Divine Stories

by Andy Rotman

  811Divy 521.1–2, evam uktasya. One might expect this to mean “was thus addressed,” but that seems incorrect. Here too there appears to be some confusion between various participial forms of √vac. I follow the sense of the Tibetan (161a7; 173a4), which reads de skad ces smras pa dang. Hiraoka (HA 27; HD 62), likewise following the Tibetan, emends to ukte.

  812Divy 521.7, labhyamānā. One might also translate this as “available for marriage” or “being married off.” More literally, “being obtained.” Tatelman (2005: 327) offers this translation: “although she was given to you.”

  813Following Divy 24.13–16. Divy 521.11, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat). For variants in the expansion, see Hiraoka 2007: ii, 441n99.

  814Divy 521.19, matpitaivāṅgīkṛtya vadati.Perhaps the eva should be evam. The Tibetan (161b5; 173b3) seems to concur.

  815Following Edgerton (BHSD) and mss. (Divy 521n5), read -bhaṇḍikām.Divy 521.25, bhāṇḍikām.

  816Following Speyer (1902: 360), Vaidya’s query (Divy-V 451.11), Tatelman (2005: 330.8), the Tibetan (174a1), and Hiraoka (HA 27; HD 62), read vipulam. Divy 522.7, vipratam (sic ms. A; mss. BC, tipratam; ms. D, vipranam). Cowell and Neil (Divy 522n1) query vitatam.

  817Tatelman (2005: 333), quite cleverly, translates the identifications as such: “Now, monks, who do think that that young man was? It was I who was he at that very time. And he who was that blacksmith? It was this very Mākandika who was him at that time.”

  818Divy 523.5–6, ayaṃ mahallako ’nupamām āgamyānayena vyasanam āpanna iti. Cf. DS 394n108.

  819Following Divy 282.27–28. Divy 523.11, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).

  820Following Divy 24.12–13. Divy 523.14, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).

  821Here the Tibetan (174b5–175b1) offers an extended version of the stereotypical passage; it does much the same with similar passages throughout the beginning of this story.

  822Following Divy 441.9 and Hiraoka (HA 27; HD 62), read uccaghoṣaṇaḥ. Divy 523.18, uccaghoṇaḥ (ms. D, -ghoṣaḥ).

  823Following Divy 3.4–5, 26.6–7, 58.4, etc., and the Tibetan (175b2), add jñātayaḥ saṃgamya samāgamya. Divy 523.20 (omitted).

  824Following Hiraoka (HA 27; HD 62–63) and the standard formula (Divy 3.5, 26.7, etc.), delete the second tasya. Divy 523.19–20, tasya . . . tasya jātasya.

  825Following Divy 523.12 and Hiraoka (HA 27; HD 62–63), read siṃhakasya. Divy 523.22, siṃhasya.

  826Following Divy 58.11–20. I follow Hiraoka (HC 42) and add “the science of cloth” so that eight sciences are listed. Divy 523.25, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).

  827Divy 524.17, ādāya. Hiraoka (HA 27; HD 63), following the standard refrain (Divy 5.9, 332.6, etc.), emends to āropya.

  828Divy 524.19–20, vistareṇa rākṣasīsūtraṃ sarvaṃ vādyam. Cowell and Neil (Divy 524n2) note that “[mss.] BC give this sentence, though C marks it as to be omitted.” The Tibetan (164b1–171a7; 176b2–183b7) provides the full text of the sūtra. The corresponding account in Chinese (T. 1442, ch. 47–48; xxiii, 888a4–889c19) was summarized by Huber (1906: 23), and this summary was rendered into English by Tatelman (2005: 421–22). A version of this story also appears in the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra (281, 284–88), and a translation from the Tibetan called The Basket’s Display is available at http://read.84000.co/#UT22084-051-004/part%20two. See too de Jong 1968: 486; Schlingloff 1988: 256–65; Lienhard 2003; Karashima and Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya 2015: 157.

