On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c5.35

c5.35

Another case occurs in the Asadisa Jātaka,³ according to which seven kings besieged the town of Benares and sent to Brahmadatta, its ruler, a letter (*paṇṇa*), asking him either to give up his kingdom or to fight. The future Buddha, who was then Prince Asadisa, king Brahmadatta's elder brother, came to the asistance of the latter. He cut (*achindi*) on an arrow the following letters (*akkharāni*): “I, Prince Asadisa, have come, and shall destroy with one arrow the lives of all [10] of you; let those fly who wish to live,” and, being unrivalled in the archer’s craft, he shot his arrow on the knob of the golden dinner-vessel of the besiegers. The latter, who where just sitting at dinner, read the letters and, of course, speedily raised the siege.