the well-known phrase, “Come, nun, live the spiritual life” (Skt. ehi tvaṃ bhikṣuṇi cara brahmacaryam). The Buddha subsequently instructs her in the Dharma by what is known as a gradual talk (Skt. anupūrvikā kathā), starting with the basic virtues of generosity and ethical conduct and culminating in the understanding of the four truths of the noble ones. Finally, when Prakṛti recognizes that her infatuated behavior was mistaken, the Buddha hears her confession, thus clearing her last obstacle to arhatship, which she attains soon thereafter.
At this juncture, the avadāna shifts from a tale of love and liberation to one of caste discrimination. When the brahmins and other upper-caste people of Śrāvastī come to hear that an outcaste has become a nun and an arhat under the Buddha, they are outraged, and they foresee the circumstance that she will come on alms round in their neighborhoods, which is normally forbidden territory for outcastes. When they inform King Prasenajit, the ruler of the kingdom of Kauśala, at his palace in Śrāvastī, the king, though a devoted follower of the Buddha, shares their disapproval, and together they set out for Jetavana to ask the Buddha for an explanation. Greeted with varying degrees of respect by King Prasenajit’s retinue of brahmins and upper-caste people, the Buddha immediately understands the reason they have come. Thus, after summoning the nun Prakṛti and the assembly of monks, he begins to tell a past-life story that serves to remove the prejudice of the audience.
This long story, which forms the bulk of the text, concerns an outcaste king who wishes to marry his son to the daughter of an eminent brahmin. The outcaste king Triśaṅku is introduced as possessing all brahmanical learning, much of it remembered from previous lifetimes. Interestingly, his name is probably an allusion to Triśaṅku, the king of Ayodhyā, who was degraded to the rank of an outcaste by the Vedic sage Vasiṣṭha and later became connected to a constellation of stars—a story that is told in the Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, and the Purāṇas. The outcaste king’s son, Śārdūlakarṇa, is briefly described as being flawless in deportment, education, and appearance, but despite his prominence in the title of the avadāna, he does not actively figure in the narrative to follow.
The brahmin Puṣkarasārin is introduced as an eminent scholar fully accomplished in brahmanical learning, but only after noting that his pure status is secured by family lineage. One is here led to recall the eminent brahmin Pokkharasāti (the Pali version of the name Puṣkarasārin) in the Pali canon, who presided over the district town Utkaṭa at the time of the Buddha Śākyamuni. The brahmin Puṣkarasārin’s daughter, who, like Śārdūlakarṇa, is only briefly described and does not figure otherwise in the story, carries the name Prakṛti, making for an immediate association with the nun Prakṛti, whose past life the Buddha is narrating. The irony of an outcaste girl having been a brahmin maiden in a previous life would certainly not have been lost on this text’s audience.
The narrative begins with King Triśaṅku’s decision to request Puṣkarasārin for his daughter’s hand in marriage, upon which he proceeds to Utkaṭa and awaits the brahmin at the park where the latter regularly teaches. As Puṣkarasārin arrives with his brahmin students, Triśaṅku immediately puts the matter to him, approaching him with a form of address (bho, here translated as “dear”) that is normally used by brahmins among themselves, and often with an air of superiority toward those of lower status. Unaware of the king’s learnedness and past history, the brahmin angrily scolds him for his insolence in even daring such a proposal as an outcaste, and he exclaims, in accordance with caste belief, that matrimonial ties can only be forged within one’s own caste. King Triśaṅku, however, has come with conviction and seeks to counter Puṣkarasārin’s caste beliefs.
In order to show that caste is a mere “commonplace notion” (Skt. sāmānyasaṃjñā; Tib. shes tha mal) that has no basis in reality, the outcaste king poses two kinds of arguments to the brahmin. First, he argues that there is no biological distinction among human beings that would indicate different “species” (which in Sanskrit is referred to with the same word as “caste,” jāti): both brahmins and non-brahmins are born from a womb and share the same physical properties. This has direct parallels with arguments made by the Buddha in two discourses in the Pali canon, the Assalāyana Sutta (MN II 148) and the Vāseṭṭha Sutta (Sn 600–611). Triśaṅku next goes to great lengths to point out contradictions in the beliefs and practices that brahmins had formulated to reinforce caste ideas. Thus, after pointing out the brahmins’ hypocritical stance on ritual killing, he refers to the device by which brahmins who have been excommunicated from the brahmin caste due to committing one of four severe crimes can regain their brahmin status through penance. Based on this view, brahminhood is not an immutable fact of nature fixed by birth but rather a fragile social convention invented by humans to secure particular ends. In this vein, by showing that the qualities of virtuous conduct, learning, and wisdom may be equally present among members of the other castes, the text relentlessly criticizes the attempt to legitimize brahminhood as something inborn. These arguments, which assume extensive knowledge of brahmanical literature and law books such as the Manusmṛti, bear a close resemblance to those set forth in the Vajrasūcī, the piercing anti-caste treatise traditionally ascribed to Aśvaghoṣa, the famous Buddhist poet of brahmin background who flourished during the second century
One of the main targets of criticism in the discussion is the so-called creation myth that brahmins adduced to justify caste hierarchy. According to one of the hymns in the Ṛgveda (Puruṣa Sūkta, 10.90), the supreme being, identified as Brahmā, created the four main castes of human society out of different parts of his body: the brahmin caste from his face or mouth, the kṣatriya or “warrior” caste from his arms, the vaiśya or “merchant-farmer” caste from his thighs, and the śūdra or “servant” caste from his feet. After the brahmin Puṣkarasārin firmly proclaims this belief in reaction to King Triśaṅku’s egalitarian position, the outcaste king makes several arguments that turn the idea on its head. Provisionally adopting his rival’s position, he reasons along theistic lines that if everyone and everything derives from one divine being, then all are of the same nature and thus equal. Additionally, he compares the four castes created by Brahmā to four sons with different names belonging to one and the same father, or to a tree’s fruits that have their origin in the same seed. These arguments, too, are found in the above-mentioned Vajrasūcī. Having undermined the discriminatory purport of this “origin myth” of the four main castes, Triśaṅku proceeds to narrate an alternative, socio-historical account of how castes came into being, not by divine creation but through a gradual division of labor that developed in society over time. This account, with its etymological explanation of the castes (of which we have added the relevant Sanskrit terms in brackets), in fact draws on the socio-genealogical account found in the Aggañña Sutta (DN II 93–95) that is given by the Buddha himself.
Despite the force of the king’s reasoning that humankind is one, that people all belong to one human family, the brahmin remains unconvinced and continues to refuse the proposal for marriage. In response, Puṣkarasārin sets out to show off his brahmanical learning to Triśaṅku. He begins by asking the outcaste king whether he has any knowledge of the various brahmanical scriptures and sciences. Although Triśaṅku had already demonstrated some erudition in his arguments, at this point he openly declares that he possesses all the requisite knowledge and describes in detail how the different brahmanical traditions came into being. After hearing this, the brahmin falls silent in embarrassment, and the outcaste king continues to argue why social status is determined not by heredity but by personal merit. As examples, he points to several outcastes and non-brahmins who by their own efforts came to be respected as great sages, even by brahmins. This reference is also made in the Vajrasūcī but has its precedent in the Buddha’s statements in the Vasala Sutta (Sn 137–40).
As Puṣkarasārin comes to realize that the king may indeed possess knowledge that is normally considered the reserve of brahmins, he begins to question Triśaṅku about it. First, he asks the king about the brahmanical lineages in which he acquired this knowledge, and then inquires of his knowledge of the celebrated Sāvitrī mantra, more commonly known as the Gāyatrī mantra, whose recitation throughout history has been the hallmark of a brahmin. In addition to giving a short exposition on the origin of this mantra, Triśaṅku is also able to recite the Sāvitrī mantras specific to each of the other castes (which are not mentioned in any brahmanical sources).
What then follows, occupying the second half of the text, is a lengthy lecture on the various constellations in which the outcaste king demonstrates his extensive knowledge of brahmanical astrology. He discusses the various lunar asterisms and their effects, providing an array of information on the practice of astrological prediction and the interpretation of signs, in which brahmins had specialized since early times. Many of the details in this extensive presentation correspond to those in brahmanical astrological sources such as the Bṛhatsaṃhitā (sixth century
At the close of Triśaṅku’s erudite discourse on brahmanical science, the outcaste king makes a final revelation. Stating that he can remember his past lives, he discloses how he acquired his erudition in brahmanical learning: in past births he himself was in fact Brahmā, as well as those renowned sages of ancient times who founded the brahmanical traditions. It is only with this revelation, in which Triśaṅku himself exemplifies the true brahminhood that is attainable through karmic merit alone, that Puṣkarasārin is fully convinced of the king’s worthiness. After silencing the protests of his students, the brahmin reconfirms the egalitarian arguments the king had given earlier, and he concludes with an avowal of the law of karma:
- Since dark or bright actions
- Indeed come to bear fruit,
- One sees their karmic ripening
- Among the five states of rebirth.
At this point, the brahmin Puṣkarasārin joyfully grants his daughter Prakṛti’s hand in marriage to Śārdūlakarṇa. The marriage story ends with the outcaste king returning to his city as a renowned and revered leader who continues to rule his peaceful and prosperous kingdom according to the Dharma.
