ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 6.2

6.2

and you will be restored to your former glory and fortune.”

When Yaśodharā received the message, she related it to Gopā, saying, “Gopā, Devadatta sent me quite a message.”

Gopā responded, “Let’s trick him into coming here. If we disgrace him and throw him out, he’ll know his place.” So they sent an envoy to Devadatta with the following response:

“Dear Devadatta,

Please come to the royal palace. When you get here we can talk about how to make you king.”

When Devadatta got their message he was very pleased. “Now that the women are excited,” he thought, “the kingdom is within my grasp!”

He traveled to the royal palace, but as he was preparing to sit on the Bodhisattva’s⁵¹ throne, the gods made it vanish. Gopā had taken a seat at the top of the staircase near the side door to the women’s quarters.

“Devadatta, why don’t you have a seat!” she called down. “Come into the women’s quarters where we can talk.”

When he heard this, Devadatta sat down in front of her and interlaced his fingers. Then Gopā took his folded hands into her own and squeezed them so tight that blood ran from his fingers, and Devadatta was helpless with pain as she wrung them out. Gopā led him up the stairs, kicked him in the head, and threw him from the top of the staircase.⁵² Some of the other women smeared cow dung all over his body. Others poured scalding oil on him.

Then, his body wounded and weak, he went to see Kokālika, Khaṇḍadravya, Kaṭamorakatiṣya, and Samudradatta. When they saw him, they joked, “Ah, Devadatta! It seems you’ve experienced the pleasures of the royal harem!”