The Great - Hearted Monkey

In a forest glade, by the side of River Ganges, high on the mountains there lived about eighty thousand monkeys along with their giant monkey king. And by the side of the clear gushing water stood a tall shady tree bearing big beautiful juicy golden fruits commonly called mangoes.
All the monkeys just loved these mangoes and ate them off almost as soon as they had ripened. Which was a very good thing as their wise giant king had warned them not to let a single juicy fruit fall into the river. Because if the current carried even one of these fruits down the river to the land where the men lived, they would surely come in search of this delicious fruit and destroy the peace in the land of the monkeys.
It so happened that a branch of this tree hung low over the river and a mango that was hidden behind an ant's nest ripened and fell off without anyone's knowledge. It was taken down south by the rapid flow of the river and reached the city of Benaras.
One fine morning when King Brahmadutta of Benaras was bathing in the river between two nets, a couple of fishermen found a bright golden fruit caught in the mesh of the net. Very excited they took it to show the King. The King examined the fruit carefully and asked where it had come from and what it was called. The fishermen did not know much about it but guessed that it must have flowed down the river from the valleys of the far-flung Himalayas.
He then asked them to cut the mango and tasted a slice. It was simply delicious. He shared the rest of it with his ministers and Queen who loved its divine flavour. 
A few days passed, but the King could not get this exotic fruit out of his mind. He could not work; rest or sleep for want of some more. Finally he could bear it no longer and set sail in search of it. He organised a fleet of rafts and sailed up the river accompanied by his men and a few fishermen.
Many days and many nights went by and they passed many valleys until they finally came to the one where the mango tree stood. Mission accomplished, the King was delighted and began enjoying the mangoes to his heart's content. Finally, that night, the King lay down to sleep under the mango tree while his faithful soldiers stood guard. Fires were lit on either side for protection against wild animals.
In the middle of the night when the guards had dozed off to sleep, the monkeys came and finished off all the mangoes that were left on the tree. The King awoke with all the noise and ordered his guards to shoot at the monkeys so that they could feast on monkey flesh along with the mangoes.
On hearing this, the monkeys trembled with fear and escaped to inform their King. They told him what had happened and he promised to save them. But for that he had to come up with a plan.
So he climbed up the tree and swung across the river with the help of a branch. He found a bamboo shoot which he measured and cut carefully, and then tied one end of it around his waist. The other end he tied around a tree trunk. He had decided to leap back to the mango tree and help the rest of the monkeys across over the bridge that he had made with the help of the bamboo shoot. 
But alas... he had not taken into account the portion that he had tied around his waist. So when the monkey king sprang back into the mango grove he was just able to cling to a branch of the mango tree. He quickly summoned his monkeys to climb over his back and onto the reed in order to escape to the other side. In this way, eighty thousand monkeys climbed over his back one by one and made it to safety.
But unfortunately there was one evil monkey who hated his leader and wanted to destroy him. His name was Devadutta. This mean monkey purposely jumped hard over his poor king's back and broke it, while he himself escaped to the other bank.
 King Brahmadutta, who had been awake for awhile, had observed this whole episode. He felt extremely sorry for the monkey king and asked his men to help lower him to the ground. He then had him gently bathed and wrapped in a soft yellow cloth and asked him why he had sacrificed himself for his tribe. The great monkey answered that as he was their guide and chief, they were his children and it was his sacred duty to protect them. He had absolutely no regrets as he had ensured their safety. He also went on to say that the King should always be mindful of his subjects' welfare even at the cost of his own. Saying this the monkey king died at peace with himself.
King Brahmadutta had learnt a great deal that day. He ordered his men to organise a funeral fit for a King. He then built a shrine in the monkey king's memory where he offered flowers and lit candles and incense.
On returning to Benaras, he built another shrine there and asked his people to pay homage to this great soul. He always remembered the last words of the monkey king and ruled his subjects with wisdom and compassion. The people in his kingdom were eternally grateful to the great-hearted monkey.

Vanity

During the rule of Brahamadutt in Banaras , Bodhisattva was born as Guthila, an ace veena player. At the age of sixteen, he was recognised as an unrivalled master in veena . Soon he was appointed as the court musician by the king. Thanks to Guthila even the common folk of Banaras enjoyed music and learnt about it.
Once, a group of traders from Banaras left on a business trip to Ujjain.  While in Ujjain , they wanted to enjoy some music. They requested the merchants of Ujjain to arrange for the best veena player to perform. Moosil, the veena expert from Ujjain was called but his performance left the traders cold. 

Upset, he said, "I've been playing to the best of my ability, but you don't seem to enjoy my music. Doesn't my music appeal to you?" The traders looked at one another in surprise. "Have you been playing?" one exclaimed. "We thought you were only tuning the strings!"
Moosil felt humiliated. He said, "No doubt, you've listened to a greater veena exponent than me. I've failed to impress you. I'd like to know who that master is."You probably have heard of Guthila, the court musician of Banaras ? He produces breathtaking music", the traders said.
Having heard that, Moosil said, "I shall not rest until I'm recognised as a player equal to Guthila. You need not pay me anything for my performance." Determined, he left for Banaras to meet Guthila and train under him. "Sir, my name is Moosil and I am from Ujjain . I've come to learn veena from you. I'll be your pupil till you make me as good a player as yourself."
Guthila agreed to teach him. Moosil stayed with Guthila, learnt his lessons at home and accompanied him to the court. Several years went by. One day, Guthila told Moosil, "My son, I've taught you all I know about veena. Now you can go back to your city."

False Charge

Long ago, in a village called Magadha, lived a man called Magha. While he was a true humanitarian, most of the people in the little village were given to sinful ways of living. In the evening, the village folk gathered under a banyan tree to discuss the events of the day. You would find people huddled in groups, discussing, gossiping and often it was about how they tipped the village officer to get off. Thefts, murders, etc were the norm in the village. Everyone indulged in them and easily got off  by bribing the officer.

