Dhammapada 4.3.p31

4.3.p31

So mahānāmasakkaṃ gāhāpetvā nivatto ‘‘pātarāsavelāya pātarāsaṃ karissāmī’’ti ekasmiṃ ṭhāne otaritvā bhojane upanīte ‘‘ekatova bhuñjissāmā’’ti ayyakaṃ pakkosāpesi. Khattiyā pana jīvitaṃ cajantāpi dāsiputtehi saddhiṃ na bhuñjanti. Tasmā mahānāmo ekaṃ saraṃ oloketvā ‘‘kiliṭṭhagattomhi, nhāyissāmi, tātā’’ti āha. ‘‘Sādhu, ayyaka, nhāyathā’’ti. So ‘‘ayaṃ maṃ ekato abhuñjantaṃ ghātessati, sayameva me mataṃ seyyo’’ti kese muñcitvā agge gaṇṭhiṃ katvā kesesu pādaṅguṭṭhake pavesetvā udake nimujji. Tassa guṇatejena nāgabhavanaṃ uṇhākāraṃ dassesi. Nāgarājā ‘‘kiṃ nu kho’’ti upadhārento taṃ ñatvā tassa santikaṃ āgantvā taṃ attano phaṇe nisīdāpetvā nāgabhavanaṃ pavesesi. So dvādassa vassāni tattheva vasi. Viṭaṭūbhopi ‘‘mayhaṃ ayyako idāni āgamissati, idāni āgamissatī’’ti āgamayamānova nisīdi. Tasmiṃ aticirāyante saraṃ vicināpetvā dīpālokena purisabbhantarānipi oloketvā adisvā ‘‘gato bhavissatī’’ti pakkāmi. So rattibhāge aciravatiṃ patvā khandhāvāraṃ nivāsesi. Ekacce antonadiyaṃ vālukāpuline nipajjiṃsu, ekacce bahithale, antonipannesupi pubbe akatapāpakammā atthi, bahinipannesupi pubbe katapāpakammā atthi, tesaṃ nipannaṭṭhānesu kipillikā uṭṭhahiṃsu. Te ‘‘mayhaṃ nipannaṭṭhāne kipillikā, mayhaṃ nipannaṭṭhāne kipillikā’’ti uṭṭhahitvā akatapāpakammā uttaritvā thale nipajjiṃsu, katapāpakammā otaritvā vālukāpuline nipajjiṃsu. Tasmiṃ khaṇe mahāmegho uṭṭhahitvā ghanavassaṃ vassi. Nadiyā ogho āgantvā viṭaṭūbhaṃ saddhiṃ parisāya samuddameva pāpesi. Sabbe tattha macchakacchapabhakkhā ahesuṃ.

Viḍūḍabha captured Mahānāma the Sākiya and set out to return. When it was time for breakfast, he stopped at a certain place and thought to himself, “I will now have breakfast.” When the food was brought to him, he said to himself, “I will eat with my grandfather,” and sent for him. Now members of the Warrior caste would rather give up their lives than eat with the sons of slave-women. Therefore Mahānāma, seeing a certain lake, said, “Dear grandson, my limbs are dirty. I wish to go and bathe.” “Very well, grandfather, go and bathe.” Mahānāma thought to himself, “If I refuse to eat with him, he will kill me. That being the case, it is better for me to die by my own hand.” So taking down his hair, he knotted it at the end, thrust his great toes into his hair, and plunged into the water.

By the power of his merit the abode of the Nāgas manifested signs of heat. The king of the Nāgas, considering within himself, “What does this mean?” went to him, caused him to sit within his hood, and carried him to the abode of the Nāgas. There he dwelt for twelve years. Viḍūḍabha sat down and thought, “Now my grandfather will come; now my grandfather will come.” Finally, after his grandfather had, as he thought, tarried an excessively long time, he caused the lake to be searched by lamplight, even examining the insides of his followers’ clothing. Seeing him nowhere, he made up his mind, “He must have gone,” and departed.

During the night Viḍūḍabha reached the river Aciravatī and pitched camp. Some of his followers lay down in the bed of the river on a bed of sand, others lay down on the banks on solid earth. Now those who lay in the bed of the river had not been guilty of sin in previous states of existence, but those who lay on the banks had been guilty of sin in previous states of existence. It so happened that ants came out of the ground where they lay. So they arose, saying, “There are ants where we are lying! There are ants where we are lying!” And those who had not been guilty of sin went up out of the bed of the river and lay down on solid earth, while those who had been guilty of sin descended and lay down on the bed of sand. At that moment a storm came up and there was an incessant downpour of rain. The flood filled the bed of the river and carried Viḍūḍabha and his retinue out to sea, and all of them became food for fishes and tortoises.