After telling this story, the Buddha proceeds to reveal its implications by identifying the true identity of its central characters. To an audience of brahmins and other upper-caste people, he reveals that at that time, he himself was the outcaste king Triśaṅku, while the brahmin Puṣkarasārin was Śāriputra, his close disciple renowned for his intelligence and learning, who, incidentally, is deemed by tradition to have been of brahmin origin. This disclosure affirms that it was the outcaste king’s virtuous words and deeds, his “good karma,” that led to his eventual attainment of buddhahood. The Buddha further reveals that the outcaste prince Śārdūlakarṇa was the venerable Ānanda, another of the Buddha’s foremost disciples, and that the brahmin maiden to whom he was wedded was in fact Prakṛti, the outcaste girl who had become an arhat nun. Thus, the point is reiterated that caste designations have no meaning in light of karma and merit.
The Buddha concludes with an admonition to his monks and the rest of the audience to strive diligently and mindfully on the basis of the four truths of the noble ones, the implication being that one may attain the same arhatship that the nun Prakṛti has achieved. At the end of this discourse, sixty monks become arhats, and many brahmins and upper-caste people come to clearly understand the Dharma, while the people of Śrāvastī and the rest of world rejoice in the Buddha’s teaching.
Turning now to the textual history of the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna, we can see that the story of the venerable Ānanda and the outcaste girl Prakṛti enjoyed considerable popularity within and beyond India over the centuries. There are some ten versions of this story preserved in different places in the Chinese Tripiṭaka. The earliest translation (Taishō 551) is attributed to the Parthian monk An Shigao, who lived in Central Asia during the second century
That the avadāna was reworked and supplemented over time can further be seen in the differences between the third-century Chinese translations and the Sanskrit text that is presently extant. Preserved in Nepalese Sanskrit manuscripts that postdate the Chinese translations by almost fifteen hundred years, the Sanskrit text now available to us is greatly expanded in the section in which King Triśaṅku expounds on Indian astrology, adding a large number of additional lectures on such prognostic practices. Moreover, besides these additions and some phrases that appear to have been inserted elsewhere in the avadāna, there are also some differences, compared to the Chinese translations, in the actual phrasing of the text. Although this might at first be attributed to the particularities of two vastly different languages—Sanskrit and Chinese—it more likely indicates that a rather different Sanskrit (or Prakrit) text existed in the third century
The Tibetan translation is much closer to the Sanskrit text preserved in Nepal, though it also lacks the added lectures. The text was translated in the eleventh century by the Tibetan monk Dro Sengkar Śākya Ö (’bro seng kar SAkya ’od) together with the Indian scholar-monk Ajitaśrībhadra. Belonging to the Dro family, Sengkar Śākya Ö had studied Sanskrit in Nepal and India and collaborated on a number of translations with Ajitaśrībhadra, mostly on works preserved in the Tengyur. In view of his sojourn in Kathmandu, it might be the case that for the translation of this avadāna he made use of a Sanskrit manuscript that was procured there, and his translation would therefore present us with the Sanskrit text as it was current in Nepal and India in the eleventh century, although we have to leave open the possibility that the extended Sanskrit version was also in existence at the time. Because the avadāna was translated into Tibetan at a relatively late date, it is not recorded in the Denkarma and Phangthangma inventories of Tibetan imperial translations. It is, however, included in the different Kangyurs from the fourteenth century onward.
For the English translation offered here we have followed this Tibetan canonical translation of the text. We have therefore omitted the supplementary section that is found only in the extended Sanskrit version, and we have also omitted certain phrases that seem to have been inserted at a later point. That said, we have very often deferred to the Sanskrit throughout the translation, especially in the section on astrology with its specific Sanskrit terms, since the Tibetan translation is not always clear or correct, and it sometimes appears to omit terms and phrases. While some of these cases are explained in the endnotes, we have not exhaustively recorded every instances in which the source texts differ. In the case of the mantras given in the text, we have relied on the Sanskrit to reconstruct the wording, while retaining the less extended form of the mantras as they occur in the Tibetan as well as in an older Nepalese Sanskrit manuscript, which we were able to consult at the National Archives in Kathmandu. In other instances, however, the Tibetan proved to be more reliable than the extant Sanskrit manuscripts, which contain numerous textual corruptions. In some cases we also consulted the Chinese translations to help establish correct readings. In this process of establishing an accurate base text, we benefitted greatly from the extensively annotated Sanskrit edition published in Shantiniketan in 1954 by the Bengali scholar Sujitkumar Mukhopadhyaya, who also provided many useful emendations and references in a subsequent study published in 1967. For the Tibetan text, we have based ourselves on the text of the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the variant readings of other Tshalpa Kangyurs given in the comparative Pedurma edition. Our choices in adopting variant readings from the Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese sources are mentioned and discussed in the endnotes.
We may briefly note in closing that The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa has continued to speak to the hearts and minds of people in modern times. As part of the Divyāvadāna, a popular anthology of Sanskrit avadānas, it was among the first Buddhist texts from Nepal that were studied and discussed by the nineteenth-century French scholar Eugène Burnouf in his influential Introduction à l’histoire du buddhisme indien, published in 1844. Through Burnouf’s summary and short translation, the story of Ānanda and Prakṛti came to the attention of the German composer Richard Wagner, inspiring him to outline an opera based on this tale of love and liberation. It was a century later, however, in 1938, that the Bengali poet and composer Rabindranath Tagore brought the story to the stage in a “dance drama” titled Chandalika (The untouchable girl), which is enjoyed by audiences in India and abroad down to the present day.
{M.1} Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling at Śrāvastī in Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park.
One morning, the venerable Ānanda put on his robes, took his alms bowl, and entered the city of Śrāvastī for alms. Afterward, having walked his alms round and having had his meal, the venerable Ānanda went to a well for some water.
At that moment there was an outcaste girl named Prakṛti drawing water at that well. The venerable Ānanda said to the outcaste girl Prakṛti, “Please give me some, sister. I would like to drink some water.”
The outcaste girl Prakṛti replied to the venerable Ānanda, “I am an outcaste girl, Venerable Ānanda.”
“Sister, I did not ask you for your family or caste,” said the venerable Ānanda. “Rather, if you can spare some water, please give me some.”
The outcaste girl then gave some water to the venerable Ānanda. After drinking the water, the venerable Ānanda set off.
Having closely and thoroughly taken in the features of the venerable Ānanda’s body, face, and voice, the outcaste girl Prakṛti became engrossed in shallow thoughts. Full of desire, she thought, {M.2} “I wish that the noble Ānanda were my husband. My mother, who is a great holder of spells, should be able to draw in the noble Ānanda and make him my husband.”
The outcaste girl Prakṛti then took the water jug and went to her outcaste home. Upon arrival, she set the water jug aside and said to her mother, “O mother, listen, there is an ascetic named Ānanda who is a disciple and the attendant of the great ascetic Gautama. I want to have him as my husband. Mother, you should be able to draw him in!”
“My child,” replied her mother, “I should be able to draw in Ānanda, unless he is dead or free from desires. But King Prasenajit of Kauśala is immensely devoted, loyal, and committed to the ascetic Gautama. If he came to know of this, he would bring the entire outcaste family to ruin. I have heard that the ascetic Gautama is free from desires, and one who is free from desire overcomes all.”
When this was said, the outcaste girl Prakṛti said to her mother, “Mother, even if the ascetic Gautama is free from desires, should you not obtain the venerable Ānanda from him, I will forsake my life! If you get him, I will live!”
“Do not forsake your life, my child. I will obtain the ascetic Ānanda,” her mother replied.
Thereupon, in the middle of the courtyard, the mother of the outcaste girl Prakṛti smeared cow dung on the floor and shaped it into a ritual platform. After having strewn it with darbha grass, she set it on fire, and she threw one hundred and eight arka flowers into the fire one by one while reciting mantras. This was the formula: {M.3}
Amale vimale kuṅkume sumane | yena baddho ’si vidyut | icchayā devo varṣati vidyotati garjati vismayaṃ mahārājasya samabhivardhayituṃ devebhyo manuṣyebhyo gandharvebhyaḥ | śikhigrahā devā viśikhigrahā devā ānandasyāgamanāya kramaṇāya juhomi svāhā ||
At that moment, the venerable Ānanda’s mind became entranced, and he left the monastery and walked to the home of the outcastes.
When the outcaste mother saw the venerable Ānanda coming from afar, she said to her daughter Prakṛti, “My child, that is the ascetic Ānanda who is coming. Go and prepare a bed.”
Thrilled, elated, and overjoyed, the outcaste girl Prakṛti set about preparing a bed for the venerable Ānanda.
When the venerable Ānanda had reached the outcaste house, he approached the ritual platform and stood by its side. He then cried out and wept, “I find myself in this dreadful predicament, and now the Blessed One does not take notice of me!”
At that very moment, however, the Blessed One took notice of the venerable Ānanda, and having taken notice of him, he immediately vanquished the mantras of the outcaste with the mantras of a perfectly awakened one. This was the formula:
Then, once the spell of the outcaste had been broken, the venerable Ānanda left the house of the outcastes and began to walk back to his monastery.
The outcaste girl Prakṛti saw this, and as she watched the venerable Ānanda going back, she said to her mother, “Mother, this ascetic Ānanda is going back!”
“Surely, my child,” said he mother, “the ascetic Gautama must have noticed him and countered my mantras.”
“But, mother,” replied Prakṛti, “do we not have mantras more powerful than those of the ascetic Gautama?”
“My child,” the mother replied, “we do not have mantras more powerful than those of the ascetic Gautama. Even mantras that are overpowering to the entire world, my child, are all vanquished by the ascetic Gautama when he wishes, but the world does not have the power to counter the mantras of the ascetic Gautama. In this way the mantras of the ascetic Gautama are more powerful.”
The venerable Ānanda then arrived at where the Blessed One was. Having approached him, he venerated the Blessed One’s feet with his head and stood to one side.