They were not just given to misdeeds but the area where they discussed their misdeeds was unkept and given to liberal littering. Magha decided to clear a part of the meeting ground for himself. As soon as he was done, he saw a group had moved to the area he had cleared. He cleared another area and that too was taken soon. He soon cleared the whole meeting ground and put up an awning so that the villagers could sit in shade. The villagers were touched by Magha's kind act.

The villagers looked up to Magha and under his leadership, they took up various village improvement projects. A building was built for meetings, there was clean drinking water at the meeting ground, and slowly the village became a better place to live. Not just that, the villagers left their sinful ways, imbibed virtues from Magha and engaged themselves in fruitful labour.
They leveled the highways, built causeways, filled up the pits, dug tanks, and did everything so that life in the village would be smoother. Everyone was happy except one, the village officer. Why? Since the villagers were busy in labour and had left their sinful ways, his source of income had gone down. This couldn't go on, he had to do something.

All night he stayed awake wondering what to do. And then he thought of a brilliant plan. He met the king the next day and said, "Your majesty, I'd like to bring to your notice that Magha is spreading anarchy in our village. He has gathered the villagers and is inciting them to commit acts of terror. The villagers haunt the highways with picks, axes and crowbars, and cause menace to the people, everyday. We have to put an end to this.

Introspection

Today's Delhi was once called Indraprastha. Indraprastha had a king called Dhananjaya, who was Bodhisattva reborn. Dhananjaya's justice and compassion were widely known. He ruled firmly and wisely, and the people were happy. Nature too helped him; there were no floods or famines during his rule.  
The neighbouring kingdom had a king called Kalinga, whose capital was Dantapur.   He too, was a good ruler; unfortunately, there was famine in that kingdom due to drought, and hunger stalked the land. Many children died in the arms of their mothers. The entire populace was distressed and unhappy. This state of affairs upset King Kalinga so much that he called his ministers and asked them, "What can be the reason for the failure of rains in our land this year? What should we do to get out of the grip of this famine?"
"O King", one said, "When we stay away from the path of righteousness, such calamities occur. For instance, King Dhananjaya of Indraprastha never deviates from the path of virtue.  Hence no calamity has visits his kingdom. It rains there thrice a month, and the people are happy and content".
"Then you must go and meet King Dhananjaya to find out the secret of good governance for the benefit of the people of our land, get him to write down the virtues he has  adopted on leaves of gold, and bring them to me. I, too, shall adopt them and save the country!"
The ministers of Kalinga took leaves of gold and went to Indraprastha where they met King Dhananjaya.
 "O great King! We come from Kalinga where people are dying due to a terrible famine. They are distressed and unhappy, whereas in your kingdom, the people are always happy and content. Is it because you're the incarnation of virtue and righteousness?  Would you be kind enough to write down on these leaves of gold the rules of righteous administration? We shall take them back to our King who hopes to practice the same laws of governance and save our country".

The Dwarf

 
When Brahmadutta was King of Benaras, Bodhisattva was born as the son of a Brahmin. As he was short statured, he was called 'Dwarf''. At an early age, he went to Takshasila and studied archery and attained mastery in that science. On completing his education, Dwarf set out to earn a living as an archer. He travelled to many lands, met many kings, and offered to serve under them. But, seeing his short stature, no one took him seriously, and Dwarf remained unemployed. He wondered how he would use his talent to make a living.

One day, while he was passing through the weaver's street of a certain village, he saw a muscular man sitting at his loom and weaving. Dwarf approached the weaver and asked him, "Friend, may I know your name?" Bhim, the weaver replied. The name suited him. "You're so tall and well built, the name suits you," Dwarf remarked. "You shouldn't be wasting your time weaving, do something better!" But what do I do? "This is the only thing I know," he said. "Come with me," Dwarf said, and I will show you a decent way of living.

Bhim was glad to go with Dwarf, he hated weaving anyway and had always wanted to see the world and show off his muscular body. They travelled to Benaras. "Go to King Brahmadutta, tell him that you're an expert archer, and offer your services to him. The king will notice how tall and well-built you are, and will give you employment," said the Dwarf. "But I don't know any archery!" Bhim protested. "That does not matter. I'm an expert archer.  Make me your aide. I'll help you whenever you require me," Dwarf said. So Bhim went to the King of Benaras, told him that he was an expert archer was and he gained employment as the king's archer on a salary of a thousand rupees a fortnight. Dwarf got employed as an aide to Bhim. Both began to live comfortably on Bhim's earnings.

Discipline

 While Brahmadutta ruled Banaras, Bodhisattva was born as a Master Sculptor at Takshasila. Princes from far-off countries went to him to learn the art of sculpting from him.

The king received several reports of the Master and decided to send his own son to study the art under him. None of the ministers and other courtiers liked this idea. The prince was hardly sixteen.  How could he live alone at far-off Takshasila, serve the Master, and learn art? "O King," they said, "don't we have enough sculptors in our own kingdom? Why should the prince undergo an ordeal?"

But the king did not agree with them. In the kingdom, the boy was a prince and as such he would never learn anything properly. At Takshasila he would be an ordinary person; he would serve his teacher and learn things under discipline. 
The prince was given only a pair of thin slippers and an umbrella. He was asked to carry a bag of one thousand silver pieces. "Walk all the way to Takshasila," the king told his son, "pay the Master the thousand pieces of silver, obey him and learn the art from him, and come back after your education is complete."

The prince had a hard time carrying the bag, walking the long distance, resting under trees, sleeping on hard ground, eating whatever he could get, and having no one to look after him.  He finally reached Takshasila and went to the Master, told him the purpose of his coming, handed him the money, and joined as a pupil.  The boy was very sharp and quick in learning, and the Master was satisfied.

