Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace

Translation 532 Vessantara-Jåtaka
[Fausbøll, Jåtaka, vol. VI, p. 532]
Straight onward to a hermitage the pathway there will lead,
Where Accata a hermit dwells, black-tooth'd, with dirty head,
With brahmin dress, with hook and spoon, the ascetic's matted hair,
Skinclad he lies upon the ground and tends the fire with care:
Go thither, ask the way of him, and he will give you speed."
When this he heard, the brahmin walked round Ceta towards the right,
And went in search of Accata, his heart in high delight.
Then Bhāradvāja 1 went along until he came anigh
Unto the hermit's place, to whom he spake thus courteously:
"O holy man, I trust that you are prosperous and well, 2
With grain to glean and roots and fruit abundant where you dwell.
Have you been much by flies and gnats and creeping things annoyed,
Or from wild beasts of prey have you immunity enjoyed?"
The ascetic said:
"I thank you, brahmin—yes, I am both prosperous and well,
With grain to eat and roots and fruit abundant where I dwell.
From flies and gnats and creeping things I suffer not annoy,
And from wild beasts of prey I here immunity enjoy.
In all the innumerable years I've lived upon this ground,
No harmful sickness that I know has ever here been found.
Welcome, O brahmin! bless the chance directed you this way,
Come enter with a blessing, come, and wash your feet I pray.
The tindook and the piyal leaves, and kāsumārī sweet,
And fruits like honey, brahmin, take the best I have, and eat,
And this cool water from a cave high hidden on a hill,
O noble brahmin, take of it, drink if it be your will."
Jūjaka said:
1 I.e., Jūjaka.
2 This and several following lines occur in a substantially similar form in Jataka No. 503
(Fausbøll, vol. IV, p. 434; Cowell, vol. IV. p. 270) and Jataka No. 532 (Fausbøll, vol. V,
p. 323; Cowell, vol. V. pp. 170-171).