As the venerable Ānanda stood there, the Blessed One said to him, “Take up this six-syllable formula, Ānanda, and retain, recite, and master it for the benefit and welfare of yourself, and for the benefit and welfare of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. Ānanda, this six-syllable formula has been spoken by the six tathāgata, arhat, perfectly awakened ones of the past, as well as by the Four Great Kings, by Śakra, lord of the gods, and by Brahmā, lord of this Sahā world. And now it is spoken by me, Śākyamuni, the Perfectly Awakened One. You should therefore retain, recite, and master it. It is as follows: {M.5}
Aṇḍare paṇḍare keyūre ’dhihaste saragrīve bandhumati dhara viṣa cili mili sātinimne yathāsaṃbhakte golapati kaṇḍavilāya ||
“Ānanda, this six-syllable formula offers protection and blessing, such that if one is to be executed, one will be released with the strike of a rod; if one is to be struck with a rod, one will be released with the blow of a fist; and if one is to be struck with the fist, one will be released with a reprimand.”
“Ānanda, I do not see anything in this world with its gods, its Māra, and its Brahmā, among the multitudes with their ascetics and brahmins, with their groups of gods, humans, and asuras, that can overpower when one is protected by this six-syllable formula, when one is blessed with a protective thread tied around one’s arm—except for the maturation of past karma.” {M.6}
With the passing of that night, the outcaste girl Prakṛti washed herself, put on new clothes, and adorned herself with a pearl necklace. She then went to the city of Śrāvastī, where she stood by the city gate and waited for the venerable Ānanda to come, thinking, “The monk Ānanda will certainly be coming by this road.”
In the morning, the venerable Ānanda put on his robes, took his alms bowl, and entered the city of Śrāvastī for alms. The outcaste girl Prakṛti saw the venerable Ānanda coming from afar, and she followed him closely from behind, going wherever he went and stopping wherever he stopped, standing silently by the door at each house where he entered for alms.
The venerable Ānanda noticed the outcaste girl Prakṛti following him closely from behind. Embarrassed, intimidated, uneasy, and troubled, he quickly left the city of Śrāvastī and proceeded to Jetavana. When the venerable Ānanda reached the Blessed One, he venerated the Blessed One’s feet with his head and stood to one side. The venerable Ānanda then said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, this outcaste girl has been following me closely from behind, going wherever I go, stopping wherever I stop. At each house I enter for alms, she stands silently by the door. Help me, Blessed One. Help me, Well-Gone One.”
On hearing this, the Blessed One said to the venerable Ānanda, “Do not be afraid, do not be afraid.”
The Blessed One then asked the outcaste girl Prakṛti, “Prakṛti, is it that you wish to be married to the monk Ānanda?”
“Venerable Sir, it is my wish,” she replied.
The Blessed One said, {M.7} “Prakṛti, have your parents given you permission regarding the monk Ānanda?”
“They have given their permission, Blessed One. They have given their permission, Well-Gone One.”
“Then you must have them give their permission in my presence.”
In obeisance to the Blessed One, the outcaste girl Prakṛti venerated the Blessed One’s feet with her head, circumambulated him three times, and took her leave of him, setting off to her parents. When she reached her parents, she venerated their feet with her head, stood to one side, and said to her parents, “Mother, father, please grant me to Ānanda in the presence of the ascetic Gautama.”
At this, her parents went with the outcaste girl Prakṛti to where the Blessed One was. Having approached him, they venerated the Blessed One’s feet with their heads and sat down to one side. The outcaste girl Prakṛti then venerated the Blessed One’s feet with her head and stood to one side. She said to the Blessed One, “These, Blessed One, are my parents, who have come.”
Thereupon the Blessed One asked the parents of the outcaste girl Prakṛti, “Have you given your daughter Prakṛti permission regarding the monk Ānanda?”
“We have given our permission, Blessed One. We have given our permission, Well-Gone One.”
“Then you may return to your home.”
At this, the parents of the outcaste girl Prakṛti venerated the Blessed One’s feet with their heads, circumambulated him three times, and took their leave of him.
Once he knew that the parents of the outcaste girl Prakṛti had left, the Blessed One asked the outcaste girl Prakṛti, “Prakṛti, do you want to be with the monk Ānanda?”
“I want to be with him, Blessed One. I want to be with him, Well-Gone One.”
“If so, Prakṛti, then you should adopt the attire of the monk Ānanda.”
“I will adopt it, Blessed One. I will adopt it, Well-Gone One. Please allow me to go forth, Blessed One. Please allow me to go forth, Well-Gone One.” {M.8}
Then the Blessed One said to the outcaste girl Prakṛti, “Come, nun, live the spiritual life.”
When this was said, the outcaste girl Prakṛti had her hair shaven off and became clad in yellow ochre robes by the Blessed One.
When he had thus turned the outcaste girl Prakṛti into a nun and allowed her to go forth, the Blessed One instructed, encouraged, uplifted, and inspired her with a dharmic talk. It was a talk to be heard as a remedy for sentient beings who have been stuck in saṃsāra for a long time, that is, a talk about generosity, a talk about ethical conduct, a talk about the heavens, about the dangers associated with sense pleasures, about finding release, about the perils, about the mental afflictions, defilement, and purification, and about the factors pertaining to awakening—these were the things that the Blessed One fully explained to the nun Prakṛti.
Instructed, encouraged, uplifted, and inspired with a dharmic talk by the Blessed One, the nun Prakṛti had a mind that was elated, propitious, rejoicing, without hindrances, upright, and without rigidity, by which she became ready to understand the teaching of the Dharma. {M.9} When the Blessed One knew that the nun Prakṛti had a mind that was elated, propitious, rejoicing, without hindrances, and without rigidity, by which she was ready and able to understand the most elevated Dharma teaching, the Blessed One expounded in full to the nun Prakṛti that most elevated Dharma teaching of the blessed buddhas on penetrating the four truths of the noble ones, that is to say, suffering, its origin, cessation, and the way.
Then, while sitting there on her seat, the nun Prakṛti directly realized the four truths of the noble ones, that is, suffering, its origin, cessation, and the way. Just as when a spotless cloth fit for dyeing is put in liquid dye it completely absorbs the dye, the nun Prakṛti, while sitting there on her seat, directly realize the four truths of the noble ones, that is, suffering, its origin, cessation, and the way.
When the nun Prakṛti had thus seen the Dharma, attained the Dharma, realized the Dharma, become unshakable in the Dharma, understood the Dharma as conclusive, turned toward the attainment of the goal, surmounted all doubt, overcome all uncertainty, had no more queries, attained complete confidence, and become one who pursues the Dharma in the Teacher’s instruction, no longer relying on or being led by others, becoming thoroughbred in the teachings, she fell at the Blessed One’s feet and said to the Blessed One, “I have transgressed, Blessed One. I have transgressed, Well-Gone One. Like a fool, like an idiot, like a stupid person, like an unskillful person, I had bad judgment and acted on the wish to have the monk Ānanda as my husband. Venerable Sir, I thus see my transgression as a transgression. Seeing this transgression as a transgression, I confess this transgression. I admit that this transgression was a transgression. I am committed to restraint from transgression. Hence, may the Blessed One know of that transgression of mine as a transgression. May he be accepting of it out of compassion.”
The Blessed One said, “As you stand firmly in refraining from transgression, Prakṛti, you have understood your transgression as a transgression, saying that like a fool, like an idiot, like a stupid person, like an unskillful person, you had bad judgment and acted on the wish to have the monk Ānanda as your husband. {M.10} Since you know your transgression, see your transgression, and are committed to restraint from transgression, I shall be accepting of your transgression as a transgression. Being henceforth committed to restraint, you should expect a growth of wholesome qualities, not a loss.”
Having been commended and instructed by the Blessed One, the nun Prakṛti withdrew to a solitary place and vigilantly, ardently, mindfully, fully aware, and effortfully dwelled in seclusion. On account of having her hair shaven off, having donned the yellow ochre robes, and having gone forth with perfect faith from home to homelessness, the young lady directly knew, realized, and attained by herself, in this lifetime, the conclusion of the unsurpassable sublime life. She proclaimed, “Birth has come to an end for me, the sublime life has been lived, what was to be done has been done, and I know there is no more cyclic existence from here.”
Now, the brahmins and householders of Śrāvastī came to hear that an outcaste girl had gone forth under the Blessed One. Hearing of this, they condemned it, saying, “How could an outcaste girl live the perfect life of monks? How could she live the perfect life of nuns, devoted laymen, and devoted laywomen? How could an outcaste girl enter the communities of brahmins, kṣatriyas, householders, and landlords?” {M.11}
Moreover, King Prasenajit of Kauśala came to hear that an outcaste had gone forth under the Blessed One. Hearing of this, he also condemned it, saying, “How could an outcaste girl live the perfect life of monks? How could she live the perfect life of nuns, devoted laymen, and devoted laywomen? How could she enter the communities of brahmins, kṣatriyas, householders, and landlords?”
Reflecting on this, he had a fine carriage yoked. After mounting this fine carriage, he departed from Śrāvastī, accompanied by a large group of brahmins and householders from Śrāvastī. As he approached Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park, he went as far as the terrain allowed his carriage to go, and then dismounted from his carriage and entered Anāthapiṇḍada’s park by foot, accompanied by an army of foot soldiers. Having entered, he approached the Blessed One, venerated the Blessed One’s feet with his head, and sat to one side. The large group of brahmins and householders from Śrāvastī likewise venerated the Blessed One’s feet with their heads and sat down to one side. Some engaged in various kinds of pleasant and congenial conversation with the Blessed One and then sat down to one side. Some conveyed their maternal and paternal names and lines of descent in front of the Blessed One and then sat down to one side. Some bowed to the Blessed One with folded hands and then sat down to one side. And some sat down to one side silently.