The Master and his pupil used to go to the river every morning for a bath. One day, as they were having their bath, an old woman came there with a basket of groundnuts. She washed them and spread them on a cloth. The prince saw this, finished his bath in a hurry and came out of the river. When he thought the old woman was not looking, he grabbed a handful of nuts and put them into his mouth. The old woman noticed everything but said nothing.

The next day the same thing happened. The old woman ignored it again. But, when the boy repeated the offence on the third day also, she got very angry. "Good sir," she told the Master, "your pupil has been stealing my groundnuts every day. I do not mind the loss much. But this boy is a thief and a real blot on your great reputation. Punish him so that he will stop thieving in future."

On reaching home, the Master ordered his other pupils to hold the prince by his hands and gave him three strokes on his back with a cane.  "I punished you," he told the prince, "because you did something bad. Don't you ever do it again!"

The prince was in a terrible rage, but he could do nothing. Though he was a prince in Banaras, he was a common man here. Also, the Master had the right to punish his pupils. 

Insatiety

 Brahmadutt, the King of Benaras, had two sons. When his time drew near, he decided to make his elder son king and appoint the younger one the commander-in-chief. But, on the eve of his coronation, the elder prince said, "I don't want the throne. Let my brother be king, instead."

In a spirit of renunciation the elder prince left Benaras. He went to a tributary state and engaged himself in the service of a rich man.  In course of time, some officers arrived in this kingdom from Benaras to inspect certain lands and fix the taxes. They went to the rich man's house to pay homage to the prince from Benares. The rich man took this opportunity to request the prince to recommend him to the King of Benaras, for reduction of taxes. The prince sent word to his brother and the rich man's taxes were reduced.

When they came to know of this, several others appealed to the prince to recommend reduction of their taxes, too. The prince forwarded all requests to his brother, who promptly granted Soon, everyone in the state began to look upon the prince as their real ruler. They paid all their taxes and addressed their petitions only to him. The prince, too, began to enjoy the status of royalty thrust upon him. He now began to crave for the throne which he had given up. 

He started living in one tributary state after another and deal with them himself. However, he kept informing his brother about what he was doing. The King of Benaras never raised a single objection to what his brother did. 

All the tributary states were now directly under the elder prince's rule. He gathered some messengers and sent them to the king. They told him: "Your brother wants to know whether you will return the throne to him or prefer to face him in a battle!"

The King of Benaras sent back his reply: "You need not fight for the throne which was yours.  You can take it back at your pleasure."
Soon, the elder brother returned to Benaras and became king. The ex-king became his commander-in-chief.

Once whetted, the thirst for power is not easily satiated. The new King of Benaras wanted his younger brother to go and conquer other kingdoms. More and more states were thus annexed to Benaras, but the king's thirst for power did not abate.

An Oasis Of Hope

Once when King Brahmananda was ruling Benares, the Bodhisattva was born in a Vaisya family of traders. When he grew up, he began looking after the family business. He used to take his merchandise in as many as five hundred carts. They travelled in a convoy. 

It so happened that once they were crossing a desert. The smooth white sand was spread over a stretch of sixty miles. The area would be cool at night when they travelled and halted soon after dawn when the sun would be up in the sky and it would be too hot both for men and cattle to travel. Just as in the vast ocean the ships took direction from the stars, in desert too travellers would be guided by the stars.
In the daytime, the carts were parked in a circle and the cartmen raised a tent in the middle and rested. They carried water to drink and cook and rice, oil land all ingredients for their food. 

The food used to be prepared and eaten before noon, so that the men could rest for a long while till the sun set.

The bodhisattva and his convoy thus travelled and traversed the desert till there was only a distance of a couple of miles left to reach the city. Before they started the journey, the men driving the carts poured all the water that was left with them and threw away the leftover firewood, so that the carts would be light and the bullocks would run swiftly.

The cartman at the head of the convoy would be alert and shout the directions so that the men in the carts behind him would not lose their way. He went to sleep hoping that they would reach the city before dawn.

As there were no directions coming from the leader, the drivers of the vehicles behind merely followed the cart in front. When the first light of dawn fell on the carts, the cartmen realized that they were nowhere near the city and they were still in the middle of the desert. They now decided to go back to the place where they had rested the previous day. Unfortunately, there was no water available in that place.

The Royal Baby Protected By An Elephant

While Brahmadutta ruled Benaras, there was a village of carpenters. They went in small boats to a forest, where they cut down trees, got the timber they wanted, and brought it away in their boats.

This forest was the home of a cow elephant. One day a large piece of wood got into its foot. The elephant began to suffer from intolerable pain. Wandering in the forest restlessly, she heard the carpenters cutting down trees, sawing the wood and so forth. She limped to where the carpenters were at work. They saw the elephant was suffering.

They stopped all work and attended on the elephant that lay down before them. They deftly pulled out the piece of wood from her foot, and bandaged her leg. The elephant got well soon. She began to help them in various ways. She would pull the trees that were felled, roll the logs to the water’s edge, and load the planks into the boats. The friendship between the carpenters and the grateful elephant grew.

In course of time, the elephant gave  birth toa white elephant. When  the mother-elephant became too old to be of much help, she left her  baby to the care of the carpenters and went away.

Now it was the turn of the white elephant to serve the carpenters. He helped them in their work, gave rides to the children on his back, bathed them in the river and looked after them. The carpenters loved him like a child.

King Brahmadutt came to know about the strange white elephant that lived in the forests of his kingdom. He wanted to possess it. Followed by a long retinue, he went to the forest where the carpenters obtained their timber. They saw the king."Your majesty," they said,"if you had sent word to us, we would have brought to you all the timber you wanted."

A Misunderstanding

While Brahmadutta ruled Benares, Bodhisattva was born as the king of Kosala. He had a son, Satyasena. The king announced that he would be the heir-apparentas soon as he attained maturity. The beautiful Sambula Devi was married to him. She became the Yuvarani.