  Here is Tatelman’s rendering (modified slightly) of Huber’s summary:

  “The helmsman warned the merchants of the perils of the ocean. They provided themselves with planks and inflatable leather sacks in order to be able to escape any shipwreck. A sea monster (makara) smashed up the ship; those merchants who were destined not to die yet were carried by the waves to Tāmradvīpa (Ceylon), to the city of the demons (rākṣasī).

  “On the highest tower of that city were planted two magic flagstaffs: the movement of one flag announced to the demons good fortune, the other misfortune. On that day the former began flapping and fluttering and from this the sirens concluded that shipwrecked men from India were about to reach the shore. There the sirens welcomed the men. Each merchant married one of them and lived with her in joy and luxurious comfort. To each man was born a son and a daughter. The sirens, however, forbade their husbands access to the road that led to the southern part of the city.

  “Simhala, suspicious, proceeded there one night while the women were sleeping and arrived at a city enclosed by high iron walls that had no door or gate. From the interior of this city issued the sound of plaintive voices: ‘Alas, India! Alas, our parents!’ Simhala clambered up a śirīṣa tree and spoke with the prisoners. They also were shipwrecked Indians; they had been imprisoned since the day Simhala’s company had landed on the island. From time to time their former wives came to devour one of them and the same fate awaited Simhala and his companions the day that a new group of shipwrecked men were cast onto the island.

  “The fifteenth of each month, upoṣadha day, the gods gathered in the air above that sorrowful city to lament the fate of the unfortunates whom the iron walls prevented from returning to the north of the city—because on that day of the month, Bālāha, the divine horse, waited in the north of the city to offer transport to whomever wished to cross to the other shore of the ocean, which was India.

  “Simhala explained to his companions what he had learned and on the fifteenth day of the lunar month they all betook themselves to the north of the city where they found Bālāha, who promised to save them, so long as they did not allow themselves to be bewitched by the sirens at the last moment, for if that were to happen, he would not be able to carry them. The horse then rose up into the air and the flag of misfortune which was driven into the ground above the city began to flutter. The sirens, more beautiful than ever, hurried to the seashore and entreated the departing men to remain or at least not to leave without their children. All except Simhala were filled with regret; they fell from the horse and were devoured by rākṣasīs . . .”

  Since the editor of the Divyāvadāna has left out the Rakṣasī-sūtra but given instructions to include the “full” story “in its entirety,” it seems likely that the text was well known to the reader/recitors of the day and that it was of some importance. A version of this story, in fact, is depicted in impressive fashion at the Buddhist site Ajanta in cave 17. Moreover, this was a residential cave for the monks, so “it is possible that the murals were intended primarily to be experienced by the Monastic Community of Ajanta” (Dehejia 1990: 392).

  829Following Hiraoka (HA 27; HD 63) and Vaidya (Divy-V 452.30), read nirbandhaḥ. Divy 524.26, nibandhaḥ.

  830Divy 525.24, kṣudraputrāham.Hiraoka (HA 27; HD 63), following the Tibetan (172a2; 184b2), reads kṣudraputraṃ māñ ca. That is, “. . . forgive his young child and me.”

  831Following Vaidya’s query (453.17), add tyaja. Cf. Divy 525.9, parityaja. Hiraoka (HA 27; HD 63), following the Tibetan (172a2; 184b3), suggests kṣipa.

  832Divy 525.26–27, kṣudaputreyaṃ tapasvinī(sic mss.). Hiraoka (HA 27; HD 63), following the Tibetan (172a2–3; 184b3), reads kṣudaputram imāṃ tapasvinīḥ.

  833Divy 526.12, śrutvā. Hiraoka (HA 27; HD 63), following Divy 525.6, 525.3, and the Tibetan (172a8; 185a1), reads kṛtvā.

  834Divy 526.13–14, kṣudraputrāham(ms., kṣutra-; ms. C, kṣatra-). Hiraoka (HA 27; HD 63), following the Tibetan (172a8–b1; 185a1), reads kṣudraputraṃ māñ ca. And since the word arhasi occurs twice in the sentence, he suggests omitting its second occurrence.

