Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c7.108

c7.108

There was an old Brahman named Jūjaka, the name of whose wife was Amitta-tapa; one day she had gone to the well to fetch water, when the other women insulted and bullied her. To pacify her, Jajaka promised to do the household work himself in future; but she told him that the charitable Vessantara would give him a slave to wait upon her. Accordingly he proceeded to Vaṅgiriya, and asked for the two children, who, hearing the talk, were frightened and hid themselves in a neighbouring lotus pond. At last Jūjaka departed with the children. Madrī Dēvī alone remained; and Sakra thinking it would not be right for her also to be given, appeared as an aged Brahman, and asked for her as his slave. When he received her, he returned her to Vessantara, saying she was to be kept for him, and reminding the hermit that he could not again give away what was now no longer his own. But the trials were now at an end; the necessary gifts had been made, to ensure the future reception of the Buddhahood. Jūjaka took the children to the grandparents, and was so liberally treated by them that he died of over-eating! It was immediately decided to recall the prince, and so he returned to the kingdom. It is then explained who the characters became in a subsequent birth, Vessantara becoming Buddha, Madrī Dēvī becoming Yasōdharā, and so with the rest.