Mora Jātaka

[Full title: Jātakas and Avadānas in the Amarāvatī Art: Mora Jātaka]

Story:-

When Brahmadatta was the king of Banaras, Bodhisatva came into this world as a golden peacock and stayed at a golden hill in Daṇḍaka, He prayed to Sun and Buddha by spells which preserved him from harm. One day Khemā, the queen of Banaras saw in her dream a golden peacock giving a religious discourse. She informed the king that she wanted to hear the religious discourse of the golden peacock. The king ordered the hunters to get the peacock alive.

The hunter tried this for seven years but could not catch him and died. In the meanwhile Queen Khemā died without obtaining her wish fulfilled. The king put an inscription upon a plate stating “Among the Himālaya mountains is a golden hill in Daṇḍaka. There lives a golden peacock and who so ever eats its flesh becomes ever young and immortal.” This he enclosed in a casket and after his death successors attempted to catch the bird but they failed. The seventh king sent a hunter to catch the bird. The hunter observed that when the peacock came into the snare, the snare did not shut and also noticed that the peacock recited a charm before setting out in search of food. Then the hunter trained the pea-hen to dance at the clap of his hands and to utter a love cry at the snap of his fingers. He placed the pea-hen in front of the snare in the morning before the peacock could recite the charm. He came towards the hen and was caught in the net. The hunter took the bird to the king.

The king was delighted at the peacock’s beauty and ordered a seat to be placed for him. Bodhisattva asked the king the reason of catching him. The king told him that those who eat the bird would become immortal and have eternal youth. The peacock revealed to the king that long ago he held imperial sway over the whole world, but was born as a peacock in his next birth for some sin. The proof of his royalty was the bejewelled car which lay beneath the waters of the royal lake. The peacock then told the king that except nirvāṇa, all things are unsubstantial, transient and subject to living and death. Peace then filled the king’s heart and bestowed his kingdom upon the Bodhisattva, who, however, returned the gift and flew back to the golden hill of Daṇḍaka^[1]. Mora jātaka is also represented in a panel from Nāgārjunakoṇḍa.

Depiction:-

At Amarāvatī, the synoptic narrative mode of the Jātaka is identified on the broken upright having an upper circular medallion and three fluted panels below which is a half lotus medallion preserved in the Madras Government Museum (Pl 15d). The medallion though partly mutilated, retained a part of the court scene which shows a king seated in ardhaparyaṅkāsana on the throne near a lotus pond in the fore ground and queens beside him. The lady by the side of him is queen Khemā. Another lady below on the left side appears to be another queen.

Below the circular medallion are narrative panels. The extreme left panel broken shows four figures. The panel on the right side depicts the king seated and consulting the ministers to catch the bird. The person near the king is the minister. The kneeling man below the throne is the hunter who is shown as if informing about the existence of the golden peacock. Here the king and the queen are shown on the throne in anjali mudrā adoring the bird. The bird is shown prominently^[2].

Another mutilated railing pillar shows the portrayal of the Jātaka in synoptic narrative mode^[3].

This Jātaka is also sculpted on a octagonal pillar shaft at Nāgārjunakoṇḍa.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Cowell E.B, Op.cit, Vol I-II, No. 159, pp 23-26.

[2]:

Sivaramamurti C, Op.cit, pp 226-227, Pl XXXII, fig 1.

[3]:

Burgess J, Op.cit, p 59, pl XV, fig 2.