The Blessed One knew what was on the minds of King Prasenajit of Kauśala and the large group of brahmins and householders from Śrāvastī. Thus, in order to tell the account of the nun Prakṛti’s past life, he called for the nun and addressed the monks, “Monks, do you wish to hear from the Tathāgata a Dharma story concerning the nun Prakṛti’s past life?”
The monks replied to the Blessed One, “It is an appropriate time, Blessed One. It is an appropriate moment, Well-Gone One, for the Blessed One to tell a Dharma story concerning the nun Prakṛti’s past life. {M.12} After hearing it from the Blessed One, we will retain it.”
“So then, monks, listen and pay attention well and carefully. I will speak.”
“Yes, excellent Blessed One,” the monks replied in obeisance to the Blessed One.
The Blessed One spoke as follows: “Previously, monks, in a past time, on the riverbank of the Ganges, in an area thick with forests of atimuktaka and sal trees, there lived an outcaste king named Triśaṅku, together with many thousands of outcastes. Monks, that outcaste king named Triśaṅku remembered the Vedas, having learned them in past lives, together with their auxiliary sciences and auxiliary sub-sciences, their secret teaching, their glossaries and ritual instructions, their divisions into syllables, and the fifth Veda of the epics, as well as other treatises. Proficient in words and grammar and fully versed in worldly science, sacrificial mantras, and the characteristics of a great man, without any doubts he gave expositions according to the Dharma and taught the Vedic observances as they were traditionally passed down.
“Moreover, that king Triśaṅku had a son, a young prince named Śārdūlakarṇa, who was endowed with all good qualities in bodily appearance, family lineage, ethical conduct, and virtue and was handsome, good looking, and pleasing to behold, having a supremely resplendent excellence of complexion. King Triśaṅku taught the prince Śārdūlakarṇa the Vedas as he had learned them in past lives, with their auxiliary sciences and auxiliary sub-sciences, their secret teaching, their glossaries and ritual instructions, their divisions into syllables, the fifth Veda of the epics, and other treatises, as well as expositions according to the Dharma and the Vedic observances.
“Then King Triśaṅku thought, ‘This son of mine, the prince Śārdūlakarṇa, is perfectly endowed in bodily appearance, family lineage, ethical conduct, and virtue. Being endowed with all good qualities, {M.13} he is handsome, good looking, and pleasing to behold, having a supremely resplendent excellence of complexion. Having practiced the observances and having learned the mantras, he has mastered the Vedas. This is the time when I should fulfill the duty of getting him married. So now where do I find for my son Śārdūlakarṇa a suitable wife who possesses ethical conduct, virtue, and beauty?
“Now, at that time, there was a brahmin named Puṣkarasārin who lived in the district town called Utkaṭa, which abounded in beings, which had grass, wood, and water, which continually yielded grains, and which had been given to him as a brahmic gift by the king Agnidatta. The brahmin Puṣkarasārin was completely pure by both his maternal and his paternal sides, having an undisturbed family lineage and being able to state the caste and line of descent of his foremothers and forefathers up to seven generations. On account of that, he was a teacher who, as a holder of the mantras, had mastered the three Vedas with their auxiliary sciences and sub-sciences, their secret teaching, their glossaries and ritual instructions, their divisions into syllables, and the fifth Veda of the epics, and he was proficient in words and grammar and fully versed in worldly science, sacrificial mantras, and the characteristics of a great man.
“The brahmin Puṣkarasārin had a daughter, a young maiden named Prakṛti, who was perfectly endowed in bodily appearance, family lineage, ethical conduct, and virtue. Being endowed with all good qualities, she was beautiful, good looking, and pleasing to behold, having a supremely resplendent excellence of complexion.
“Then the outcaste king Triśaṅku thought, ‘To the northeast there is a district town called Utkaṭa, where there lives a brahmin named Puṣkarasārin. He is perfectly endowed both by his maternal and his paternal sides {M.14} and is fully versed in the three Vedas and the scriptures. He enjoys ownership over the district town called Utkaṭa, which abounds in beings, which has grass, wood, and water, which continually yields grains, and which has been given to him as a brahmic gift by the king Agnidatta. That brahmin Puṣkarasārin has a daughter, a young maiden named Prakṛti, who is perfectly endowed in bodily appearance, family lineage, and ethical conduct, and who, endowed with all good qualities, is beautiful, good looking, and pleasing to behold, having a supremely resplendent excellence of complexion. Possessing ethical conduct and virtue, she should be a suitable wife for my son Śārdūlakarṇa.’
“King Triśaṅku thought about this matter all night, and when the night had passed, at daybreak he mounted his fully white, mare-drawn chariot and, accompanied by a large group of outcaste officials, left the outcaste palace and set off north for the district town of Utkaṭa. King Triśaṅku arrived at a park called Sumanaska to the northeast of Utkaṭa, which, being covered by various kinds of trees, with various kinds of trees blooming, and various kinds of birds singing, was delightful like the Nandana grove of the gods. There he stayed, waiting for the brahmin Puṣkarasārin, knowing, ‘The brahmin Puṣkarasārin will come to teach mantras to brahmin youths here.’
“After the passing of that night, the brahmin Puṣkarasārin had also mounted a fully white, mare-drawn chariot {M.15} and, accompanied by a group of students consisting of five hundred brahmin youths, set out from Utkaṭa to teach mantras to the young brahmins.
“The outcaste king Triśaṅku saw the brahmin Puṣkarasārin coming from afar, ablaze with radiance like a rising sun, like a flaring sacrificial fire, like an offering ritual accompanied by scores of brahmins, like Śakra accompanied by scores of gods, like the Himālaya range accompanied by its flora, like the ocean accompanied by jewels, like the moon accompanied by the constellations of stars, like Vaiśravaṇa accompanied by hosts of yakṣas, and like Brahmā accompanied by groups of gods and sages. Seeing him, he went to meet him in accordance with propriety and said, ‘Dear Puṣkarasārin, welcome! There is a matter I wish to discuss with you—please listen.’
“Thus addressed, the brahmin Puṣkarasārin said to the outcaste king Triśaṅku, ‘No, dear Triśaṅku, it is not appropriate for you to use “dear” with a brahmin.’
“ ‘Dear Puṣkarasārin, I can use “dear.” ’
“ ‘While it is appropriate for me to use it, it is not appropriate for you to do so.’
“ ‘But dear Puṣkarasārin, a man has four duties that have been undertaken since bygone times: those for the sake of oneself, those for the sake of someone else, those for the sake of one’s kin, {M.16} and those for the sake of all beings in totality. This is a very important matter that I wish to discuss with you—please listen. Please grant your daughter Prakṛti as wife for my son Śārdūlakarṇa. I will bestow on you whatever dowry you have in mind.’
“Hearing these words from the outcaste king Triśaṅku, the brahmin Puṣkarasārin was deeply offended, upset, furious, and not at all pleased. Full of anger, hostility, and resentment, he knit his brow into a three-pointed frown, gasped and panted while rolling his eyes, and, having become red like a mongoose, said to the outcaste king Triśaṅku, ‘Fie on you, you vulgar fellow! You outcaste! This is not appropriate speech for a dog-cooking one! You, who are lowly and born from an outcaste womb, wish to insult a brahmin versed in the Vedas! O evil-minded one:
“Hearing these words from the brahmin Puṣkarasārin, the outcaste king Triśaṅku replied:
The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa begins with the dramatic story of an outcaste girl named Prakṛti, who falls in love with the venerable Ānanda but is subsequently led by the Buddha to liberation and arhathood. In order to explain these events to the upper-caste community of Śrāvastī, the Buddha narrates the story of a learned outcaste king, Triśaṅku, who sought to marry his son, Śārdūlakarṇa, to the daughter of an eminent brahmin named Puṣkarasārin. In this story, the outcaste king advances various arguments against the notion of caste and displays at length his brahmanical—mostly astrological—learning from past lives. When the brahmin’s pride is finally overcome, he grants his daughter’s hand in marriage. At the end of his narration, the Buddha reveals that he was the outcaste king at that time, and that Prakṛti and Ānanda were the brahmin maiden and the outcaste prince, thus showing that caste designations have little meaning in the light of karma and merit across multiple lives.
This text was translated by the Bodhinidhi Translation Group. Thomas Cruijsen translated the text from Tibetan into English and compared it with the Sanskrit and Chinese versions. Khenpo Chowang checked a number of passages against the Tibetan.
The translator would like to thank Dr. Pema Tenzin, Central University of Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, in helping to solve a few problematic passages in both the Sanskrit and the Tibetan text. He would also like to express his gratitude to Ms. Saubhagya Pradhananga, Director of the National Archives, Kathmandu, for providing access to the collection of Sanskrit manuscripts microfilmed by the Nepal-German Manuscripts Preservation Project.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. David Higgins edited the translation and the introduction, and Laura Goetz copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
The translation of this text has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of Shin Nomura, Ozer Nomura Dong and Biao Dong.
The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa is one of the primary texts in the Kangyur treating the issue of caste. By the time of the Buddha, the notion of caste had already begun to impact Indian society, with members of the brahmin community propagating the belief that they were spiritually superior to others in a strict social hierarchy fixed by birth. On several occasions, as recorded in a number of discourses in the Pali Tipiṭaka, the Buddha repudiated this belief by teaching brahmins that one’s spiritual status is determined not by birth but by merit. As a kind of compendium, The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa contains several of the arguments given in these shorter discourses while adding some others, all placed in the narrative context of a past life story that serves to illustrate the workings of karma. Many of the key arguments advanced in this avadāna were later refined and given a more rigorous philosophical foundation by Buddhist thinkers such as Āryadeva, Vasubandhu, Candrakīrti, and Dharmakīrti, at a time when the caste system had become more societally entrenched across the subcontinent.