Unfortunately, Satyasena, suffered from leprosy. A host of efficient physicians tried to cure the hideous disease, but with no success. The Yuvaraja regretted his condition, since itwould be impossible for him to mix with people. With his father's consent, he shifted to a faraway forest. The Yuvarani also moved with him,t hough her husband tried to prevent her from accompanying him. He selected a beautiful spot which had plenty of water and shady foliage. He built a hut there and lived with the Yuvarani.

Sambula Devi used to wake up by dawn and dutifully attend on her husband. After breakfast, she would set out for the forest to dig for roots for their food. Day and night, and all the year round, she was punctual in attending on the unfortunate Yuvaraja.

One day, while searching for fruit, she setout along a new path. She reached a beautiful valley. There gleamed a lake. She felt an urge to take a bath. By the time she came out of the cool waters, she had acquired a new brilliance.

On her way back, suddenly, a demon chanced to meet her. Her beauty and radiance charmed him, and he proposed marriage to her. He pressed her to follow him to his hamlet and live with him as his wife.

It was an ugly situation, and Sambula Devi was helpless. She threw at him a handful of wate rfrom her pitcher, contemptuously cursing, "You shall perish, you dirty wretch." Miraculously, the demon fell down dead, as though struck by athunderbolt!

When Sambula Devi returned to her hut with the fruit and the pitcher, it was very dark because of the unhappy incident. Her husband  enquired about the delay. Sambula Devi explained her adventure. Satyasena coldly retorted, "Unfortunately, I am unable to check what you say. Women can spin fine yarns!"

The Aggressor

While Brahmadutt ruled Banaras, Bodhisattva was born as his son. Brahmadutt namedhis son Shilava.

When the time came, Shilava became theKing of Banaras. He ruled the people justly and made them happy. When anyone committed crimes because of poverty, dire need orignorance, the king did not punish them. Hecalled them to him, gave them the money theyneeded, and advised them how to lead a correct life.

Due to this, crime did not flourish and thepeople began to love their king.

The kingdom of Kosala was across theborder. The minister of Kosala thought thatShilava was a weak king. He told his king, "Yourmajesty, the King of Banaras is afraid ofpunishing even bandits. It should be easy for usto conquer him.

"The King of Kosala wanted to test the strengthof Shilava. He ordered some of his soldiers tocross the border and loot some of the villages of Banaras.

The villagers promptly caught them and tookthem to King Shilava.

"Friends," said Shilava, "you look likestrangers. What made you attack our villagers?"

"O King," the soldiers replied, "we wereprompted by hunger.""You could have come to me and got enoughfood," said Shilava. He got money from histreasury, distributed it among the soldiers of Kosala, and sent them away.

When the King of Kosala learnt what hadhappened, he was convinced that Shilava was aweakling.

Still he wanted some more confirmation. So,he sent a bigger contingent of soldiers to destroya few towns in the kingdom.

But the people of Banaras were very alert.They caught the soldiers again and presentedthem before the king. Shilava once again gavethem money and sent them away.

The King of Kosala was now quite convincedthat he could easily conquer Banaras. Hemarched his armies on Banaras.

The Sinner

During the rule of Brahmadutta in Benaras, there lived in that city a very rich merchant who had a son called Mitravindaka. He was wicked and a nonbeliever.



After his father's death, his mother tried to persuade him to distribute alms, practise virtue and follow Dharma. The boy turned a deaf ear to his mother and refused to change his way of life. On a full-moon day, the mother told Mitravindaka, "Son, it is a holy day. There'll be a discourse all through the night. Take the vows, go to the cloister and listen to the lecture. When you come back, I will give you a thousand coins".


For the sake of money, Mitravindaka consented. He went to the cloister, but instead of listening to the discourse, he lay down in a corner and slept. In the morning, he went home.


The mother, who was expecting her son to return along with the elder who gave the lecture, prepared food and awaited them. She was disappointed to see her son coming alone.


 "Why didn't you bring the preacher with you?" she asked.


"No preacher for me, mother", replied Mitravindaka. He ate his food, took the thousand coins from his mother and went about his business. Soon he gained in trade two million coins. He speculated, "With this money, I shall buy a ship and carry on trade across the seas and make more money!"



He bought a ship, loaded it with cargo, and went to his mother to tell her that he was going to the seas. "You're my only son," she said. "You've so much money. Why do you want more?"



Mitravindaka, however, insisted on going. The mother entreated him to stay. But he was soon on his way.



The ship sailed for seven days without any hitch. However, on the eighth day in mid-ocean, it became immovable. A lot was taken to find out who on board was the cause of the mishap. Mitravindaka's name appeared. The lot was taken three times, and all three times his name appeared.



"Let's not perish for the sake of one", the sailors told Mitravindaka. "You're the cause of trouble. So, leave the ship!"



They gave him a raft and cast him adrift on the sea. Then the ship moved forward and was gone.
The raft took Mitravindaka to an island. There he found a crystal palace in which four female spirits of the dead lived. The female spirits would spend seven days happily and the next seven days in sorrow.

A Wise Merchant

 When Brahmadatta was ruling Kasi, Bodhisattva was born in a trading community. Right from his early days, Bodhisattva was keen to learn the nuances of business. He mastered all business tactics from his father and when he grew up as an adult, he engaged himself actively in business. With his business acumen, he could formulate clever strategies to boost and expand his trade. Soon, he became a highly successful and prosperous businessman. By the time his business was at its peak, he had engaged nearly five hundred bullock-carts to transport merchandise from far east to far west and carried out trade in many towns and villages en route.

There was another merchant in Kasi called Mandmathi, who was closely observing the progress of Bodhisattva. Mandmathi thought he could also improve his business and make huge profit by accompanying Bodhisattva during his business trip. When he expressed his desire to Bodhisattva, he agreed. However, Bodhisattva advised him: "Look! I've no objection to take you along with me. But, both of us cannot travel together with our caravan, since the highway is narrow. Let one of us proceed first and the other follow leaving a gap of time in between. You may choose whether you would go in front or follow me!"

