[Buddha-l] Dharmapala

[Artur Karp]

More on people-as-cattle --- in the Ceylonese "Great Chronicle".

Mahavamsa XXXVI, on the rule of Ilanaga (38-44 AD ?).

[Geiger] "As he had heard there the Kapi-jataka from the great thera,
the preacher of jatakas, named Mahäpaduma, who dwelt in the (vihara)
called Tuladhara, he, being won to faith in the Bodhisatta, restored
the Nagamahavihara and gave it the extension of a hundred unbent bows
in length, and he enlarged the thüpa even to what it has been (since
then); moreover, he made the Tissa-tank and the tank called Dura.

When the king had raised an army he marched to battle; when the
Lambakannas heard this they also prepared themselves for battle. Near
the gate of Kapallakkhanda on the field of Hankarapitthi was waged the
battle between the two (armies) that brought destruction to both.

Since their bodies were exhausted by the sea-journey, the king's men
yielded their ground, therefore the king proclaimed his name and
pressed forward. Terrified thereat the Lambakannas threw themselves
down upon their belly, and they hewed off their heads and heaped them
up high as the nave of the (king's) waggon-wheel, and when this had
come to pass three times the king, from pity, said: 'Slay them not,
but take them captive living.'

When then the king had come into the capital as victor in battle and
had raised the parasol (of sovereignty) he went to a festival at the
Tissa-tank.' And when he, fully arrayed in his ornaments and armour,
had withdrawn from the watersports and reflected on the good-fortune
that he had attained, and thought of the Lambakannas who had opposed
his progress, he was wroth and commanded that they be yoked two and
two behind one another to his car, and thus did he enter the city in
front of them. Halting on the threshold of the palace the king gave
the command: 'Here on this threshold, soldiers, strike off their
heads.' 'These are but oxen yoked to thy chariot, O lord of chariots;
therefore let their horns and hoofs be struck off,' thus admonished by
his mother the king recalled (the order) to behead them and commanded
that their nose and toes be cut off. "


30
Mahāpadumanāmassa tattha jātakabhāṇino
Tulādhāravhavāsissa mahātherassa santike
31
Kapijātakaṃ sutvāna bodhisatte pasādavā
Nāgamahāvihāraṃ so jiyāmuttadhanussataṃ
32
Katvā kāresi; thūpañca vaḍḍhāpesi yathāṭhitaṃ.
Tissavāpiñca kāresi, tathā dūravhavāpikaṃ.
33
So gahetvā balaṃ rājā yuddhāya abhinikkhami.
Taṃ sutvā lambakaṇṇā ca yuddhāya abhisaṃyutā
34
Kapallakkhaṇḍadvāramhi khette hiṅkārapiṭṭhike
Yuddhaṃ ubhinnaṃ vattittha añaññamaññaviheṭhanaṃ.
35
Nāvākilantadehattā posā sīdantī rājino;
Rājā nāmaṃ sāvayitvā sayaṃ pāvisi tena so.

36
Tena bhītā lambakaṇṇā sayiṃsu udarena; so
Tesaṃ sisāni chinditvā rathanābhisamaṃ karī.
37
Tikkhattumevantu kate karuṇāya mahīpati
"Amāretvā'va gaṇhātha jīvagāha"nti abruvī.
38
Tato vijitasaṅgāmo puraṃ āgamma bhūpati
Chattaṃ ussāpayitvāna tissavāpichaṇaṃ agā.
39
Jalakīḷāya uggantvā sumaṇḍitapasādhito
Attano sirisampattiṃ disvā tassantarāyike.
40
Lambakaṇṇe saritvāna kuddho so yojayī rathe;
Yugaparamparā tesaṃ purato pāvisī puraṃ.
41
Mahāvatthussa ummāre ṭhatvā rājāṇapesi so
"Imesaṃ sīhamummāre asmiṃ chindatha bho" iti,
42
"Goṇā ete rathe yuttā tava honti rathesabha;
Siṅgaṃ khurañca etesaṃ chedāpaya tato"iti,
Mātuyā atha saññatto sisacchedaṃ nivāriya
43
Nāsañca pādaṅguṭṭhañca tesaṃ rājā achedayi.


Goṇā ete rathe yuttā tava honti rathesabha - "These are but oxen yoked
to thy chariot, O lord of chariots".


This time the enemies are not foreigners, the Lambakannas -  rivals to
power, but co-Buddhists. And some time before the battle with them
(after which the king's warriors "hewed off their heads and heaped
them up high as the nave of the (king's) waggon-wheel") the king
listens to a sermon based on the Mahākapijātaka, and, under its
impression, he is "won to faith in the Bodhisatta"


Regards,


Artur K.