Framing the avadāna is the story of the outcaste girl Prakṛti and the venerable Ānanda, the Buddha’s cousin and close attendant, which begins with an encounter at a well outside the city of Śrāvastī. Ānanda, who wishes to drink some water after his alms round, finds Prakṛti drawing water at the well. As a bhikṣu who has left behind his societal status—in his case, as a Śākya, the kṣatriya upper caste—and is thereby no longer bound by caste, he is unconcerned about caste restrictions and the issue of purity, and so he simply asks Prakṛti for some water. At first Prakṛti hesitates, saying that she is an outcaste, implying that her water offering would “pollute” him, but Ānanda assures her that he has no interest in caste conventions. After he drinks the water and departs, Prakṛti is left deeply impressed by Ānanda’s appearance and demeanor, and she falls madly in love with him.
In her desire to win the venerable Ānanda as her husband, Prakṛti first turns to her mother, who is an expert in magic spells and sorcery, activities often associated in Indian society with lower-caste and outcaste people. Despite her mother’s misgivings, they perform a magical ritual that succeeds in entrancing Ānanda because, still to attain arhatship, he is not yet “free from desires.” Bewitched and confused, Ānanda finds himself in Prakṛti’s house when he suddenly comes to his senses and calls out to the Buddha. The Buddha immediately cancels the spell with a mantra of his own—an exceptional event, since there are very few sūtras in which the Buddha uses a mantra in this manner. Once Ānanda has returned to Jetavana, the Buddha then teaches him a short “six-syllable” protective mantra that can be used by anyone seeking release from any predicament, however dire.
Undeterred, Prakṛti, dressed in her finest attire, awaits the venerable Ānanda outside Śrāvastī, and follows him as he makes his alms round in the city. Distressed at her attempts to attract his attention, Ānanda quickly heads back to Jetavana for the Buddha’s help, while Prakṛti continues her pursuit. It is then that the Buddha comes to hear of Prakṛti’s fervent wish, and he begins to lead her onto the spiritual path. The Buddha gives his consent for their union and then ensures that it meets with the approval of Prakṛti’s parents. Once her parents have departed, he asks Prakṛti whether she is willing to take on nunhood to be with Ānanda. In her commitment to Ānanda, Prakṛti pleads for ordination, which the Buddha grants with the well-known phrase, “Come, nun, live the spiritual life” (Skt. ehi tvaṃ bhikṣuṇi cara brahmacaryam). The Buddha subsequently instructs her in the Dharma by what is known as a gradual talk (Skt. anupūrvikā kathā), starting with the basic virtues of generosity and ethical conduct and culminating in the understanding of the four truths of the noble ones. Finally, when Prakṛti recognizes that her infatuated behavior was mistaken, the Buddha hears her confession, thus clearing her last obstacle to arhatship, which she attains soon thereafter.
At this juncture, the avadāna shifts from a tale of love and liberation to one of caste discrimination. When the brahmins and other upper-caste people of Śrāvastī come to hear that an outcaste has become a nun and an arhat under the Buddha, they are outraged, and they foresee the circumstance that she will come on alms round in their neighborhoods, which is normally forbidden territory for outcastes. When they inform King Prasenajit, the ruler of the kingdom of Kauśala, at his palace in Śrāvastī, the king, though a devoted follower of the Buddha, shares their disapproval, and together they set out for Jetavana to ask the Buddha for an explanation. Greeted with varying degrees of respect by King Prasenajit’s retinue of brahmins and upper-caste people, the Buddha immediately understands the reason they have come. Thus, after summoning the nun Prakṛti and the assembly of monks, he begins to tell a past-life story that serves to remove the prejudice of the audience.
This long story, which forms the bulk of the text, concerns an outcaste king who wishes to marry his son to the daughter of an eminent brahmin. The outcaste king Triśaṅku is introduced as possessing all brahmanical learning, much of it remembered from previous lifetimes. Interestingly, his name is probably an allusion to Triśaṅku, the king of Ayodhyā, who was degraded to the rank of an outcaste by the Vedic sage Vasiṣṭha and later became connected to a constellation of stars—a story that is told in the Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, and the Purāṇas. The outcaste king’s son, Śārdūlakarṇa, is briefly described as being flawless in deportment, education, and appearance, but despite his prominence in the title of the avadāna, he does not actively figure in the narrative to follow.
The brahmin Puṣkarasārin is introduced as an eminent scholar fully accomplished in brahmanical learning, but only after noting that his pure status is secured by family lineage. One is here led to recall the eminent brahmin Pokkharasāti (the Pali version of the name Puṣkarasārin) in the Pali canon, who presided over the district town Utkaṭa at the time of the Buddha Śākyamuni. The brahmin Puṣkarasārin’s daughter, who, like Śārdūlakarṇa, is only briefly described and does not figure otherwise in the story, carries the name Prakṛti, making for an immediate association with the nun Prakṛti, whose past life the Buddha is narrating. The irony of an outcaste girl having been a brahmin maiden in a previous life would certainly not have been lost on this text’s audience.
The narrative begins with King Triśaṅku’s decision to request Puṣkarasārin for his daughter’s hand in marriage, upon which he proceeds to Utkaṭa and awaits the brahmin at the park where the latter regularly teaches. As Puṣkarasārin arrives with his brahmin students, Triśaṅku immediately puts the matter to him, approaching him with a form of address (bho, here translated as “dear”) that is normally used by brahmins among themselves, and often with an air of superiority toward those of lower status. Unaware of the king’s learnedness and past history, the brahmin angrily scolds him for his insolence in even daring such a proposal as an outcaste, and he exclaims, in accordance with caste belief, that matrimonial ties can only be forged within one’s own caste. King Triśaṅku, however, has come with conviction and seeks to counter Puṣkarasārin’s caste beliefs.
In order to show that caste is a mere “commonplace notion” (Skt. sāmānyasaṃjñā; Tib. shes tha mal) that has no basis in reality, the outcaste king poses two kinds of arguments to the brahmin. First, he argues that there is no biological distinction among human beings that would indicate different “species” (which in Sanskrit is referred to with the same word as “caste,” jāti): both brahmins and non-brahmins are born from a womb and share the same physical properties. This has direct parallels with arguments made by the Buddha in two discourses in the Pali canon, the Assalāyana Sutta (MN II 148) and the Vāseṭṭha Sutta (Sn 600–611). Triśaṅku next goes to great lengths to point out contradictions in the beliefs and practices that brahmins had formulated to reinforce caste ideas. Thus, after pointing out the brahmins’ hypocritical stance on ritual killing, he refers to the device by which brahmins who have been excommunicated from the brahmin caste due to committing one of four severe crimes can regain their brahmin status through penance. Based on this view, brahminhood is not an immutable fact of nature fixed by birth but rather a fragile social convention invented by humans to secure particular ends. In this vein, by showing that the qualities of virtuous conduct, learning, and wisdom may be equally present among members of the other castes, the text relentlessly criticizes the attempt to legitimize brahminhood as something inborn. These arguments, which assume extensive knowledge of brahmanical literature and law books such as the Manusmṛti, bear a close resemblance to those set forth in the Vajrasūcī, the piercing anti-caste treatise traditionally ascribed to Aśvaghoṣa, the famous Buddhist poet of brahmin background who flourished during the second century
One of the main targets of criticism in the discussion is the so-called creation myth that brahmins adduced to justify caste hierarchy. According to one of the hymns in the Ṛgveda (Puruṣa Sūkta, 10.90), the supreme being, identified as Brahmā, created the four main castes of human society out of different parts of his body: the brahmin caste from his face or mouth, the kṣatriya or “warrior” caste from his arms, the vaiśya or “merchant-farmer” caste from his thighs, and the śūdra or “servant” caste from his feet. After the brahmin Puṣkarasārin firmly proclaims this belief in reaction to King Triśaṅku’s egalitarian position, the outcaste king makes several arguments that turn the idea on its head. Provisionally adopting his rival’s position, he reasons along theistic lines that if everyone and everything derives from one divine being, then all are of the same nature and thus equal. Additionally, he compares the four castes created by Brahmā to four sons with different names belonging to one and the same father, or to a tree’s fruits that have their origin in the same seed. These arguments, too, are found in the above-mentioned Vajrasūcī. Having undermined the discriminatory purport of this “origin myth” of the four main castes, Triśaṅku proceeds to narrate an alternative, socio-historical account of how castes came into being, not by divine creation but through a gradual division of labor that developed in society over time. This account, with its etymological explanation of the castes (of which we have added the relevant Sanskrit terms in brackets), in fact draws on the socio-genealogical account found in the Aggañña Sutta (DN II 93–95) that is given by the Buddha himself.
Despite the force of the king’s reasoning that humankind is one, that people all belong to one human family, the brahmin remains unconvinced and continues to refuse the proposal for marriage. In response, Puṣkarasārin sets out to show off his brahmanical learning to Triśaṅku. He begins by asking the outcaste king whether he has any knowledge of the various brahmanical scriptures and sciences. Although Triśaṅku had already demonstrated some erudition in his arguments, at this point he openly declares that he possesses all the requisite knowledge and describes in detail how the different brahmanical traditions came into being. After hearing this, the brahmin falls silent in embarrassment, and the outcaste king continues to argue why social status is determined not by heredity but by personal merit. As examples, he points to several outcastes and non-brahmins who by their own efforts came to be respected as great sages, even by brahmins. This reference is also made in the Vajrasūcī but has its precedent in the Buddha’s statements in the Vasala Sutta (Sn 137–40).
