The Tham Vessantara-jAtaka - Khamkoo

cry: Mother, we are hungry. Give us food. Who is going to give them food like their
mother? Who is kind enough to call them to meals like their father?” My beloved
children used to go in a nice chariot and were never soiled with dirt but today they are
driven by the old Brahmin with their swollen feet. They used to sleep well with their
mother inside the hermitage and had no difficulties but today they have to sleep in the
jungle on bare ground, on the sand that would itch them and hurt their soft skin as well.
KathaM kathaM : How will they manage walking along the rough road without shoes
and their feet swollen? Who will hold their hands and lead them tenderly so? Who will
carry the two children, JAli by the right and KaBhA by the left hand, and saying: “Come
dears. KathaM nu so : How could he not feel ashamed of himself beating those two
innocent children in front of me? That Brahmin is shameless. Yo pi me dAsi dAsassa :
There were many slaves or other servants when I was king of Sivi, with the idea of
shame, but no one treated them so, even the lowest.
Yet the evil Brahmin scolds and beats my dear children in front of me. As I
resolved to the perfection of Enlightenment, though I see them beaten and threatened, I
stand helpless like a fish caught in a trap.”
Atha mahAsatto : Then these thoughts came
241
into the Great Being’s mind, through his love for his children. He could not bear the
pain of thinking how the evil Brahmin would cruelly beat his children and he resolved
to go and chase him and kill him and bring the children back. But a second thought
convinced him that this was not possible. Giving a gift and then to repent because the
suffering of the children was too great: that was not the way of the righteous. And the
two following stanzas contain the reflections, which throw light on that matter. Adu
cApaM gahetvAna : “No! With my bow and my sword girded on my left side, I will
bring my children back for I suffer when they are beaten. AThA nametaM dukkharUpaM
300