The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c14.32

c14.32

Further, morality does not seem, according to the Jâtakas, to be in a good way with the Brâhmaṇas. We read in the Sambhava Jâtaka (V. 57 sq.) how the purohita Suchîrata is sent by his king, the ruler of the Kuru land, Dhanañjayakorabya, to the Brâhmaṇa Vidhura in Benares to bring an answer to the question relating to the dhammayâga¹ which he cannot himself answer. He does not go from Indapatta straight to Benares but goes to Vidhura after first travelling all over India without being able to get any answer from any wise man. Vidhura cannot answer his question, as he is occupied with other thoughts and sends him to his son Bhadrakâra. "My love," the latter replies to the request of the purohita, "I am in these days occupied in seducing the wife of another, my mind is full of it, so that I cannot answer your question, but my younger brother Sañjaya possesses a better understanding than I; ask him, he will be able to answer your question. But he gets nothing better from Sañjaya, for he also is in love with the wife of another and swims the Gangâ every day to go to his beloved: “Evening and morning, when I swim across the river, death can swallow me: of this my mind is full.” He points to him his seven-year-old brother and it is he who first answers his question.