A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t3.148

v2.c19.s6.t3.148

No. 54. At the suggestion of his wives, King Bimbisāra has caused a Stūpa to be erected in his harem over some hairs and nail-parings which the Buddha had given him. The women worshipped this with incense, lamps, flowers, etc. But when Ajātaśatru murdered his father Bimbisāra, and ascended the throne himself, he issued the strict command that no woman shall dare, on pain of death, to worship the Stūpa. Śrīmatī, however, one of the women of the harem, takes no notice of this command, and places a garland of lamps around the Stūpa. The enraged king kills her, she dies thinking of the Buddha, and is at once reborn in the heaven of the gods.