Dasaratha Jataka

Dasaratha Jataka (Pali: Dasaratha Jātaka; Template:Lang-si) is a Jataka Tale (based on Hindu epic Ramayana) found in Buddhist literature about the previous life of the Shakyamuni (Gautama) Buddha as a prince Rama son of king Dasaratha ( also 8th avatar of Lord Vishnu in Hinduism). It is found as 461th Jataka story in Khuddaka Nikaya of Sutta Pitaka in the Pali Canon. The Thai national epic, 'Ramakien', is claimed to be based on this Jataka.

Synopsis

The Jataka describes the previous birth of Buddha as Rama-Pandita, a Bodhisattva. The Jataka focus on moral of Non-Attachment and Obedience. Bodhisatta, the crown prince, was sent to exile of twelve years by his father, King Dasaratha, as his father was afraid that the Bodhisatta would be killed by his step-mother for the kingdom (of Varanasi). Rama-Pandita's younger brother, Lakkhana-Kumara and his (Rama) wife, Sita-Devi followed him. But, the King died just after nine years. Bharata The son of the step-mother being kind and honorable refused to be crowned; as the right belong to his older brother. They went to look for the Bodhisatta and the other two until they found them, and told the three about their father's death. Both Lakkhana-Kumara and Sita could not bear the sorrow of father's death, but Bodhisatta was silent. He said, the sorrow can't bring his dead father back, then why to sorrow? Everything is impermanent. All the listeners lost their grief. He refused to be crowned at that time to keep his word to his father (as his exile was not completed) and gave his slippers to rule the kingdom instead. After the exile, the Bodhisatta returned to the kingdom and everybody celebrated the event. Then he ruled the kingdom very wisely for 16,000 years.

Verses

Following verses are given in the Pali Canon:

දසරථජාතක “ඒථ ලක්ඛණ සීතා ච, උභෝ ඕතරථෝදකං; ඒවායං භරතෝ ආහ, ‘රාජා දසරථෝ මතෝ(අ)”. “කේන රාමප්පභාවේන, සෝචිතබ්බං න සෝචසි; පිතරං කාලකතං සුත්වා, න තං පසහතේ දුඛං”. “යං න සක්කා නිපාලේතුං, පෝසේන ලපතං බහුං; ස කිස්ස විඤ්ඤූ මේධාවී, අත්තානමුපතාපයේ. දහරා ච හි වුද්ධා ච, යේ බාලා යේ ච පණ්ඩිතා; අඩ්ඪා චේව දලිද්දා ච, සබ්බේ මච්චුපරායණා. ඵලානමිව පක්කානං, නිච්චං පතනතෝ භයං; ඒවං ජාතාන මච්චානං, නිච්ච මරණතෝ භයං. සායමේකේ න දිස්සන්ති, පාතෝ දිට්ඨා බහුජ්ජනා; පාතෝ ඒකේ න දිස්සන්ති, සායං දිට්ඨා බහුජ්ජනා. පරිදේවයමානෝ චේ, කිඤ්චිදත්ථං උදබ්බහේ; සම්මූළ්හෝ හිංසමත්තානං, කයිරා තං විචක්ඛණෝ. කිසෝ විවණ්ණෝ භවති, හිංසමත්තානමත්තනෝ; න තේන පේතා පාලේන්ති, නිරත්ථා පරිදේවනා. යථා සරණමාදිත්තං, වාරිනා පරිනිබ්බයේ; ඒවම්පි ධීරෝ සුතවා, මේධාවී පණ්ඩිතෝ නරෝ; ඛිප්පමුප්පතිතං සෝකං, වාතෝ තූලංව ධංසයේ. මච්චෝ ඒකෝව අච්චේති, ඒකෝව ජායතේ කුලේ; සංයෝගපරමා ත්වේව, සම්භෝගා සබ්බපාණිනං. තස්මා හි ධීරස්ස බහුස්සුතස්ස, සම්පස්සතෝ ලෝකමිමං පරඤ්ච; අඤ්ඤාය ධම්මං හදයං මනඤ්ච, සෝකා මහන්තාපි න තාපයන්ති. සෝහං දස්සඤ්ච භෝක්ඛඤ්ච, භරිස්සාමි ච ඤාතකේ; සේසඤ්ච පාලයිස්සාමි, කිච්චමේතං විජානතෝ. දස වස්සසහස්සානි, සට්ඨි වස්සසතානි ච; කම්බුගීවෝ මහාබාහු, රාමෝ රජ්ජමකාරයී”ති. දසරථජාතකං සත්තමං. Dasarathajātaka “Etha lakkhaṇa sītā ca, ubho otarathodakaṁ; Evāyaṁ bharato āha, ‘rājā dasaratho mato’”. “Kena rāmappabhāvena, socitabbaṁ na socasi; Pitaraṁ kālakataṁ sutvā, na taṁ pasahate dukhaṁ”. “Yaṁ na sakkā nipāletuṁ, posena lapataṁ bahuṁ; Sa kissa viññū medhāvī, attānamupatāpaye. Daharā ca hi vuddhā ca, ye bālā ye ca paṇḍitā; Aḍḍhā ceva daliddā ca, sabbe maccuparāyaṇā. Phalānamiva pakkānaṁ, niccaṁ patanato bhayaṁ; Evaṁ jātāna maccānaṁ, nicca maraṇato bhayaṁ. Sāyameke na dissanti, pāto diṭṭhā bahujjanā; Pāto eke na dissanti, sāyaṁ diṭṭhā bahujjanā. Paridevayamāno ce, kiñcidatthaṁ udabbahe; Sammūḷho hiṁsamattānaṁ, kayirā taṁ vicakkhaṇo. Kiso vivaṇṇo bhavati, hiṁsamattānamattano; Na tena petā pālenti, niratthā paridevanā. Yathā saraṇamādittaṁ, vārinā parinibbaye; Evampi dhīro sutavā, medhāvī paṇḍito naro; Khippamuppatitaṁ sokaṁ, vāto tūlaṁva dhaṁsaye. Macco ekova acceti, ekova jāyate kule; Saṁyogaparamā tveva, sambhogā sabbapāṇinaṁ. Tasmā hi dhīrassa bahussutassa, Sampassato lokamimaṁ parañca; Aññāya dhammaṁ hadayaṁ manañca, Sokā mahantāpi na tāpayanti. Sohaṁ dassañca bhokkhañca, bharissāmi ca ñātake; Sesañca pālayissāmi, kiccametaṁ vijānato. Dasa vassasahassāni, saṭṭhi vassasatāni ca; Kambugīvo mahābāhu, rāmo rajjamakārayī”ti. Dasarathajātakaṁ sattamaṁ.