A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.307

v2.c19.s3.t2.307

The moral of love for one's enemies is proclaimed in naive manner by the legend (No. 151) of the two kings who meet in a narrow pass. They are both equally just, equally old, equally famous, equally powerful—and the question is, who shall move aside to let the other pass. As the one not only returns good for good, but also good for evil, the precedence is granted to him. Another genuine product of Buddhism is the Khantivādi-Jātaka (No. 313), the Jātaka of the "patience preacher,” in which the Bodhisatta is whipped and mutilated by an enraged king, but he endures it all with patience, and forbears from any thoughts of revenge.¹ In many of these legends, which we might call “animal legends,” the Bodhisatta is a good and noble animal. Here we find legends like that of the self-sacrificing male gazelle, which is prepared to sacrifice its life for the sake of a pregnant gazelle, and then is able to persuade the deeply moved king, not only to spare the herd of gazelles, but to give up hunting altogether;² of the hare which throws itself into the fire in order to serve itself as meat to the guest (No. 316);³ of the monkey-chief, who makes himself into a bridge across the Ganges in order to save his retinue;⁴ of the monkey who rescues a man who has fallen into an abyss, and whom this man, lusting after the flesh of monkeys, wants to kill, on account of which bad deed he is attacked with severe leprosy (No. 516); or the legend of the elephant which directs the lost wanderer to the path out of the forest and presents him with its teeth, whereupon the man, in his avarice, also cuts out the roots of the elephant's teeth, and causes it dreadful pain, but is soon swallowed up by the earth and descends into hell (No. 72).¹ Animal legends like the latter two, make it appear very probable that the above-mentioned tales of grateful animals and ungrateful human beings are all of Buddhist origin.