Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace

Translation 486 Vessantara-Jåtaka
[Fausbøll, Jåtaka, vol. VI, p. 486]
gave it away to his nurses, nor would he take it back when they wished to give it. They
told this to the king, who said, "What my son has given is well given; be it a Brahmin's
gift," and had another necklace made. But the prince still in his childhood gave this also
to his nurses, and so nine times over.
When he was eight years old, as he reclined on his couch, the boy thought to himself:
"All that I give comes from without, and this does not satisfy me; I wish to give
something of my very own. If one should ask my heart, I would cut open my breast, and
tear it out, and give it; if one ask my eyes, I would pluck out my eyes and give them; if
one should ask my flesh, I would cut off all the flesh of my body and give it." And thus
he pondered with all his being and the depths of his heart; this earth, forty thousand
quadrillions of leagues 1 in extent, and two hundred thousands of leagues in depth, quaked
thundering like a great mad elephant; Sineru chief of mountains bowed like a sapling in
hot steam, and seemed to dance, and stood leaning towards the city of Jetuttara; at the
earth's rumbling the sky thundered with lightning and rain; forked lightning flashed; the
ocean was stirred up: Sakka king of the gods clapt his arms, Mahābrahmā gave a sign of
approval, high as Brahma's World all was in uproar; wherefore it is said also:
"When I was yet a little boy, but of the age of eight,
Upon my terrace, charity and gifts I meditate.
If any man should ask of me blood, body, heart, or eye,
Or blood or body, eye or heart I'd give him, was my cry.
And as with all my being I pondered with thoughts like these
The unshaken earth did shake and quake with mountains, woods and trees."
By the age of sixteen, the Bodhisatta had attained a mastery of all sciences. Then his
father, desiring to make him king, consulted with his mother; from the family of King
Madda they brought his first cousin, named Maddī, with sixteen thousand attendant
women, and made her his Queen Consort, and sprinkled him with the water of
coronation. From the time of his receiving the kingdom he distributed much alms, giving
each day six hundred thousand pieces of money.
By and by Queen Maddī
1 Four nahutas (the nahuta is one followed by 28 zeros).