Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace

Translation 518 Vessantara-Jåtaka
[Fausbøll, Jåtaka, vol. VI, p. 518]
then standing at the entering in of the wood, they told of the fifteen leagues which yet
remained of his journey.
"Yes, we will tell you how a king who leaves the world may be
Good, peaceful by his sacred fire, and all tranquillity.
That rocky mountain, mighty king, is Gandhamādana,
Where with your children and your wife together you may stay.
The Ceta folk, with faces all bewept and streaming eyes,
Advise you to go northward straight where high its peaks uprise.
There you shall see Mount Vipula (and blessing with thee go),
Pleasant with many a growing tree that casts cool shade below.
When you shall reach it, you shall see (a blessing with thee still)
Ketumatī, a river deep and springing from the hill.
Full of all fish, a safe resort, its deep flood flows away:
There you shall drink, and there shall bathe, and with your children play.
And there, upon a pleasant hill, cool-shaded, you will see,
Laden with fruit as honey sweet, a noble banyan tree.
Then you will see Mount Nālika, and that is haunted ground:
For there the birds in concert sing and woodland sprites abound.
There further still towards the north is Mucalinda Lake,
On which the lilies blue and white a covering do make.
Then a thick forest, like a cloud, with grassy sward to tread,
Trees full of flowers and of fruit, all shady overhead,
Enter: a lion seeking prey wherewith he may be fed.
There when the forest is in flower, a shower of song is heard,
The twitter here and twitter there of many a bright-winged bird.
And if those mountain cataracts you follow to their spring,
You'll find a lily-covered lake with blossoms 1 flowering,
Full of all fish, a safe resort, deep water without end,
Foursquare and peaceful, scented sweet, no odour to offend:
There build yourself a leafy cell, a little to the north,
And from the cell which you shall make in search of food go forth."
1
karañja (Pongamia Glabra), kakudha (Terminalia Arjuna).