  835Divy 526.23, āsvāpanam. For more on the term, see Bloomfield 1920: 345.

  836Divy 527.6, kṣamaṃ cintayata. I take this figuratively. Tatelman (2005: 349) translates this as “consider this carefully.” Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 63), following the Tibetan (173a1; 185b2), reads upakramaṃ cintayata. That is, “think of a plan.”

  837Following the Tibet
an (173a2; 185b3). Divy 527.10 (omitted).

  838Divy 527.21, śobhanaṃ te.Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 63), following the Tibetan (173a6; 185b7), omits te.

  839Divy 527.23, āhūya. Cowell and Neil (527n2) query āhūyante.

  840Following Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 63), read āpannasthānīyaḥ. Divy 528.1, āpaṇasthānīyaḥ(mss., āpana-). Tatelman (2005: 350.14) emends to āpadāsthānīyaḥ.

  841Following Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 63), read āpannasthānīyaḥ. Divy 528.2, āpaṇasthānīyaḥ(mss., āpana-).

  842Here, between -tīra- and -m, ms. C (Divy 528n2) adds, “That royal horse named Bālāha—the great being, the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara—with a heart full of compassion, saved me from the danger of a great disaster and then guarded and protected me.”

  843Divy 528.9, utkīlayitvā. Edgerton (BHSD) suggests “having opened up the city.” Tatelman (2005: 351) reads “leave this city.”

  844An alternate etymology for name of the island (modern-day Sri Lanka) occurs in the Mahāvaṃsa (Mhv 66/ vii.42). There it is said, “King Sīhabāhu, since he had slain a lion (sīha), was called Sīhala. And because of his ties with Vijaya’s followers, they were also called Sīhala.” For more on this account, see Thapar 1978: 281.

  845Divy 528.26, deva madduhitā deva na kasyacid. Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 63), following the Tibetan (174a2; 186b4), adds kasya dattā between madduhitāand deva. Also possible is that the second deva should be read as eva.

  846Divy 529.1, paṇyapariṇītāḥ. This term, which only occurs once in the Divyāvadāna, indicates a marriage that is explicitly a commercial transaction. The wives in question were “married” (pariṇītāḥ) in exchange for “commodities” or “merchandise” (paṇya).

  847Following Vaidya (Divy-V 455.13) and Tatelman (2005: 354.3), read tasya puṣpadantasya pariṇītā.Divy 529.1, tasya puṣpadantasya pariṇītāḥ. Tatelman (2005: 355) offers this translation: “Anupama became the wife to the King’s Flower-Bower Palace.” Cowell and Neil (711) translate the unemended text, along with the preceding sentence, as follows: “The king had many concubines and many wives belonging to the Puṣpadanta palace.”

  848Divy 529.2, tasyāḥ puṣpadantasya prāsādasyārthaṃ dattam. Cowell and Neil (Divy 711) offer this translation: “She had a sum of money given to her suitable to the Puṣpadanta palace.” The Tibetan (174a3; 186b5) reads -ardhaṃ for -arthaṃ. That is, “She was given half of the Puṣpadanta Palace.”

  849Divy 529.20, nātra hy evam.This is ambiguous. It could also be rendered, “It should not be otherwise.” Tatelman (2005: 357) offers this translation: “not only here and now does she speak thus.” The Tibetan (174b1; 187a3–4) reads “no offense has been committed here”—a translation of nātra doṣa iti—as it does at the corresponding passage at Divy 529.28.

  850Following Vaidya (Divy 455.32), the Tibetan (174b5; 187a7), and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 63–64), read sakāśam. Divy 529.29, sakāmam.

  851Following the Tibetan (174b5–6; 187a7) and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64), read anupamayā. Divy 529.29, “the king” (rajñā).