Mandmathi thought over it for sometime. 'I stand to gain by leading him. If I proceed first, I shall have an uninterrupted journey. My bullocks will get plenty of grass. I shall get the choicest food on the way on first come first served basis. Further, I can manage to sell most of my merchandise since I shall be approaching the buyers first.'

Bodhisattva was, however, thinking on an entirely different line. 'It's better to follow this guy. The man who leads will have to take the trouble of locating the places for drinking water, food and also prospective buyers. The man who leads might have to bargain with the customers to strike a good deal. I shall not face any of these hardships.' 

When Mandmathi said he would lead, Bodhisattva immediately agreed. Mandmathi was delighted that he could score over his rival on this issue. As they had to pass through a vast desert, they stocked plenty of food and water.

The Dreams

One night King Bimbisara of Kosala  hadseveral strange dreams. On waking up, he sent for the wise Brahmins and told them abou this dreams.

"Consult the holy books and tell me what the dreams signify,"he told them. The Brahmins held a secret meeting. The king appeared perturbed, and this was a good opportunity to fleece him. "Let's not miss this chance,"they told each other. They went to the king and said, "Sire, were ferred to several rare texts. Your dream  sportend great calamities. These calamities are going to visit your person, your race, as well as your kingdom!"

The king was now really frightened. "Find out,"he implored, "how these calamities can be averted."

"We already know the remedy, your majesty, "the Brahmins told the king. "To avert danger,you must perform sacrifices wherever four roads meet, throughout the kingdom. At the end of these sacrifices, the Brahmins must be given afeast as well as gifts. By doing so, not only will all danger be averted, but much prosperity will follow.

"King Bimbisara accepted this advice blindly, called his treasurer and said, "Let a sacrifice be performed wherever four roads meet. Set a part enough funds to feed the Brahmins and to give them proper gifts."

The Queen heard this order. She went to the king and said, "My Lord, don't start the sesacrifices in a hurry. I'm sure, these Brahmins don't know what they say. The One who know severy thing is in Jetavana. Go to him, tell him about your dreams and, if he advises you to perform these sacrifices, you may do so, by all means.

"King Bimbisara accepted her advice. He went in person to Jetavana  and requested Lord Buddha to come over to the palace and eat with him. The Buddha agreed to the king's request and went to the palace. The king told the Great One, "Lord, you know everything. Last night I had a number of frightful dreams. I request you to tell me what those dreams signify. "The Buddha smiled at the king's belief insuperstitions. "Tell me your dreams,"he said," and I'll tell you what they signify."

The Banyan Deer

In a forest, on the outskirts of Benaras, there lived a beautiful golden deer. He was called King Banyan Deer and was the leader of a herd of five hundred deer. Not very far off, in the same forest was King Branch Deer who was also the leader amongst another five hundred deer. He was also extremely beautiful with a coat of a shiny golden hue and sparkling eyes.

Outside this beautiful forest, in the real world, there reigned a King who loved to eat meat at every single meal. He was King Brahmadatta of Benaras. Not only was he fond of hunting, but he also enforced the same on his subjects. He forced them to leave their own businesses and join him regularly on his hunting spree each and every morning.

After awhile the villagers got sick of this regular routine as they had much better things to do with their lives. Besides, their work and means of livelihood had also begun to suffer. They realised that they must find a solution. Together they came up with a plan.

They decided to grow plants, sow crops and dig water holes in the royal park itself. Then they would drive a number of deer into the confines of the park and shut the gates. In this way the King could hunt at leisure and would not require any further help from his obedient subjects.

So at first they went about preparing the royal park for the deer. Then they went into the forest armed with weapons and sticks in order to drive the deer into the royal park. They surrounded the territories of both the herds, those of King Banyan Deer as well as King Branch Deer, and drove them into the royal park, with shouts of glee as they beat their sticks on the ground and waved them in the air. As soon as both the herds were in, the gates were shut and the deer entrapped.

They then went to their King and told him that as they could not accompany him any more on his hunts they had successfully managed to entrap a number of deer in the royal park for his royal pleasure. The King was absolutely thrilled when he set eyes on the great number of deer in the royal park.

While gazing at them his eyes fell on the two beautiful golden deer and he at once decided to spare their lives. He issued an order that they were not to be shot at any cost. Each day after that, either the King or one of his hunters would shoot arrows at the deer. The deer would scatter wildly in every direction and get hurt in the ensuing stampede. So one day King Banyan Deer and King Branch Deer put their heads together and came up with a plan. They realised that each day their herds were getting wounded in great numbers and some were getting killed. Even though death was inevitable they could at least try to save the living ones from unnecessary pain and torture.

So they decided to send a deer to the royal palace to be slaughtered and served to the king each and every day. The pact was to alternate between the two herds. In this way at least the rest of the deer would be spared unnecessary torture. This system continued for some time. Each day a deer was sent to the royal palace to be slaughtered by the royal cook. And the rest of the deer were allowed to live in peace until it was their turn.

One day it was the turn of a young female deer with a newborn baby. She belonged to the herd of King Branch Deer. She was worried that after she was killed there would be no one to take care of her child who was still too young to look after itself. So she approached her king with the plea that he send another deer instead of her that day and she would willingly go to the slaughter after her fawn was old enough to look after himself.

But King Branch Deer would not listen to her plea and told her to accept this as her fate as he could not ask another deer to replace her on the execution block. The mother doe looked at her baby and just could not take a step towards the palace. So she approached King Banyan Deer with her plea. King Banyan Deer looked at her with great compassion and told her to go look after her baby, as he would send another in her place.

