Dhammapada 4.3.p24

4.3.p24

Athassa nagarato avidūre ṭhāne te yodhā puttehi saddhiṃ sīsaṃ chindiṃsu. Taṃ divasaṃ mallikāya pañcahi bhikkhusatehi saddhiṃ dve aggasāvakā nimantitā honti. Athassā pubbaṇhe eva ‘‘sāmikassa te saddhiṃ puttehi sīsaṃ chinna’’nti paṇṇaṃ āharitvā adaṃsu. Sā taṃ pavattiṃ ñatvā kassaci kiñci avatvā paṇṇaṃ ucchaṅge ṭhapetvā bhikkhusaṅghameva parivisi. Athassā paricārikāyo bhikkhūnaṃ bhattaṃ datvā sappicāṭiṃ āharantiyo therānaṃ purato sappicāṭiṃ bhindiṃsu. Dhammasenāpati ‘‘bhedanadhammaṃ bhinnaṃ, na cintitabba’’nti āha. Sā ucchaṅgato paṇṇaṃ nīharitvā ‘‘dvattiṃsāya puttehi saddhiṃ pitusīsaṃ chinnanti me imaṃ paṇṇaṃ āhariṃsu, ahaṃ idaṃ sutvāpi na cintemi, sappicāṭiyā bhinnāya kiṃ cintayissāmi, bhante’’ti āha. Dhammasenāpati ‘‘animittamanaññātaṃ, maccānaṃ idha jīvita’’ntiādīni (su. ni. 579) vatvā dhammaṃ desetvā uṭṭhāyāsanā vihāraṃ agamāsi. Sāpi dvattiṃsa suṇisāyo pakkosāpetvā, ‘‘tumhākaṃ sāmikā niraparādhā attano purimakammaphalaṃ labhiṃsu, tumhe mā socayittha, mā paridevittha, rañño upari manopadosaṃ mā karitthā’’ti ovadi.

That day Mallikā had invited the two Chief Disciples to her house, together with five hundred monks. And that very morning they brought and gave her a letter reading as follows, “Your husband’s head has been cut off and likewise the heads of your sons.” When she learned the news, she said not a word to anyone, but put the letter in a fold of her dress and ministered to the Congregation of Monks as if nothing had happened. Now it happened that while her servants were serving food to the monks, they brought in a jar of ghee and let the jar fall and break before the very eyes of the Elders. The Captain of the Faith said, “No notice should ever be taken of the breaking of anything that is capable of being broken.” Thereupon Mallikā, drawing the letter from the fold of her dress, said, “They have just brought me this letter: ‘The head of your husband has been cut off and the heads of your two and thirty sons likewise.’ Yet even when I heard this, I took no thought. Much less, therefore, am I likely to take thought of the breaking of a mere jar, Reverend Sir.”

The Captain of the Faith recited the Stanzas beginning, “Unmarked, unknown, is the life of mortals here,” and having taught the Law, rose from his seat and went to the monastery. Mallikā summoned her two and thirty daughters-in-law and admonished them as follows, “Your husbands were free from guilt and have merely reaped the fruit of misdeeds in previous states of existence. Grieve not, nor lament. Cherish no resentment against the king.” The king’s spies listened to her words and went and told the king that they cherished no hatred of him. The king was overcome with emotion, went to Mallikā’s residence, asked Mallikā and her daughters-in-law to forgive him, and granted Mallikā a boon. “I accept,” said she.