King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

ways serve to beget more cruelty, for when Aśoka eventuallyfinds out what she has done, his punishment of her is hardlyexemplary either; despite repeated pleas for clemency on thepart of Kuṇāla, the one who was offended, and despite the factthat Kuṇāla, by an act of truth, miraculously regains his eyesight,Aśoka still has Tiṣyarakṣitā executed after threatening,in his own words, to “tear out her eyes, rip open her body withsharp rakes, impale her alive on a spit, cut off her nose with asaw, cut out her tongue with a razor.” 31 The cruel queen here,then, merely stimulates the cruel side of the king.2. The Fate of the Bodhi TreeMention of Tiṣyarakṣitā raises a second point of contrastbetween the Aśokāvadāna and the Mahāvaṃsa; for in both textsthe story is told of Tiṣyarakṣitā’s (Pali: Tissarakkhā’s) use ofblack magic against the Bodhi Tree at Bodhgaya. She is jealousof the favours and attentions that Aśoka is extending to thetree and resolves to take action against it, mistakenly believingthe “Bodhi” referred to by the king to be a new rival mistress.The tale is most vivid in the Aśokāvadāna:Now Aśoka’s chief queen was named Tiṣyarakṣitā, and shethought: “Although the king pursues his pleasure with me, hesends all the best jewels to Bodhi’s place!” She therefore askeda Mātanga woman to bring about the destruction of “Bodhi, herrival.” The sorceress said she would do it, but first demandedsome money. When she had been paid, she muttered some mantrasand tied a thread around the Bodhi Tree; soon it began towither.The king’s men quickly informed Aśoka of this fact. “Yourmajesty,” one of them said, “the Bodhi Tree is drying up.”…The news made Aśoka collapse on the ground in a faint. Hisattendants splashed some water in his face, and when he had152