Then King Banyan Deer himself walked to the palace and placed his head on the execution block. The royal cook was shocked to see him and remembering the King's orders, went running to the King to ask him what was to be done. The King came down to see what was happening. On seeing King Banyan Deer he went up to him and gently asked why he was here. King Banyan Deer related the story of the fawn and the mother doe and told him that as he could not order another to take her place, he had decided to do it himself. The King was highly impressed with this supreme sacrifice and the great love and compassion that this King of deer possessed. So he decided to not only spare his life but that of the mother doe as well.

 But King Banyan Deer was not satisfied. He asked that the lives of the other deer be spared as well. So the king granted him his wish. Then he asked about all the other four-footed animals in the forest and then about the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea. And King Brahmadutta agreed to spare the lives of all.

King Banyan Deer thanked him from the bottom of his heart and returned joyfully to the park. The gates were opened wide and both the herds were set free. Needless to say they lived peacefully and happily ever after.

The Golden Goose

Once upon a time there lived a queen in the city of Benaras. Her name was Khema and she was the wife of King Bahuputtaka, which means 'father of many sons'. One night, the Queen had a dream of a beautiful golden goose that spoke with great wisdom, almost as if he was a sage. She told her husband that she desperately wanted to see a bird just like the one that she had seen in her dream.

So the King asked his ministers to find out all that they could about a bird such as this. He was told that such a bird did exist but was extremely rare and difficult to find. They advised him to build a beautiful lake on the outskirts of Benaras so that he may attract such rare and lovely creatures to reside there. In this way the queen might have her wish.

Towards the north, on Mount Cittakuta, there lived about ninety thousand wild geese headed by a beautiful golden goose called King Dhatarattha. He got to hear of this exquisite lake that was surrounded by flowers and trees and had lovely water lilies and lotuses floating on the surface. The king had named this lake after his wife Khema and had invited all the birds to come and live on it, promising that none of them would ever be harmed. Corn was scattered on a daily basis in order to attract the birds.

So a couple of geese went up to their King and told him that they were quite tired of living up on the mountains and would like to see this wonderful lake where they had been promised food and protection.
The king agreed to their request and took the whole flock down south towards Benaras.

Meanwhile, at the lake the King had placed hunters all around in order to capture any golden goose that happened to pass by. So the next morning when the headhunter saw this flock of geese approaching he was very excited to see their golden leader. He immediately went about setting up a snare amongst the water lilies and lotuses, as he knew that the leader would definitely be the first to alight.

The whole flock came flying down in one mighty swoop and as expected it was the King's foot that touched the water first. He was ensnared and could not escape. Seeing this the other geese flew into a panic and honked in distress. But none had the courage to try to free their king and so flew back to Mount Cittacuta for safety. All except one. He was the chief captain, Sumukha.

His King entreated him to fly to safety too, as he would surely be captured if he stayed by his side. But Sumukha replied that he would never desert his master in the face of danger and would either try to save him or die by his side.

At this point the head huntsman approached and as Sumukha saw him he decided to appeal to his compassion. The hunter asked the King how come he had not noticed the trap that was set. The golden goose replied that when one's time was up it was no use to struggle against what was fated and one must just accept it. The huntsman was very impressed with his grace and wisdom. He then turned to Sumukha and asked why he had not fled with the other birds even though he was free to do so. Sumukha answered that this was his King, best friend and master and that he could never desert him even at the cost of his own life.

Hearing this the hunter realised that these were a couple of rare birds of great nobility. And were he to harm them, the gods would certainly punish him. Besides, he did not much care for his own King's reward and decided to do the right thing and set them free. He told Sumukha that as he was ready to die for his King he would set them both free to fly wherever they may.

He then set loose the foot of the golden goose and washed the wound clean. And when he made an attempt to fix the dislocated muscle "lo behold".. the foot was miraculously whole again as if it had never been hurt. Sumukha greatly blessed the hunter for his act of compassion and his King asked whether he had set the trap for himself or at someone else's command. The hunter answered that he had done it on the orders of his own King. He then went on to narrate to them the whole story about the queen's dream and her wish to see this rare golden goose.

On hearing this, the golden goose decided to go and meet the monarch, as he knew that the hunter would receive his reward. He had also heard about the wisdom and goodness of King Bahuputakka and thought that if he appeared out of his own free will, the monarch might allow him and his flock to come visit the lake. He therefore asked the hunter to take him to his King. The hunter advised him against it because he was worried that his monarch might imprison these two lovely creatures.

But the golden goose explained that just as they had been able to soften a hunter's heart it should not be too difficult to do the same to a great and noble King. He asked him to do his duty and leave the rest to him.

So the hunter set out to go to the palace accompanied by these two noble, gorgeous creatures. Needless to say that the King and Queen were absolutely delighted to see these two beautiful birds. The King set them on a golden perch and fed them himself, with honey, grain and sweetened milk. Then he spent the whole night discussing kingship and all its duties with this King of Geese. The golden goose did his best to offer good advice and encouragement in accordance with his wisdom.

In the morning he thanked the King and Queen for their hospitality and friendship and flew back to his flock accompanied by his faithful friend and chief captain Sumukha.
 

The Great - Hearted Monkey

In a forest glade, by the side of River Ganges, high on the mountains there lived about eighty thousand monkeys along with their giant monkey king. And by the side of the clear gushing water stood a tall shady tree bearing big beautiful juicy golden fruits commonly called mangoes.

All the monkeys just loved these mangoes and ate them off almost as soon as they had ripened. Which was a very good thing as their wise giant king had warned them not to let a single juicy fruit fall into the river. Because if the current carried even one of these fruits down the river to the land where the men lived, they would surely come in search of this delicious fruit and destroy the peace in the land of the monkeys.

It so happened that a branch of this tree hung low over the river and a mango that was hidden behind an ant's nest ripened and fell off without anyone's knowledge. It was taken down south by the rapid flow of the river and reached the city of Benaras.