As Puṣkarasārin comes to realize that the king may indeed possess knowledge that is normally considered the reserve of brahmins, he begins to question Triśaṅku about it. First, he asks the king about the brahmanical lineages in which he acquired this knowledge, and then inquires of his knowledge of the celebrated Sāvitrī mantra, more commonly known as the Gāyatrī mantra, whose recitation throughout history has been the hallmark of a brahmin. In addition to giving a short exposition on the origin of this mantra, Triśaṅku is also able to recite the Sāvitrī mantras specific to each of the other castes (which are not mentioned in any brahmanical sources).
What then follows, occupying the second half of the text, is a lengthy lecture on the various constellations in which the outcaste king demonstrates his extensive knowledge of brahmanical astrology. He discusses the various lunar asterisms and their effects, providing an array of information on the practice of astrological prediction and the interpretation of signs, in which brahmins had specialized since early times. Many of the details in this extensive presentation correspond to those in brahmanical astrological sources such as the Bṛhatsaṃhitā (sixth century
At the close of Triśaṅku’s erudite discourse on brahmanical science, the outcaste king makes a final revelation. Stating that he can remember his past lives, he discloses how he acquired his erudition in brahmanical learning: in past births he himself was in fact Brahmā, as well as those renowned sages of ancient times who founded the brahmanical traditions. It is only with this revelation, in which Triśaṅku himself exemplifies the true brahminhood that is attainable through karmic merit alone, that Puṣkarasārin is fully convinced of the king’s worthiness. After silencing the protests of his students, the brahmin reconfirms the egalitarian arguments the king had given earlier, and he concludes with an avowal of the law of karma:
- Since dark or bright actions
- Indeed come to bear fruit,
- One sees their karmic ripening
- Among the five states of rebirth.
At this point, the brahmin Puṣkarasārin joyfully grants his daughter Prakṛti’s hand in marriage to Śārdūlakarṇa. The marriage story ends with the outcaste king returning to his city as a renowned and revered leader who continues to rule his peaceful and prosperous kingdom according to the Dharma.
After telling this story, the Buddha proceeds to reveal its implications by identifying the true identity of its central characters. To an audience of brahmins and other upper-caste people, he reveals that at that time, he himself was the outcaste king Triśaṅku, while the brahmin Puṣkarasārin was Śāriputra, his close disciple renowned for his intelligence and learning, who, incidentally, is deemed by tradition to have been of brahmin origin. This disclosure affirms that it was the outcaste king’s virtuous words and deeds, his “good karma,” that led to his eventual attainment of buddhahood. The Buddha further reveals that the outcaste prince Śārdūlakarṇa was the venerable Ānanda, another of the Buddha’s foremost disciples, and that the brahmin maiden to whom he was wedded was in fact Prakṛti, the outcaste girl who had become an arhat nun. Thus, the point is reiterated that caste designations have no meaning in light of karma and merit.
The Buddha concludes with an admonition to his monks and the rest of the audience to strive diligently and mindfully on the basis of the four truths of the noble ones, the implication being that one may attain the same arhatship that the nun Prakṛti has achieved. At the end of this discourse, sixty monks become arhats, and many brahmins and upper-caste people come to clearly understand the Dharma, while the people of Śrāvastī and the rest of world rejoice in the Buddha’s teaching.
Turning now to the textual history of the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna, we can see that the story of the venerable Ānanda and the outcaste girl Prakṛti enjoyed considerable popularity within and beyond India over the centuries. There are some ten versions of this story preserved in different places in the Chinese Tripiṭaka. The earliest translation (Taishō 551) is attributed to the Parthian monk An Shigao, who lived in Central Asia during the second century
That the avadāna was reworked and supplemented over time can further be seen in the differences between the third-century Chinese translations and the Sanskrit text that is presently extant. Preserved in Nepalese Sanskrit manuscripts that postdate the Chinese translations by almost fifteen hundred years, the Sanskrit text now available to us is greatly expanded in the section in which King Triśaṅku expounds on Indian astrology, adding a large number of additional lectures on such prognostic practices. Moreover, besides these additions and some phrases that appear to have been inserted elsewhere in the avadāna, there are also some differences, compared to the Chinese translations, in the actual phrasing of the text. Although this might at first be attributed to the particularities of two vastly different languages—Sanskrit and Chinese—it more likely indicates that a rather different Sanskrit (or Prakrit) text existed in the third century
The Tibetan translation is much closer to the Sanskrit text preserved in Nepal, though it also lacks the added lectures. The text was translated in the eleventh century by the Tibetan monk Dro Sengkar Śākya Ö (’bro seng kar SAkya ’od) together with the Indian scholar-monk Ajitaśrībhadra. Belonging to the Dro family, Sengkar Śākya Ö had studied Sanskrit in Nepal and India and collaborated on a number of translations with Ajitaśrībhadra, mostly on works preserved in the Tengyur. In view of his sojourn in Kathmandu, it might be the case that for the translation of this avadāna he made use of a Sanskrit manuscript that was procured there, and his translation would therefore present us with the Sanskrit text as it was current in Nepal and India in the eleventh century, although we have to leave open the possibility that the extended Sanskrit version was also in existence at the time. Because the avadāna was translated into Tibetan at a relatively late date, it is not recorded in the Denkarma and Phangthangma inventories of Tibetan imperial translations. It is, however, included in the different Kangyurs from the fourteenth century onward.
For the English translation offered here we have followed this Tibetan canonical translation of the text. We have therefore omitted the supplementary section that is found only in the extended Sanskrit version, and we have also omitted certain phrases that seem to have been inserted at a later point. That said, we have very often deferred to the Sanskrit throughout the translation, especially in the section on astrology with its specific Sanskrit terms, since the Tibetan translation is not always clear or correct, and it sometimes appears to omit terms and phrases. While some of these cases are explained in the endnotes, we have not exhaustively recorded every instances in which the source texts differ. In the case of the mantras given in the text, we have relied on the Sanskrit to reconstruct the wording, while retaining the less extended form of the mantras as they occur in the Tibetan as well as in an older Nepalese Sanskrit manuscript, which we were able to consult at the National Archives in Kathmandu. In other instances, however, the Tibetan proved to be more reliable than the extant Sanskrit manuscripts, which contain numerous textual corruptions. In some cases we also consulted the Chinese translations to help establish correct readings. In this process of establishing an accurate base text, we benefitted greatly from the extensively annotated Sanskrit edition published in Shantiniketan in 1954 by the Bengali scholar Sujitkumar Mukhopadhyaya, who also provided many useful emendations and references in a subsequent study published in 1967. For the Tibetan text, we have based ourselves on the text of the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the variant readings of other Tshalpa Kangyurs given in the comparative Pedurma edition. Our choices in adopting variant readings from the Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese sources are mentioned and discussed in the endnotes.
We may briefly note in closing that The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa has continued to speak to the hearts and minds of people in modern times. As part of the Divyāvadāna, a popular anthology of Sanskrit avadānas, it was among the first Buddhist texts from Nepal that were studied and discussed by the nineteenth-century French scholar Eugène Burnouf in his influential Introduction à l’histoire du buddhisme indien, published in 1844. Through Burnouf’s summary and short translation, the story of Ānanda and Prakṛti came to the attention of the German composer Richard Wagner, inspiring him to outline an opera based on this tale of love and liberation. It was a century later, however, in 1938, that the Bengali poet and composer Rabindranath Tagore brought the story to the stage in a “dance drama” titled Chandalika (The untouchable girl), which is enjoyed by audiences in India and abroad down to the present day.
{M.1} Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling at Śrāvastī in Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park.
One morning, the venerable Ānanda put on his robes, took his alms bowl, and entered the city of Śrāvastī for alms. Afterward, having walked his alms round and having had his meal, the venerable Ānanda went to a well for some water.
At that moment there was an outcaste girl named Prakṛti drawing water at that well. The venerable Ānanda said to the outcaste girl Prakṛti, “Please give me some, sister. I would like to drink some water.”
The outcaste girl Prakṛti replied to the venerable Ānanda, “I am an outcaste girl, Venerable Ānanda.”
“Sister, I did not ask you for your family or caste,” said the venerable Ānanda. “Rather, if you can spare some water, please give me some.”
The outcaste girl then gave some water to the venerable Ānanda. After drinking the water, the venerable Ānanda set off.
Having closely and thoroughly taken in the features of the venerable Ānanda’s body, face, and voice, the outcaste girl Prakṛti became engrossed in shallow thoughts. Full of desire, she thought, {M.2} “I wish that the noble Ānanda were my husband. My mother, who is a great holder of spells, should be able to draw in the noble Ānanda and make him my husband.”
The outcaste girl Prakṛti then took the water jug and went to her outcaste home. Upon arrival, she set the water jug aside and said to her mother, “O mother, listen, there is an ascetic named Ānanda who is a disciple and the attendant of the great ascetic Gautama. I want to have him as my husband. Mother, you should be able to draw him in!”
“My child,” replied her mother, “I should be able to draw in Ānanda, unless he is dead or free from desires. But King Prasenajit of Kauśala is immensely devoted, loyal, and committed to the ascetic Gautama. If he came to know of this, he would bring the entire outcaste family to ruin. I have heard that the ascetic Gautama is free from desires, and one who is free from desire overcomes all.”
When this was said, the outcaste girl Prakṛti said to her mother, “Mother, even if the ascetic Gautama is free from desires, should you not obtain the venerable Ānanda from him, I will forsake my life! If you get him, I will live!”
“Do not forsake your life, my child. I will obtain the ascetic Ānanda,” her mother replied.
