Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c6.3076

v1.c6.3076

An elephant, while walking in the forest, trod on a splinter of acacia wood left there by carpenters while felling forest trees for wood for buildings in Benares. In great pain he came to the carpenters and lay down before them. They removed the splinter and owing to their treatment the wound healed. The elephant, in gratitude, spent the rest of his life working for them, and, before his death, he enlisted his son, white in colour, magnificent and high-bred, in their service. One day a half-dry cake of the young one’s dung was carried into the river by the flood,¹ and, floating down, stuck near the bathing place of the king’s elephants in Benares. The royal elephants, scenting the noble animal, refused to enter the water and fled. Having discovered the reason for their behaviour, the king decided to obtain the animal for himself, and going up-stream in a raft, he saw the carpenters and the white elephant working for them. The merchants agreed to give him to the king, but the elephant refused to move till the carpenters were adequately compensated. The animal was taken in procession to the city and with his help the king became supreme ruler over India.