One fine morning when King Brahmadutta of Benaras was bathing in the river between two nets, a couple of fishermen found a bright golden fruit caught in the mesh of the net. Very excited they took it to show the King. The King examined the fruit carefully and asked where it had come from and what it was called. The fishermen did not know much about it but guessed that it must have flowed down the river from the valleys of the far-flung Himalayas.

He then asked them to cut the mango and tasted a slice. It was simply delicious. He shared the rest of it with his ministers and Queen who loved its divine flavour.

A few days passed, but the King could not get this exotic fruit out of his mind. He could not work; rest or sleep for want of some more. Finally he could bear it no longer and set sail in search of it. He organised a fleet of rafts and sailed up the river accompanied by his men and a few fishermen.

Many days and many nights went by and they passed many valleys until they finally came to the one where the mango tree stood. Mission accomplished, the King was delighted and began enjoying the mangoes to his heart's content. Finally, that night, the King lay down to sleep under the mango tree while his faithful soldiers stood guard. Fires were lit on either side for protection against wild animals.

In the middle of the night when the guards had dozed off to sleep, the monkeys came and finished off all the mangoes that were left on the tree. The King awoke with all the noise and ordered his guards to shoot at the monkeys so that they could feast on monkey flesh along with the mangoes.

On hearing this, the monkeys trembled with fear and escaped to inform their King. They told him what had happened and he promised to save them. But for that he had to come up with a plan.

So he climbed up the tree and swung across the river with the help of a branch. He found a bamboo shoot which he measured and cut carefully, and then tied one end of it around his waist. The other end he tied around a tree trunk. He had decided to leap back to the mango tree and help the rest of the monkeys across over the bridge that he had made with the help of the bamboo shoot.

But alas... he had not taken into account the portion that he had tied around his waist. So when the monkey king sprang back into the mango grove he was just able to cling to a branch of the mango tree. He quickly summoned his monkeys to climb over his back and onto the reed in order to escape to the other side. In this way, eighty thousand monkeys climbed over his back one by one and made it to safety.

But unfortunately there was one evil monkey who hated his leader and wanted to destroy him. His name was Devadutta. This mean monkey purposely jumped hard over his poor king's back and broke it, while he himself escaped to the other bank.

 King Brahmadutta, who had been awake for awhile, had observed this whole episode. He felt extremely sorry for the monkey king and asked his men to help lower him to the ground. He then had him gently bathed and wrapped in a soft yellow cloth and asked him why he had sacrificed himself for his tribe. The great monkey answered that as he was their guide and chief, they were his children and it was his sacred duty to protect them. He had absolutely no regrets as he had ensured their safety. He also went on to say that the King should always be mindful of his subjects' welfare even at the cost of his own. Saying this the monkey king died at peace with himself.

King Brahmadutta had learnt a great deal that day. He ordered his men to organise a funeral fit for a King. He then built a shrine in the monkey king's memory where he offered flowers and lit candles and incense.

On returning to Benaras, he built another shrine there and asked his people to pay homage to this great soul. He always remembered the last words of the monkey king and ruled his subjects with wisdom and compassion. The people in his kingdom were eternally grateful to the great-hearted monkey.

The Noble Stag

As we all know, King Brahmadutta of Benaras was extremely fond of hunting. Luckily for him, on the outskirts of the city was a huge forest filled with deer and a mighty stag.

One fine day, when he was out hunting, he warned his courtiers not to allow a single deer to escape or he would have them severely punished. So the courtiers formed a tight circle and decided to send the deer in the direction of the King. The courtiers surrounded a thicket and beat their sticks on the ground until they saw a stag escape. But as their circle was so tight the only escape route that the stag could see was towards the King who was standing alone at the end of the path.

So the stag looked him straight in the eye and made a dash towards him. The King was taken aback and shot an arrow towards him hurriedly. Of course it missed the mark. Now there is one thing that you must know about the stag. It has excellent instincts and is extremely good at dodging arrows, whether shot at from the back, front or even the top. If an arrow is aimed at its belly, it pretends to roll over and then jumps up and runs once the danger has passed.

So when this stag rolled over the King assumed that his arrow had found its mark. But the stag suddenly jumped up and shot passed the men. When the courtiers realised that the King had been mistaken they started to ridicule him.

Now the King thought himself to be an excellent marksman and could not bear the taunts of his men. He grabbed his sword and set off into the forest in order to catch the stag. He chased the stag for quite a while and covered a long distance.

The stag came upon a hole in the ground that was covered by a rotting tree and filled with slime. From a distance it could smell the dirty water and so was careful not to run over it. But the King could not sense the pit and fell right into it. After awhile the stag realised that he was not being followed any longer and realised that the King could have fallen into the pit.

So he went back to the pit and saw the King struggling for his life. He felt very sorry for him and decided to save his life even though the King was following him with the intention to kill him. He told the King not to worry and to be brave for awhile longer. He then caught a huge rock with his hind legs and lowered himself into the pit. The King caught hold of his neck and the stag climbed out onto the level ground and carried the King to safety. 

The King thanked the noble stag profusely and asked him to return with him to Benaras, where he could rule beside him. But the stag had no interest in a kingdom and simply requested the king to rule his kingdom wisely and well, with kindness and compassion. And then the noble stag disappeared into the forest.

With a grateful heart the King returned to Benaras and announced that from this day on all his subjects were to live a life of goodness, kindness and generosity. That night he went to bed a changed man and woke up singing praises of the stag. When he was chanting the hymn in praise of the stag, his priest was approaching to check on the King's well being. On hearing the hymn, he pieced the facts together and realised that the King had been saved by the stag.

He entered the King's chamber and told him what had occurred on the previous day. The King was surprised and asked the priest whether he could read minds, but the priest answered that as he had heard the King singing he had managed to piece the facts together. The King was very impressed and gave him a big reward. He also promised to live a virtuous and generous life and give alms regularly to the poor. All his subjects also followed this good example set by the King and the city of Benaras witnessed a golden period.

