Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace
Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace
Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace
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Translation 550 <strong>Vessantara</strong>-Jåtaka<br />
[Fausbøll, Jåtaka, vol. VI, p. 550]<br />
To this the Great Be<strong>in</strong>g answered not one word. Then the boy said, lament<strong>in</strong>g on account<br />
of his parents: 1<br />
"I care not for the pa<strong>in</strong> of death, that is the lot of all:<br />
Ne’er more to see my mother's face, ’tis this that doth appal.<br />
I care not for the pa<strong>in</strong> of death, that is the lot of all:<br />
Ne’er more to see my father's face, ’tis this that doth appal.<br />
Long will my parents mourn <strong>and</strong> weep, long will they nurse their woe,<br />
At midnight <strong>and</strong> at dawn their tears will like a river flow,<br />
No more to see Kaṇhāj<strong>in</strong>ā, whom they had cherished so.<br />
Those clusters of rose-apple trees which droop around the lake,<br />
And all the fruitage of the woods this day we do forsake.<br />
Fig-tree <strong>and</strong> jack-fruit, banyan broad <strong>and</strong> every tree that grows,<br />
Yea! all the fruitage of the woods this day we do forsake.<br />
There st<strong>and</strong> they like a pleasant park, there cool the river flows,<br />
The place where once we used to play, this day we do forsake.<br />
The fruit that once we used to eat, the flowers we used to wear,<br />
That yonder grow upon the hill, this day we do forsake.<br />
And all the pretty little toys that once we played with there,<br />
The horses, oxen, elephants, this day we do forsake."<br />
1<br />
On the long<strong>in</strong>g for absent k<strong>in</strong>, see <strong>Jataka</strong> No. 543 (Cowell, vol. VI, pp. 80-113). The<br />
present verses have been compressed <strong>in</strong> translation.