  852Following the Tibetan (175a5; 187b6–7) and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64), read śramaṇasya gautamasyārthāyāpi na kalpate devasyāpi na kalpate śramaṇasya gautamasya kalpate devasya na kalpate.Divy 530.17–18, śramaṇasyārthāya na kalpate devasyāpi kalpate devasya na kalpate. Cowell and Neil (Divy 711) note, “Some words seem lost here before devasyāpi; we might supply, yadi śramaṇasya kalpate.” That is, “If it’s permissible to do so on behalf of an ascetic . . .” Speyer (1902: 360) suggests instead inserting atha kalpate.That is, “Since this is permissible . . .” Tatelman (2005: 358.27) inserts nabetween devasyāpiand kalpate.

  853Following Cowell and Neil’s query (530n2), the Tibetan (175a6; 188a1), and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64), read svā pariṣad. Divy 530.21, svopaniṣad.

  854Divy 530.26, mā sarveṇa sarvaṃ bhaviṣyati. Vaidya (Divy 456.19–20) adds na. Tatelman’s (2005: 361) translation offers an implied threat: “Don’t make the next arrow fly back at you all the way.” Cf. the Tibetan (175b1–2; 188a4).

  855Divy 530.27, yakṣaṇī(sic mss.). Read as, or emend to, yakṣiṇī.

  856Divy 531.2, mamāntike dharmānvayam upasthāpayet.Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64), following the Tibetan (175b4; 188a6), reads bhaginīsaṃjñāmfor dharmānvayam.Perhaps, “may I be treated like a sister.” I understand both readings to have a similar meaning: the king is to treat his wife chastely, as one Buddhist devotee would treat another. Tatelman (361) offers this translation: “may he arrange for me to receive regular instruction in the Dharma.”

  857Following the Tibetan (175b4–5; 188a6–7) and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64), read sa rājā ’nupamāyā sārdhaṃ ratiṃ krīḍāṃ paricaryāṃ ca pratyanubhavati.Divy 531.3, so ’nupamāyāḥ(sic mss.). Cowell and Neil (531n1) query sakāśāt.

  858Divy 531.3–4, śyāmāvatyā antike dharmānvayaṃ prasādayati.Tatelman (2005: 363) offers this translation for the full sentence: “And so the king granted the favor of regular instruction in the Dharma for Anupama and Śyāmavatī.” Edgerton (BHSD, s.v. prasādayati) cites only this passage and suggests as a translation “grants the favor of.” Also possible would be “he cultivated faith in accordance with the dharma.”

  859Divy 531.5, navartukāni (mss., -takāni). Or, perhaps, “fresh seasonal flowers.”

  860Following the Tibetan (176a3; 188b6), Vaidya (Divy 457.3), and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64), read devenaiva. Divy 531.19, devenaivam.

  861The Tibetan (176a5; 188b7–189a1) records that Mākandika, like Yogāndharāyaṇa and Ghoṣila, first refused the king’s order, but after being overruled by the king three times, finally relented. Mākandika references this expurgated bit of plot in what follows (Divy 531.29).

  862Divy 531.25, nānujānīṣe.Tatelman (2005: 364.5) reads likewise. Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64), following the Tibetan (176a6; 189a2), reads tātānujānīṣe. That is, “Father, do you know . . .” Cowell and Neil (Divy 531n4) query nanu jānīṣe.That is, “Surely you know . . .”

  863Divy 531.26, nānujānīṣe.Tatelman (2005: 364.8) reads likewise. Cowell and Neil (Divy 531n4) query nanu jānīṣe. Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64) reads tātānujānīṣe.

  864These are two of the nine bonds to existence.

  865Divy 532.1, bhavatu nāmāpi na gṛhītum. Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64), following the Tibetan (176a8; 189a3), reads abhavat te for bhavatu.

  866Following the Tibetan (176b2; 189a5) and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64), read praghātayitum upāyasaṃvidhānam. Divy 532.6, praghātayitu yāyavidhānam (sic mss. ABC; ms. D, -yitum api bhūyā vidhānam). Cowell and Neil (Divy 536n2) query -yituṃ yāvad vidhānam. Vaidya (Divy-V 457.14–15) emends to praghātayitum upāyavidhānam.

