Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace

Translation 525 Vessantara-Jåtaka
[Fausbøll, Jåtaka, vol. VI, p. 525]
Explaining this, the Master said:
"This done, the brahmin dons his shoes; then rising presently,
And walking round her towards the right he bids his wife good-bye.
So went he, dressed in holiness, tears standing in his eyes:
To the rich Sivi capital to find a slave he hies."
When he came to that city, he asked the assembled people where Vessantara was.
Explaining this, the Master said:
"When further he had come, he asked the people gathered round—
"Say, where is King Vessantara? where can the prince be found?"
To him replied the multitude who were assembled round:
"By such as you he's ruined; for by giving, giving still,
He's banisht out of all the realm and dwells in Vaṁka hill.
By such as you he's ruined; for by giving, giving still,
He took his wife and children and now dwells in Vaṁka hill."
"So you have destroyed our king, and now come here again! Stand still, will you," and
with sticks and clods, kicks and fisticuffs, they chased him away. But he was guided by
the gods into the right road for Vaṁka hill.
Explaining this, the Master said:
"So he, upbraided by his wife, in greedy passion's sway,
Paid for his error in the wood where beasts and panthers prey.
Taking his staff and begging-bowl and sacrificial spoon,
He sought the forest where abode the giver of every boon.
Once in the forest, came the wolves thronging around his way:
He leapt aside, and went confused far from the path astray. 1
This brahmin of unbridled greed, finding himself astray,
The way to Vaṁka now quite lost, began these lines to say.
1 The scholiast says: "When he entered the wood, not knowing the road to Vaṁka hill he
became perplexed and went astray: as he sat there, the dogs of a countryman of Ceta
surrounded him to keep watch; then he climbed up a tree and cried with a loud voice"
(kandi). I take it rather from Skt. skand, as in Jataka No. 507 (Fausboll, vol. IV, p. 471,
line 1; Cowell, vol. IV, p. 292), i.e. he leapt aside, went astray. The scholiast anticipates
what is soon to come.