All of a sudden there was an influx of good souls in heaven. Sakka, the King of heaven began to wonder where all these new sons and daughters were coming from. He then recalled the incident when King Brahmadutta's life was transformed by the stag and realised that all his subjects had been transformed too. That explained the influx of good souls in heaven. Sakka now decided to test the goodness of the King. So he made himself invisible and came down to earth.

On that very morning the King was in the royal park with his priest and was doing his routine target practice. Just as the King was about to shoot the target, Sakka made a stag appear before the target and the King immediately put his bow and arrow down. Then Sakka spoke through the priest and encouraged the King to shoot the stag saying that his meat was very tasty and fit for the kings.

But the virtuous King refused to kill the stag saying that he had once saved his life and he would not perform such a dastardly deed. And then the priest said that if the King were to kill the stag he would be made king of gods. But if he did not do so, he would be sent to hell along with all his children and his queen.

But the virtuous King chose hell and sure death over hurting the beloved friend who had saved his life. Sakka was highly impressed and appeared in his real form to bless the King. He blessed him with a long life and happiness and promised him that when he came to heaven he would reign among the gods.

He said that after a long and wonderful rule on earth, heaven would be his final reward. Saying this, Sakka returned to his heavenly abode.

The White Elephant

Once upon a time, there lived a herd of eighty thousand elephants at the bottom of the majestic Himalayas. Their leader was a magnificent and rare white elephant who was an extremely kind-hearted soul. He greatly loved his mother who had grown blind and feeble and could not look out for herself.

Each day this white elephant would go deep into the forest in search of food. He would look for the best of wild fruit to send to his mother. But alas... his mother never received any. This was because his messengers would always eat them up themselves. Each night, when he returned home he would be surprised to hear that his mother had been starving all day. He was absolutely disgusted with his herd.

Then one day, he decided to leave them all behind and disappeared in the middle of the night along with his dear mother. He took her to Mount Candorana to live in a cave beside a beautiful lake that was covered by gorgeous pink lotuses.

It so happened that one day, when the white elephant was feeding he heard loud cries. A forester from Benaras had lost his way in the forest and was absolutely terrified. He had come to the area to visit relatives and could not find his way out.

On seeing this big white elephant he was even more terrified and ran as fast as he could. The elephant followed him and told him not to be afraid, as all he wanted to do was to help him. He asked the forester why he was crying so bitterly. The forester replied that he was crying because he had been roaming the forest for the past seven days and could not find his way out.

The elephant told him not to worry as he knew every inch of this forest and could take him to safety. He then lifted him on to his back and carried him to the edge of the forest from where the forester went on his merry way back to Benaras.

On reaching the city, he heard that King Brahmadutta's personal elephant had just died and the King was looking for a new elephant. His heralds were roaming the city, announcing that any man who had seen or heard of an elephant fit for a King should come forward with the information.

The forester was very excited and immediately went up to the King and told him about the white elephant that he had seen on Mount Candorana. He told him that he had marked the way and would require the help of the elephant trainers in order to catch this fantastic elephant.

The King was quite pleased with the information and immediately despatched a number of soldiers and elephant trainers along with the forester. After travelling for many days, the group reached the lake beside which the elephants resided. They slowly crept down to the edge of the lake and hid behind the bushes. The white elephant was collecting lotus shoots for his mother's meal and could sense the presence of humans. When he looked up, he spotted the forester and realised that it was he who had led the King's men to him. He was very upset at the ingratitude but decided that if he put up a struggle many of the men would be killed. And he was just too kind to hurt anyone. So he decided to go along with them to Benaras and then request the benevolent King to be set free.

That night when the white elephant did not return home, his mother was very worried. She had heard all the commotion outside and had guessed that the King's men had taken away her son. She was scared that the King would ride him in to battle and her son would definitely be killed. She was also worried that there would be no one to look after her or even feed her, as she could not see. She just lay down and cried bitterly.

Meanwhile her son was led in to the beautiful city of Benaras where he was given a grand reception. The whole city was decorated and his own stable was gaily painted and covered with garlands of fragrant flowers. The trainers laid out a feast for their new state elephant who refused to touch a morsel. He did not respond to any kind of stimuli, be it the fragrant flowers or the beautiful and comfortable stable. He just sat there looking completely despondent.

The worried trainers went straight to report the situation to their King, as they were scared that the elephant would just waste away without any food or water. The King was extremely concerned when he heard what they had to say and went to the stable himself. He offered the elephant food from the royal table and asked him why he grieved in this manner. He thought that the elephant should be proud and honoured that he was chosen as the state elephant and would get the opportunity to serve his King.

But the white elephant replied that he would not eat a thing until he met his mother. So the King asked him where his mother was. The elephant replied that she was back home on Mount Candorana and must be worried and hungry as she was blind and had no one to feed her and take care of her. He was afraid that she would die.

The compassionate King was touched by the elephant's story and asked him to return to his blind, old mother and take care of her as he had been doing all along. He set him free in love and kindness.

The happy elephant went running home as fast as he could. And he was relieved to find that his mother was still alive. He filled his trunk with water and poured it over his sick mother who thought that it was raining. Then she cried out as she thought that some evil spirit had come to harm her and wished and prayed that her son was there to save her.

The white elephant gently bent over his blind mother and stroked her lovingly. She immediately recognised his touch and was overjoyed. Her son lifted her up and told her that the kind and compassionate King of Benaras had set him free and he was here to love and look after his mother forever.

His mother was absolutely thrilled and blessed the kind King with peace, prosperity and joy till the end of his days. She was so thankful to him for sending her son back home.

The white elephant was able to take good care of his mother till the day she died. And when he died himself, the King erected a statue of him by the side of the lake and held an annual elephant festival there in memory of such a caring and noble soul.