  867Divy 532.10–11, atra bhūrjena prayojanaṃ tailena masinā kalamayā tūlena (mss., bhūlena). Cf. Divy 535.10 and 535.20–21. Peter Skilling (2014: 502) offers this translation: “they need birchbark, oil, ink, pen, and cotton.” But as Skilling (2014: 503) explains, “What about oil and cotton? Are they used for preparing the surface of the birchbark, or are they simply needed for the lamps . . . Oil and cotton are used today to clean palm-leaf manuscripts in South Asia. But it may be simpler to simply see the reference as materials needed to keep lamps burning—oil and cotton, the latter to be twisted to make wicks.”

  868Divy 532.14–15, na (ms. A, naḥ; ms. B, ne) bhūyo bhūyaḥ praveśitavyam. Tatelman (2005: 367) offers this translation: “There is not much more to be brought in.”

  869Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64), following the Tibetan (176b5–6; 189b1), adds icchāvaḥ. That is, “want.” Tatelman (2005: 367) offers this translation: “Are you here to gawk at the king’s women?”

  870Following Cowell and Neil’s query (Divy 532n7), Divy 535.13, the Tibetan (176b6; 189b1–2), and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64), read yantrakalācāryaḥ. Divy 532.20, yantrakarācāryaḥ.

  871A version of this verse and the next can be found in the Dhammapada (vv. 127–28). Cf. Divy 561.5–7.

  872Following the Tibetan ( 177a2; 189b6), Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64), and T
atelman (2005: 368.12), read udakabhrameṇa. Divy 533.6, “with haste” (sasaṃbhrameṇa).

  873Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 64–65), following Divy 533.18, adds dagdhāni. Divy 533.14 (omitted).

  874Divy 533.14–15, śrutvā ca punaḥ kauśāmbīṃ piṇḍāya praviśya (ms. A, prācchaṃ caritvā; ms. B, praviṣṭa caritvā; mss. CE, prācaritvā; ms. D, prāvaritvā) caritvā pratikramya. This appears to be an abridged, and irregular, form of a standard expression. Cf. Divy 39.10–21, 552.23–25, 566.3–4. The Tibetan (177a5; 190a1–2) follows the standard form. Tatelman (2005: 369) offers this translation: “After learning that, they again entered Kauśāmbī for alms and completed their alms-round. Then they left the city.”

  875Divy 533.17, vatsarājasyāntaḥpuram. Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), following Divy 533.12–13 and the Tibetan (177a8; 190a4), reads vatsarājasya janapadān gatasyāntaḥpuram.

  876Hiraoka (HD 65), following the Tibetan (177b3; 190a7) and parallels at MPS 9.15 and MSV i, 87.2, adds ca tanutvāt. Divy 533.28 (omitted). Cf. MSV ii, 87.1–2, “That monk who had rid himself of the three bonds to existence and weakened attachment, hate, and delusion will, as a result, become a once-returner” (eṣa bhikṣus trayāṇāṃ saṃyojanānāṃ prahāṇād rāgadveṣamohānāṃ ca tanutvāt sakṛdāgāmī bhaviṣyati).

  877Divy 534.4, niyatasamādhiparāyaṇāḥ. Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), following the Tibetan (177b4; 190b1), reads niyatasaṃbodhiparāyaṇāḥ. That is, “constantly focused on awakening.”

  878Following the Tibetan (177b6; 190b3) and Hiraoka (HA 28; HD 65), read prasannacittena kālam. Divy 534.10, prasannacittālaṃkāram.

  879Divy 534.12, āgamayata(sic mss.). The Tibetan (177b7; 190b3) reads tshur sheg. Hiraoka (2007: ii, 452n270) queries shog and also points to parallels at Divy 76.10–11 and 465.10–11.

  880Tatelman (2005: 375), adjusting the formula to context, offers this translation: “We must not permit our minds to be corrupted even by such burned pillars as these, much less by bodies endowed with consciousness.” Cf. DS 331 and 437n683.