On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c15.18

v1.c15.18

The story of this terrible murderer is told more fully and with several variations of detail in other books. In some versions of the story the original name of the man was Ahimsaka or Innocent, in Chinese Wu-nao (無惱) or Inoffensive. He was at first a brahmin student of marvellous bodily and mental powers, and he was the disciple of a celebrated master. This master had a wife fair and frail, and Ahimsaka was falsely accused by her of having made an attack on her virtue. Fearing to lay violent hands on the troublesome clever disciple the jealous master thought to get rid of him by a terrible task. So he enjoined on Ahimsaka the necessity of attaining to immortality by abstinence from all food for a week, and within that period collecting 1000 fingers from as many human beings, whom he was to slay with a certain sword. The disciple very reluctantly undertook the task, and went about killing people and cutting off a finger from each person he killed, until he had obtained 999 fingers. At this stage his mother having come to him with food he was about to kill her, in order to complete his tale, when the Buddha appeared on the scene. The misguided youth soon yielded to Buddha's power, was converted and ordained, and rapidly attained arhatship.¹ In some of the Buddhist Scriptures Finger-garland is merely a cruel highwayman robbing and murdering, and rendering the roads impassable. The Buddha goes to the district infested by the murderer, and he goes unattended moved by great compassion: he meets with the murderer, calls on him to stay in his evil course and give way to his good karma.²