Thereupon, in the middle of the courtyard, the mother of the outcaste girl Prakṛti smeared cow dung on the floor and shaped it into a ritual platform. After having strewn it with darbha grass, she set it on fire, and she threw one hundred and eight arka flowers into the fire one by one while reciting mantras. This was the formula: {M.3}
Amale vimale kuṅkume sumane | yena baddho ’si vidyut | icchayā devo varṣati vidyotati garjati vismayaṃ mahārājasya samabhivardhayituṃ devebhyo manuṣyebhyo gandharvebhyaḥ | śikhigrahā devā viśikhigrahā devā ānandasyāgamanāya kramaṇāya juhomi svāhā ||
At that moment, the venerable Ānanda’s mind became entranced, and he left the monastery and walked to the home of the outcastes.
When the outcaste mother saw the venerable Ānanda coming from afar, she said to her daughter Prakṛti, “My child, that is the ascetic Ānanda who is coming. Go and prepare a bed.”
Thrilled, elated, and overjoyed, the outcaste girl Prakṛti set about preparing a bed for the venerable Ānanda.
When the venerable Ānanda had reached the outcaste house, he approached the ritual platform and stood by its side. He then cried out and wept, “I find myself in this dreadful predicament, and now the Blessed One does not take notice of me!”
At that very moment, however, the Blessed One took notice of the venerable Ānanda, and having taken notice of him, he immediately vanquished the mantras of the outcaste with the mantras of a perfectly awakened one. This was the formula:
Then, once the spell of the outcaste had been broken, the venerable Ānanda left the house of the outcastes and began to walk back to his monastery.
The outcaste girl Prakṛti saw this, and as she watched the venerable Ānanda going back, she said to her mother, “Mother, this ascetic Ānanda is going back!”
“Surely, my child,” said he mother, “the ascetic Gautama must have noticed him and countered my mantras.”
“But, mother,” replied Prakṛti, “do we not have mantras more powerful than those of the ascetic Gautama?”
“My child,” the mother replied, “we do not have mantras more powerful than those of the ascetic Gautama. Even mantras that are overpowering to the entire world, my child, are all vanquished by the ascetic Gautama when he wishes, but the world does not have the power to counter the mantras of the ascetic Gautama. In this way the mantras of the ascetic Gautama are more powerful.”
The venerable Ānanda then arrived at where the Blessed One was. Having approached him, he venerated the Blessed One’s feet with his head and stood to one side.
As the venerable Ānanda stood there, the Blessed One said to him, “Take up this six-syllable formula, Ānanda, and retain, recite, and master it for the benefit and welfare of yourself, and for the benefit and welfare of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. Ānanda, this six-syllable formula has been spoken by the six tathāgata, arhat, perfectly awakened ones of the past, as well as by the Four Great Kings, by Śakra, lord of the gods, and by Brahmā, lord of this Sahā world. And now it is spoken by me, Śākyamuni, the Perfectly Awakened One. You should therefore retain, recite, and master it. It is as follows: {M.5}
Aṇḍare paṇḍare keyūre ’dhihaste saragrīve bandhumati dhara viṣa cili mili sātinimne yathāsaṃbhakte golapati kaṇḍavilāya ||
“Ānanda, this six-syllable formula offers protection and blessing, such that if one is to be executed, one will be released with the strike of a rod; if one is to be struck with a rod, one will be released with the blow of a fist; and if one is to be struck with the fist, one will be released with a reprimand.”
“Ānanda, I do not see anything in this world with its gods, its Māra, and its Brahmā, among the multitudes with their ascetics and brahmins, with their groups of gods, humans, and asuras, that can overpower when one is protected by this six-syllable formula, when one is blessed with a protective thread tied around one’s arm—except for the maturation of past karma.” {M.6}
With the passing of that night, the outcaste girl Prakṛti washed herself, put on new clothes, and adorned herself with a pearl necklace. She then went to the city of Śrāvastī, where she stood by the city gate and waited for the venerable Ānanda to come, thinking, “The monk Ānanda will certainly be coming by this road.”
In the morning, the venerable Ānanda put on his robes, took his alms bowl, and entered the city of Śrāvastī for alms. The outcaste girl Prakṛti saw the venerable Ānanda coming from afar, and she followed him closely from behind, going wherever he went and stopping wherever he stopped, standing silently by the door at each house where he entered for alms.
The venerable Ānanda noticed the outcaste girl Prakṛti following him closely from behind. Embarrassed, intimidated, uneasy, and troubled, he quickly left the city of Śrāvastī and proceeded to Jetavana. When the venerable Ānanda reached the Blessed One, he venerated the Blessed One’s feet with his head and stood to one side. The venerable Ānanda then said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, this outcaste girl has been following me closely from behind, going wherever I go, stopping wherever I stop. At each house I enter for alms, she stands silently by the door. Help me, Blessed One. Help me, Well-Gone One.”
On hearing this, the Blessed One said to the venerable Ānanda, “Do not be afraid, do not be afraid.”
The Blessed One then asked the outcaste girl Prakṛti, “Prakṛti, is it that you wish to be married to the monk Ānanda?”
“Venerable Sir, it is my wish,” she replied.
The Blessed One said, {M.7} “Prakṛti, have your parents given you permission regarding the monk Ānanda?”
“They have given their permission, Blessed One. They have given their permission, Well-Gone One.”
“Then you must have them give their permission in my presence.”
In obeisance to the Blessed One, the outcaste girl Prakṛti venerated the Blessed One’s feet with her head, circumambulated him three times, and took her leave of him, setting off to her parents. When she reached her parents, she venerated their feet with her head, stood to one side, and said to her parents, “Mother, father, please grant me to Ānanda in the presence of the ascetic Gautama.”
At this, her parents went with the outcaste girl Prakṛti to where the Blessed One was. Having approached him, they venerated the Blessed One’s feet with their heads and sat down to one side. The outcaste girl Prakṛti then venerated the Blessed One’s feet with her head and stood to one side. She said to the Blessed One, “These, Blessed One, are my parents, who have come.”
Thereupon the Blessed One asked the parents of the outcaste girl Prakṛti, “Have you given your daughter Prakṛti permission regarding the monk Ānanda?”
“We have given our permission, Blessed One. We have given our permission, Well-Gone One.”
“Then you may return to your home.”
At this, the parents of the outcaste girl Prakṛti venerated the Blessed One’s feet with their heads, circumambulated him three times, and took their leave of him.
Once he knew that the parents of the outcaste girl Prakṛti had left, the Blessed One asked the outcaste girl Prakṛti, “Prakṛti, do you want to be with the monk Ānanda?”
“I want to be with him, Blessed One. I want to be with him, Well-Gone One.”
“If so, Prakṛti, then you should adopt the attire of the monk Ānanda.”
“I will adopt it, Blessed One. I will adopt it, Well-Gone One. Please allow me to go forth, Blessed One. Please allow me to go forth, Well-Gone One.” {M.8}
Then the Blessed One said to the outcaste girl Prakṛti, “Come, nun, live the spiritual life.”
When this was said, the outcaste girl Prakṛti had her hair shaven off and became clad in yellow ochre robes by the Blessed One.
When he had thus turned the outcaste girl Prakṛti into a nun and allowed her to go forth, the Blessed One instructed, encouraged, uplifted, and inspired her with a dharmic talk. It was a talk to be heard as a remedy for sentient beings who have been stuck in saṃsāra for a long time, that is, a talk about generosity, a talk about ethical conduct, a talk about the heavens, about the dangers associated with sense pleasures, about finding release, about the perils, about the mental afflictions, defilement, and purification, and about the factors pertaining to awakening—these were the things that the Blessed One fully explained to the nun Prakṛti.
Instructed, encouraged, uplifted, and inspired with a dharmic talk by the Blessed One, the nun Prakṛti had a mind that was elated, propitious, rejoicing, without hindrances, upright, and without rigidity, by which she became ready to understand the teaching of the Dharma. {M.9} When the Blessed One knew that the nun Prakṛti had a mind that was elated, propitious, rejoicing, without hindrances, and without rigidity, by which she was ready and able to understand the most elevated Dharma teaching, the Blessed One expounded in full to the nun Prakṛti that most elevated Dharma teaching of the blessed buddhas on penetrating the four truths of the noble ones, that is to say, suffering, its origin, cessation, and the way.
Then, while sitting there on her seat, the nun Prakṛti directly realized the four truths of the noble ones, that is, suffering, its origin, cessation, and the way. Just as when a spotless cloth fit for dyeing is put in liquid dye it completely absorbs the dye, the nun Prakṛti, while sitting there on her seat, directly realize the four truths of the noble ones, that is, suffering, its origin, cessation, and the way.
When the nun Prakṛti had thus seen the Dharma, attained the Dharma, realized the Dharma, become unshakable in the Dharma, understood the Dharma as conclusive, turned toward the attainment of the goal, surmounted all doubt, overcome all uncertainty, had no more queries, attained complete confidence, and become one who pursues the Dharma in the Teacher’s instruction, no longer relying on or being led by others, becoming thoroughbred in the teachings, she fell at the Blessed One’s feet and said to the Blessed One, “I have transgressed, Blessed One. I have transgressed, Well-Gone One. Like a fool, like an idiot, like a stupid person, like an unskillful person, I had bad judgment and acted on the wish to have the monk Ānanda as my husband. Venerable Sir, I thus see my transgression as a transgression. Seeing this transgression as a transgression, I confess this transgression. I admit that this transgression was a transgression. I am committed to restraint from transgression. Hence, may the Blessed One know of that transgression of mine as a transgression. May he be accepting of it out of compassion.”
The Blessed One said, “As you stand firmly in refraining from transgression, Prakṛti, you have understood your transgression as a transgression, saying that like a fool, like an idiot, like a stupid person, like an unskillful person, you had bad judgment and acted on the wish to have the monk Ānanda as your husband. {M.10} Since you know your transgression, see your transgression, and are committed to restraint from transgression, I shall be accepting of your transgression as a transgression. Being henceforth committed to restraint, you should expect a growth of wholesome qualities, not a loss.”
