Saṅkhapāla Jātaka

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

Story:-

Once Bodhisattva was born as the son of the king of Magadha. He was known as Duyyodhana. After acquiring knowledge the king made his son as the successor and he took to religious life. He started living in the royal garden. Every day Bodhisattva used to see his father. This act affected his concentration and the king failed to perform the preparatory rites that led to mystic meditation. Thus the king decided to leave the royal park. He set up his hut near Mount Canda. In a bend of river Kaṇṇapeṇṇa where it issues out of the lake Saṅkhapāla [Saṃkhapāla], he developed the faculty of mystic meditation.

Once the nāga king Saṅkhapāla visited the abode of the ascetic and listened to him. Since then he frequently visited ascetic’s hut. Bodhisattva found his father’s abode. There he saw Saṅkhapāla listening to the law. He asked his father about the king. The ascetic introduced Saṅkhapāla to his son. Seeing the magnificence of the nāga he desired a longing for the Nāga World. He returned to his city. In order to go to the Nāga World he gave alms throughout the subcontinent. At the end of his life he was reborn in the Nāga World as serpent king Saṅkhapāla.

Saṃkhapāla decided to sacrifice himself by way of charity. He left the Nāga World and settled near the river Kaṇṇapeṇṇa on the ant hill. He observed moral law. He thought that whoever desires his skin will take it. Every first day of each fortnight he returned to the Nāga World.

One day when the nāga king was on the ant hill sixteen hunting men saw him and decided to kill him. But they feared about its size. So they decided to catch the snake with stakes and not with hands. On hearing the footsteps of the hunters Saṅkhapāla decided to sacrifice himself. The men carried the nāga king by fastening it with a bamboo stick and laid it on the road. All that moment a landowner named Alāra saw sixteen men holding the Bodhisattva. Alāra offered all his wealth and released Bodhisattva. Bodhisattva immediately returned to the Nāga World and invited Alāra there. Alāra took to ascetic life and went to the Himalayas.

One day Alāra went to Banaras and met the king. He appraised what he witnessed in the nāga palace. After a year Alāra left for Himalayas^[1].

Depiction:-

The Jātaka is represented on a fine limestone pillar from Amarāvatī in the British Museum. Though the sides and top roundel are damaged partly it retains the details of the Jātaka. The first panel portrays the capture of the snake King Saṅkhapāla. The central fluted area illustrates the nāga palace of Saṃkhapāla.

After the release of Bodhisattva, King Saṅkhapāla invited Alāra to the palace.

Here Saṅkhapāla is depicted with seven hoods sitting on the throne and next to it is Alāra with raised hand. The nāga king offers garland to Alāra. The left fluted area of the panel depicts the nāga king Saṅkhapāla with his attendants. It probably depicts fairwell scene of Alāra^[2] (Pl 18c).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Cowell E.B, Op.cit, Vol V–VII, No. 524,, pp 84-91

[2]:

Knox Robert, Op.cit, pp 64-66, pl 14 (inner face)