Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace

Translation 482 Vessantara-Jåtaka
[Fausbøll, Jåtaka, vol. VI, p. 482]
Thus came she to be established in the world of gods by the preaching in the Great
Vessantara.
But she, not knowing the circumstances of her re-birth, felt faint, and said the second
stanza:
"Glory to thee, O king of gods! what sin is done by me,
To send me from this lovely place as winds blow down a tree?"
And Sakka perceiving her despondency uttered two stanzas:
"Dear art thou still as thou hast been, and sin thou hast not done:
I speak because thy merit now is all used up and gone.
Now thy departure is at hand, the hour of death draws nigh:
Ten boons I offer thee to choose; then choose, before thou die."
Hearing these words of Sakka, and convinced that she must die, she said, choosing the
boons: 1
"King Sakka, lord of beings all, a boon hath granted me:
I bless him: craving that my life in Sivi's realm may be.
Black eyes, black pupils like a fawn, black eyebrows may I have,
And Phusatī my name: this boon, O bounteous one, I crave.
A son be mine, revered by kings, famed, glorious, debonair,
Bounteous, ungrudging, one to lend a ready ear to prayer.
And while the babe is in my womb let not my figure go,
Let it be slim and graceful like a finely fashioned bow.
1 The Ten Boons, according to the scholiast, are: (1) to be chief queen, (2) to have dark
eyes, (3) to have dark eyebrows, (4) to be named Phusatī, (5) to have a son, (6) to keep
her figure slim, (7) that her breasts be firm, (8) not to become grey-haired, (9) to have
soft skin, (10) to save the condemned. This section is called Dasa-vara-gāthā.