ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 18.11

18.11

and the thought came to him, “Here in my country there are no mangoes, so I’ll plant these mango pits in the garden.” He took those mango pits and planted them in his own garden, and before long the trees grew big, and there was a large grove with mature branches. Later, the trees blossomed and bore fruit, and King Pradyota charged some untouchables with protecting the mangoes so they would not be eaten by others.

One day the untouchables ate the mangoes themselves. They shouted, “Thieves! Thieves!” and claimed, “Thieves ate them.”

King Caṇḍapradyota was suspicious, and thought, “Perhaps the untouchables have eaten the mangoes themselves.” He sent his servants to search the untouchables’ dwellings. After they went there and saw remnants of the mangoes, the royal servants informed King Pradyota. Then, in a fit of anger, King Caṇḍapradyota corralled all the untouchable families back into their dwellings, heaped up dry grass all around the dwellings, and set fire to it, burning them to the ground.

One of the young untouchables from the village who felt embarrassed about the way the untouchables had acted had already gone south. After he left he took on the guise of a brahmin and trained in the science of invisibility. Having mastered it he later returned to the city of Ujjayinī, where, on the way to his house, he saw that the entire village had burned to the ground.

When he saw this he asked, “Who destroyed our village?” and was told, “It was King Caṇḍapradyota.”

“Where did my family go?” he asked.

“In a fit of anger, King Caṇḍapradyota surrounded their houses with heaps of dry grass,” they said, “and he and his servants burned them up in the fire.”