Having been commended and instructed by the Blessed One, the nun Prakṛti withdrew to a solitary place and vigilantly, ardently, mindfully, fully aware, and effortfully dwelled in seclusion. On account of having her hair shaven off, having donned the yellow ochre robes, and having gone forth with perfect faith from home to homelessness, the young lady directly knew, realized, and attained by herself, in this lifetime, the conclusion of the unsurpassable sublime life. She proclaimed, “Birth has come to an end for me, the sublime life has been lived, what was to be done has been done, and I know there is no more cyclic existence from here.”
Now, the brahmins and householders of Śrāvastī came to hear that an outcaste girl had gone forth under the Blessed One. Hearing of this, they condemned it, saying, “How could an outcaste girl live the perfect life of monks? How could she live the perfect life of nuns, devoted laymen, and devoted laywomen? How could an outcaste girl enter the communities of brahmins, kṣatriyas, householders, and landlords?” {M.11}
Moreover, King Prasenajit of Kauśala came to hear that an outcaste had gone forth under the Blessed One. Hearing of this, he also condemned it, saying, “How could an outcaste girl live the perfect life of monks? How could she live the perfect life of nuns, devoted laymen, and devoted laywomen? How could she enter the communities of brahmins, kṣatriyas, householders, and landlords?”
Reflecting on this, he had a fine carriage yoked. After mounting this fine carriage, he departed from Śrāvastī, accompanied by a large group of brahmins and householders from Śrāvastī. As he approached Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park, he went as far as the terrain allowed his carriage to go, and then dismounted from his carriage and entered Anāthapiṇḍada’s park by foot, accompanied by an army of foot soldiers. Having entered, he approached the Blessed One, venerated the Blessed One’s feet with his head, and sat to one side. The large group of brahmins and householders from Śrāvastī likewise venerated the Blessed One’s feet with their heads and sat down to one side. Some engaged in various kinds of pleasant and congenial conversation with the Blessed One and then sat down to one side. Some conveyed their maternal and paternal names and lines of descent in front of the Blessed One and then sat down to one side. Some bowed to the Blessed One with folded hands and then sat down to one side. And some sat down to one side silently.
The Blessed One knew what was on the minds of King Prasenajit of Kauśala and the large group of brahmins and householders from Śrāvastī. Thus, in order to tell the account of the nun Prakṛti’s past life, he called for the nun and addressed the monks, “Monks, do you wish to hear from the Tathāgata a Dharma story concerning the nun Prakṛti’s past life?”
The monks replied to the Blessed One, “It is an appropriate time, Blessed One. It is an appropriate moment, Well-Gone One, for the Blessed One to tell a Dharma story concerning the nun Prakṛti’s past life. {M.12} After hearing it from the Blessed One, we will retain it.”
“So then, monks, listen and pay attention well and carefully. I will speak.”
“Yes, excellent Blessed One,” the monks replied in obeisance to the Blessed One.
The Blessed One spoke as follows: “Previously, monks, in a past time, on the riverbank of the Ganges, in an area thick with forests of atimuktaka and sal trees, there lived an outcaste king named Triśaṅku, together with many thousands of outcastes. Monks, that outcaste king named Triśaṅku remembered the Vedas, having learned them in past lives, together with their auxiliary sciences and auxiliary sub-sciences, their secret teaching, their glossaries and ritual instructions, their divisions into syllables, and the fifth Veda of the epics, as well as other treatises. Proficient in words and grammar and fully versed in worldly science, sacrificial mantras, and the characteristics of a great man, without any doubts he gave expositions according to the Dharma and taught the Vedic observances as they were traditionally passed down.
“Moreover, that king Triśaṅku had a son, a young prince named Śārdūlakarṇa, who was endowed with all good qualities in bodily appearance, family lineage, ethical conduct, and virtue and was handsome, good looking, and pleasing to behold, having a supremely resplendent excellence of complexion. King Triśaṅku taught the prince Śārdūlakarṇa the Vedas as he had learned them in past lives, with their auxiliary sciences and auxiliary sub-sciences, their secret teaching, their glossaries and ritual instructions, their divisions into syllables, the fifth Veda of the epics, and other treatises, as well as expositions according to the Dharma and the Vedic observances.
“Then King Triśaṅku thought, ‘This son of mine, the prince Śārdūlakarṇa, is perfectly endowed in bodily appearance, family lineage, ethical conduct, and virtue. Being endowed with all good qualities, {M.13} he is handsome, good looking, and pleasing to behold, having a supremely resplendent excellence of complexion. Having practiced the observances and having learned the mantras, he has mastered the Vedas. This is the time when I should fulfill the duty of getting him married. So now where do I find for my son Śārdūlakarṇa a suitable wife who possesses ethical conduct, virtue, and beauty?
“Now, at that time, there was a brahmin named Puṣkarasārin who lived in the district town called Utkaṭa, which abounded in beings, which had grass, wood, and water, which continually yielded grains, and which had been given to him as a brahmic gift by the king Agnidatta. The brahmin Puṣkarasārin was completely pure by both his maternal and his paternal sides, having an undisturbed family lineage and being able to state the caste and line of descent of his foremothers and forefathers up to seven generations. On account of that, he was a teacher who, as a holder of the mantras, had mastered the three Vedas with their auxiliary sciences and sub-sciences, their secret teaching, their glossaries and ritual instructions, their divisions into syllables, and the fifth Veda of the epics, and he was proficient in words and grammar and fully versed in worldly science, sacrificial mantras, and the characteristics of a great man.
“The brahmin Puṣkarasārin had a daughter, a young maiden named Prakṛti, who was perfectly endowed in bodily appearance, family lineage, ethical conduct, and virtue. Being endowed with all good qualities, she was beautiful, good looking, and pleasing to behold, having a supremely resplendent excellence of complexion.
“Then the outcaste king Triśaṅku thought, ‘To the northeast there is a district town called Utkaṭa, where there lives a brahmin named Puṣkarasārin. He is perfectly endowed both by his maternal and his paternal sides {M.14} and is fully versed in the three Vedas and the scriptures. He enjoys ownership over the district town called Utkaṭa, which abounds in beings, which has grass, wood, and water, which continually yields grains, and which has been given to him as a brahmic gift by the king Agnidatta. That brahmin Puṣkarasārin has a daughter, a young maiden named Prakṛti, who is perfectly endowed in bodily appearance, family lineage, and ethical conduct, and who, endowed with all good qualities, is beautiful, good looking, and pleasing to behold, having a supremely resplendent excellence of complexion. Possessing ethical conduct and virtue, she should be a suitable wife for my son Śārdūlakarṇa.’
“King Triśaṅku thought about this matter all night, and when the night had passed, at daybreak he mounted his fully white, mare-drawn chariot and, accompanied by a large group of outcaste officials, left the outcaste palace and set off north for the district town of Utkaṭa. King Triśaṅku arrived at a park called Sumanaska to the northeast of Utkaṭa, which, being covered by various kinds of trees, with various kinds of trees blooming, and various kinds of birds singing, was delightful like the Nandana grove of the gods. There he stayed, waiting for the brahmin Puṣkarasārin, knowing, ‘The brahmin Puṣkarasārin will come to teach mantras to brahmin youths here.’
“After the passing of that night, the brahmin Puṣkarasārin had also mounted a fully white, mare-drawn chariot {M.15} and, accompanied by a group of students consisting of five hundred brahmin youths, set out from Utkaṭa to teach mantras to the young brahmins.
“The outcaste king Triśaṅku saw the brahmin Puṣkarasārin coming from afar, ablaze with radiance like a rising sun, like a flaring sacrificial fire, like an offering ritual accompanied by scores of brahmins, like Śakra accompanied by scores of gods, like the Himālaya range accompanied by its flora, like the ocean accompanied by jewels, like the moon accompanied by the constellations of stars, like Vaiśravaṇa accompanied by hosts of yakṣas, and like Brahmā accompanied by groups of gods and sages. Seeing him, he went to meet him in accordance with propriety and said, ‘Dear Puṣkarasārin, welcome! There is a matter I wish to discuss with you—please listen.’
“Thus addressed, the brahmin Puṣkarasārin said to the outcaste king Triśaṅku, ‘No, dear Triśaṅku, it is not appropriate for you to use “dear” with a brahmin.’
“ ‘Dear Puṣkarasārin, I can use “dear.” ’
“ ‘While it is appropriate for me to use it, it is not appropriate for you to do so.’
“ ‘But dear Puṣkarasārin, a man has four duties that have been undertaken since bygone times: those for the sake of oneself, those for the sake of someone else, those for the sake of one’s kin, {M.16} and those for the sake of all beings in totality. This is a very important matter that I wish to discuss with you—please listen. Please grant your daughter Prakṛti as wife for my son Śārdūlakarṇa. I will bestow on you whatever dowry you have in mind.’
“Hearing these words from the outcaste king Triśaṅku, the brahmin Puṣkarasārin was deeply offended, upset, furious, and not at all pleased. Full of anger, hostility, and resentment, he knit his brow into a three-pointed frown, gasped and panted while rolling his eyes, and, having become red like a mongoose, said to the outcaste king Triśaṅku, ‘Fie on you, you vulgar fellow! You outcaste! This is not appropriate speech for a dog-cooking one! You, who are lowly and born from an outcaste womb, wish to insult a brahmin versed in the Vedas! O evil-minded one:
“Hearing these words from the brahmin Puṣkarasārin, the outcaste king Triśaṅku replied: